Is George Mikan's number retired in Sota or in LA? What about Johnny U (Indy or Baltimore)? Not trying to challenge you...asking a legit question to see what is the norm typically....
I got a chance to ask Earl about that recently. His exact words were, "I was a Houston Oiler. Not no damn Titan.".
Well to be fair, its his money. Just like Les Alexander, when I threw up when the pajama jerseys were introduced. I couldn't do a thing about it.
I'm not misleading...Bud's proposal wasn't brought up and shot down in early 1994...he didn't commission Coopers & Lybrand until the summer of 1994 to come up with the real plan. The bottom line is he brought up a plan that had no chance of succeeding because it was founded in false assumption.
the one that doesn't involve me giving up the Astros. no way, no how. i would probably cease to exist. i'd just disappear.
I'm iffy on this, but it's his franchise...I love the Oilers...love ya blue...it's just wierd with a Titan logo...
I'm still pissed they got rid of Nolan Ryan cause all he wanted was $1 million bucks from the Astros. You realize that Alex Rodriguez makes $250 million? Nolan Ryan, a baseball legend who throws no-hitters without using roids.
http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=3344 You are being very misleading saying that Houston had its hands tied by Bud signing an agreement with Nashville. Somehow Bud and Nashville are able to agree on a new stadium in 3 months, but Houston couldn't do this in a year and a half? It wasn't enough time? Bud killed it all by agreeing to deal only with Nashville?
I have no idea about Mikan and I have no opinion on what should or should not be done re: Mikan, the Lakers, and jersey retirements. All I know is what Earl meant to Houston. Every Houston sports fan knows the most important number ever worn in Houston sports, #34, was worn by the three biggest names to ever play professional sports in Houston. We all know it, yet our NFL team doesn't recognize it. The reasons may be valid....Earl didn't play for this franchise, after all. I just happen to think Bob ought to do SOMETHING to link our historical past to our current team that is losing fan interest at a ridiculous rate. Exactly. I don't dispute that, as the owner, they really can do whatever the hell they want. All I know is that if I were Bob, I'd be doing everything I possibly could to endear the Texans to the people. This includes doing whatever I possibly could to bribe Bud into giving us the name and the colors. And I'd let the people of Houston know about it, regardless of the outcome.
Freak -- I'm not trying to mislead anyone. I do wish I could find Chronicle articles from that era online, though...because I'd love to track it that way. I don't know when he began talking about needing a new stadium generally. I do not recall it being in 1993. But I don't know what "began talking about" means. Talked about to who? With what backing? In what context? I remember the Coopers & Lybrand report was based on the false notion that the Rockets would play along....they did not want to and no intention of doing so. Bud made that up. That proposal was going nowhere fast. I read that report for the first time in the fall of 1994 when i wrote a paper on it at college...I believe it was written in the summer of 1994. I used to have a copy of the report, but I can not find it now. I wish I still had it. It was absolutely, positively billed as a joint home for the Oilers and Rockets. At the same time, there was zero public support for turning around and building a new stadium for a jackhole whom we had already committed public dollars for to keep him around with renovations to the dome...including using property taxes to do so. No one, in the private or public sector, was willing to stick their necks out for Bud Adams. Not one soul. So ultimately he signed an exclusive deal with TN. Exclusive means that during that time frame, he couldn't talk to us at all. Exclusive meant that when Lanier said "yes" to the open-air idea, Bud couldn't even discuss it. And he came back with a deal in place. He got to TN and started b****ing about needing more public financing there for workout facilities. I miss the Oilers...I do not miss Bud Adams.
Bud holding the Oilers history is partly a big EFF YOU to the city of Houston and his sense of that he is the defacto Oiler that started it all. He will never let the team history go. I think it's a little too late for McNair to go after the Oiler's history. He should have done that in the beginning. At present, the fans are more wrapped up in the Texans continuing futility; thinking about Oilers stuff is way back in their minds (unlike us).
I think that would be a bad move for two reasons. A) As much as we think the team name and colors means to us as Oilers fans, it still means more to Bud...the man who founded the team and came up with all that stuff. It's his team.... B) Since there is 0% of Bud letting the stuff go (and why would he...I wouldn't), it's best to get folks hooked on your new product. If the team didn't suck then it would probably work. I hate Bud too for taking away my beloved Oilers...but I can't knock the man because if I were in his position I would take all the history with me as well. It's what he started...
Yes, he signed a deal - in AUGUST OF 1995. Very convenient about Lanier saying "yes" AFTER that point. "Look everyone, I'm willing to build a stadium but he won't negotiate with us! Don't blame me!"
I think public sentiment changed. But the public was soooo overwhelmingly against the idea. Mostly because they were paying for the improvements the last time he cried wolf from their property taxes. And again...the whole supposition behind his Bud Dome was a lie...it was ridiculous. It was a multi-purpose stadium to be built with a co-tenant...except there was no co-tenant. The Rockets couldn't distance themselves from Bud quick enough. So to say he came to the city with a deal for a new stadium is silly. It wasn't a real deal to begin with.
Ya know... I can think of something that would resolve all of this angst. Houstonians would no longer feel the burn of losing the Oilers. We wouldn't care at all about Bud Adams any more .... or the stadium fiasco. or the Tennessee Titans. we wouldn't care about any of it. Ya know what that solution is? if the Texans would win a superbowl. THAT would bring us the closure that we seek! How sweet would that be?
