The first thing I noticed when I moved to Texas in 1979, was the "Drive Friendly" signs along the highway. I thought that was unusual thing to put along the side of the road, until I learned that when the sign flipped over, it was to caution you about ice on the road.
There are two reasons that I could never leave Texas: 1. Tex-Mex food and 2. How friendly the people are in this part of the world.
This is not to say that Texans can't get riled, but rather their natural state is one of uncommon friendliness to strangers, a distaste for rudeness and an appreciation of manners. (Though I will say that in my own personal experience, Dallas doesn't seem like the rest of Texas in that regard).
Outta of the many cities I have visited through out the country, Houston is the friendliest city I've been in by far.
Texans fans have been given a gift, paid by a difficult season, and it gives us all sorts of interesting possibilities. No sense being ugly about such a gift.
Now I am not going to pretend to be the internets police or anything, and I've gotten a little sideways a time or two myself, but it seems to me that rational minds can disagree about the merits of drafting various folks and the future of the Texans without getting their panties in a wad.
That we can state our beliefs without resorting to hyperbole, exaggeration or just plain ole silliness.
That broad generalization are often unfair.
That by not exaggerating or distorting the facts, your points are better understood and appreciated. This is especially true when discussing the relative merits of extremely talented college kids, kids that I reckon will always be better than our slow sorry selves.
That even talking about emotional things, you can discuss them without use of name calling and ad hominem arguments and the use of the words "brokeback mountain" or "manlove."
That it is quite possible that you might be wrong or unsure, and that it is OK to say that you don't know something.
That it is a good thing try to keep an open mind, listen to what people say, and ask good questions.
That offering facts and information and statistics that folks can learn from is always more appreciated than blather, though I suppose blather has its place. I am good at blathering.
That you are not Carnac, and if you were, why the heck are you spending time here instead of making money foretelling the future?
That you don't have to get a dig in when you can, and that some posts are so silly you don't have to respond to them because they are silly on their face.
That one of the best thing about human beings is that we are we have our own personal preferences, based on our life experiences, and that we don't all agree. If we all liked the same thing, it would be pretty boring and those things would get terribly expensive.
That people are people. They are humans. You don't have to go out of your way to say ugly things about other human beings. There is enough real ugliness in the world without manufacturing new ugliness.
That it is often best to walk away from trolls. Even if they get you in the eye with a pointy stick.
But also to remember that everybody was a newbie at one time, that some might be trolling but that a lot of these newbies just don't know the deal but are just trying to be enthusiastic fans. And the Texans need excited fans these days.
Some day this draft is just gonna be another part of Texans history. Hopefully it will be a good part. But there is no way to know that in January 2006, or April 2006 for that matter.
We get to wait and see and hope and pray.
It is amazing how funny and strange it is to be a sports fan. It is truly bizarre to be this passionate and care so strong about something that in the big scheme of life really doesn't matter.
Bizarre is good.
