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Where Were You 10 Years Ago?

swisher

swisher

Old School
On October 6, 1999 the NFL awarded the Texans to Houston.

Where were you when you heard the news?

I was driving to work that morning when the news became official, listening to 610 with John and Lance just as I was driving into downtown. John Granato broke the news and said something to effect of if your in your car start honking your horn, we have NFL football again. I started honking like crazy. I got alot of looks from the cars around me. Needless to say, I didn't get much done at work that day.
 
swisher said:
On October 6, 1999 the NFL awarded the Texans to Houston.

Where were you when you heard the news?

I was driving to work that morning when the news became official, listening to 610 with John and Lance just as I was driving into downtown. John Granato broke the news and said something to effect of if your in your car start honking your horn, we have NFL football again. I started honking like crazy. I got alot of looks from the cars around me. Needless to say, I didn't get much done at work that day.
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Was in pittsburgh at the time working, ultimately I never thought I would be back in Houston and was still made that my oilers were in TN. So I was glad that Houston had football again but didn't feel the same.

Now I'm back in Houston, and wish I would have at last bought some PSL's..
 
Man 10 years sure went by fast didn't it?

Anyways, unfortunetly I was up in Dallas.........but I came back as soon as I could.
 
I was getting ready for college and honestly didn't get all that excited when we got the Texans. I followed the stories and the expansion draft. They were my NFL team, if I could be said to have one. But after the Oilers were taken away I really gave up on the NFL. It took me years to really invest myself in any team. I just played fantasy football, watched more baseball (which I always loved anyway --- Minute Maid was a blast to see in person as well) and followed my college team. The Horns are never moving, after all. And I wasn't all that giddy when they charged the city a billion dollars for the privilege of buying tickets and being held ransom again.

It probably took me 4-5 years to really care about the Texans. I was living in Austin during the Capers era and probably watched 4-5 games a year from first snap to last -- basically when they were on TV and I hadn't gone to a sports bar to watch all the games at once. I didn't record the games or watch them with a critical eye. I was very excited about Kubiak, but like just about everyone else wasn't happy at all with the Mario pick. I wasn't going to stop liking him over one draft though. I was willing to give him a chance to build a team. I also am not nearly as disgusted with McNair as I was with Adams. I don't think he's perfect, but he's not a mercenary. He's at least loyal.

Living in Houston again these days, I'm probably more of a Texans fan than Longhorns. I go to one or two games a year and watch em all. I know the Texans team much better than UT's at least.

Basically 10 years ago I still hadn't gotten over it. I was pissed at the NFL and wasn't going to reward them with my money or my emotional investment. I didn't think they were worth it.
 
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I was online in Austin, on the LA Times forum. Giving TJ Simers the what for. Hey TJ...you probably still think the NFL will change their mind and award the expansion franchise to LA. What a moron.
 
I was 11 years old, and barely knew the game of Football existed. My only contact with the sport, let alone The Texans, was going to Chelsea (soccer) games every other weekend, and teasing a friend, who is a Pats fan, about liking 'Rugby with protective pads'.
 
I was working downtown in the same building McNair's company was HQ'd in (Pennzoil Place). Very shortly after the announcement, the Texans Store opened in the lobby of the building, and all the Chiefs fans in my family got Texans stuff that Christmas.
 
I was 10 & wasn't really rooting for any team in football. Started rooting for the Texans as soon as I heard about them, though. I remember watching the expansion draft. Seems so long ago now.
 
Was living in Oregon and that day I decided I was going to be a diehard. I didn't even know the organization was going to be as impressive as it is. But the namesake and the clean slate were enough for me.
 
swisher said:
On October 6, 1999 the NFL awarded the Texans to Houston.

Where were you when you heard the news?

I was driving to work that morning when the news became official, listening to 610 with John and Lance just as I was driving into downtown. John Granato broke the news and said something to effect of if your in your car start honking your horn, we have NFL football again. I started honking like crazy. I got alot of looks from the cars around me. Needless to say, I didn't get much done at work that day.
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I was here in Houston.
I'm pretty sure I heard about it at work.

I was obsessed all day with what division we'd be in and how the conf/divisional alignment would change.
 
ChampionTexan said:
I was working downtown in the same building McNair's company was HQ'd in (Pennzoil Place). Very shortly after the announcement, the Texans Store opened in the lobby of the building, and all the Chiefs fans in my family got Texans stuff that Christmas.
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I didn't think they named the team until the following January...??
 
Started drinking for Texas-OU somewhere in Austin...I'm not too sure where...I believe I had some classes in between as well. Possibly an Orgo exam.

It all worked out in the end.

Welcome all.
 
TexanPulse said:
Started drinking for Texas-OU somewhere in Austin...I'm not too sure where...I believe I had some classes in between as well. Possibly an Orgo exam.

It all worked out in the end.

Welcome all.
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Good Grief dude! That was a Wednesday!
LOL
 
wow i was 10 years old and i remember my dad telling me and i remember say to him they were gonna be terrible... lol then 2 years later they were my favorite team... and they were terrible hahah
 
Let's see, 10 years ago I was 48, not 58, and I was still a dirty old man then just as I am now. The Texans are still inconsistent with no playoffs in sight, so nothing has changed there either.

As to where exactly I was ten years ago, hell, I can't remember where I was last week.
 
Not exactly sure where I was either, I have that short term memory going.
I do remember the day I got my PSL's, it was 2/14/00 because I had to convince the wife to let me go to Houston ( live in Austin) and spend the night before to get to the ticket office at 9 am in the morning to pick my seats.
 
Was at work.

Was very excited and had tons of questions running thru my mind.

"Could we get the Oiler name back?",
"Would we even want the Oiler name back?",
"What other team name could we have?", and
"Please, don't let us end up with a stupid team name."

but it was a great day.
 
I was at the J-O-B, and sticking to the radio like glue. Then they announced it...I was so damn happy.... :doot:

I went out and bought every newspaper I could find the next day. I still have them stashed with all my old Rockets and Astros newspapers. I took one, and had it laminated and framed, it still hangs in my gameroom till this day.
 
I was in the Army just returning from Korea and living in Kileen just outside of Ft. Hood. I didnt even know until a few weeks later when I came home for the weekend and talked to my best friend that any of that had happened. When I found out I was jumping for joy!! :doot:
 
I was at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, about 2 weeks shy of finishing up a 4 month deployment and getting ready to head home.

I had no clue the NFL was awarding a team or expanding or any of that. I pretty much quit watching football after the Oilers left town and was very out of touch with the whole thing. I wouldn't find out that Houston had a team until a couple years later after I finished my 4 years and seperated from the AF and moved back to Texas.
 
Lucky said:
I was online in Austin, on the LA Times forum. Giving TJ Simers the what for. Hey TJ...you probably still think the NFL will change their mind and award the expansion franchise to LA. What a moron.
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That's all we had back then...the LA Times forum. I still remember some guy named Ted from LA that could never even imagine a world where Houston would be awarded a team instead of Los Angeles. He usually replied to anything pro-Houston by saying we were wasting our time..no way in hell the NFL would pick Houston over LA.

Then there was a forum that popped up about that time...can't remember what it was called, but maybe run by a guy named Rick? I vaguely remember him being from Dallas and was into making movies or something. God it's been so long. I remember the thousands and thousands of threads about name suggestions. An early favorite among guys on the first forum was Galaxy for some reason. And we all hated the name Texans. Now I can't imagine the Houston Apollos, Stallions or Wildcatters (yes, Wildcatters).

Then that site eventually turned into, evolved into or was taken over by (not sure what happened) houstonprofootball.com...that was a great site.

Anyway, I couldn't even sleep the night before...it was such a roller coaster ride. Most of you may not even remember, but for a few weeks that previous May it looked like McNair was serious about buying the Cardinals and moving them here. I think it was just a smoke screen to get the NFL worried about losing us as plan B, but it worked. I'm proud to say that I've been a fan since October 1998 when the stadium deal was agreed on. That was a crazy year.

I don't consider myself very old, but it blows my mind that some of you were in elementary school when all of this happened. I was 23.
 
I was off that day and changing my then 3 month old's diaper when I heard it heard I saw it on ESPN SportsCenter...
 
I was working my way through school as a surveyor's tech and watching the Colts start what would be the first honest-to-God good season I'd ever seen, only to have it spoiled later by that damn team from Nashville.
 
I was on a job in Blair Nebraska and could not get over the fact that we actually won out over L.A. when everyone KNEW the NFL wanted a team in L.A. in the worst way. I had already prepared myself for the disappointment, so the joy of getting a team in Houston was even better.
 
I was living in Austin at the time. I think I saw it on the 6:00 news. The Oilers were gone and I was a Cowboys fan back then because they were the closest thing we had to a home team at the time. I refused to root for an out-of-state team.

I remember having a lot of respect for Bob McNair for stealing that franchise from LA. Still do.
 
I was living in Nashville, going to Titan games and enjoying the hell out of SEC football....heard the news and decided it's time to move back to Houston.

well, that's the short story. I'd fill in the blanks but there is a character limit on these posts. :worldpeace:
 
At home in my apartment on my day off. Saw the news on ESPN. Was so excited. The only football game I watched between the last HOUSTON Oilers game and the 1st pre-season Texans game in 2002 was the Super Bowl of the Rams and Titans and that was only to torture myself to see if Bud Adams was about to get the trophy, not to root for the Titans!! Other than that 1 game, I watched ZERO football in my unwillingness to truly root for anything non-Houston in the sports world, so I just gave up on football during that time. During that time, I met my future ex wife. For years when we dated, she had no idea I liked football as I never watched or cared about it during those years. Starting in 02 all my pent up "fandom" came pouring out, she was pretty surprised, but rolled with it. We went from going out every weekend to me vlounteering to stay home and do "work around the house" (really watching the Texans) every Sunday...LOL Good times!!
 
I was 13 at the time. The significance of this didn't really hit me until I saw the live news coverage of the unveiling ceremony, when I became a fan for life. I did NOT like the name "Texans," but since then it's grown on me, and I've followed them as faithfully as I can (their games don't often air in the places I've lived).
 
This is awesome that you remembered this. I've always believed that getting the franchise was a miracle. At the time, I really thought the NFL was just stringing us along and that they would find a way to give LA the franchise.

Thanks for putting this up. I am honoring the date in my Chronicle blog along with those fun videos of the time. Ken Lay! Large cell phones! Lance and John at 610! Earl and Bum! Jerry Jones back when he resembled a man!
Ten years ago...Houston got the NFL back!
 
Where? In an emotional state of flux. I was emotionally still attached to Oilers as I followed since that team's beginning. I was still angry at Bud for moving MY team & I was not watching many NFL games as I cared little for that other NFL team in Texas. I could not watch Tennessee games as I kept getting pissed off. My recollection is most talk show guys were saying no way Houston could beat L.A. and then we did. I remember comparing football 5 year plans to 5 year plans of the former Soviet Union and hoped the new team would not implode. Wondering who the new coach would be and if we would be offense or defensive minded. I remember some NFL guru saying lack of fan support had cost us the Oilers and thinking well we are going to show you, buddy.
 
I remember very well!! I was glued to the TV. Kept channel surfing until I heard the announcement, can't remember what channel announced it first. Knew right then I better get some overtime at work,cause I was buying PSLs regardless!! We've had some lean years, but, I've never looked back!
 
I was a senior in highschool. remember I was jazzed to have two football teams in Texas again. Even though i was never really an oilers fan, I always thought it was a travesty that they moved.
 
I was at Exxon at the time, replacing a guy who was spending all his time on the merger with Mobil.

Like TC mentioned, I figured we were "Doomed" by the L.A. folks, but I was giddy when they said we'd get it. I knew then and there that I was gonna get me some PSLs - my only regret was that I waited aweek or two to pull the trigger.
 
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