Were Oilers fans this negative?

[South Texan]

Being old and senile and all I am trying to remember, but it seems that:

Pre-Earl was not pretty, paper bags were hard to find at times.

After that playoff loss to Buffalo... well, at least none of the team got shot when they returned to town.

BUT, watching Earl in his prime was worth the price of admission win or lose. And I still remember the tremendous fan turnout for the welcome back party after one of the playoff losses to Pittsburg, and I have to say that was a highpoint of the "good old days". I wish I could remember Bum's quote, it was something along the lines of "We knocked on the door this year, next year we are gonna kick the son-of-a-***** down."

The Run and Shoot offense was exciting until the other teams learned how to defense it.

Glanville and Adams deserved each other.

BTW I heard a great joke about Alzheimers the other day, I just can't seem to remember it.

 

[Kaiser Toro]

I feel so proud of to be the originator of a Zombie thread. I would like to thank all of my friends and family, and, of course, the Academy.

 

[Vinny]

Pastorini famously called the Houston fans "fickle" once and that was kind of a big deal for a while...so we have a bit of a spot on the tie.

 

[Texans_Chick]

I didn't realize this was an old thread when I replied to it. Interesting to contrast what I said back then with my post just now. I had originally pointed out that Texans fans were much more optimistic than Oilers fans had been. Now I'm saying that things are exactly the same. I guess that came from a 2-14 season in 2005, the Reggie/Vince wars and the Mario draft, followed by 0-3.

See, this is what I'm talking about. Negativity is everywhere in Houston fans!

Being an Oiler fan was frustrating yet always hopeful. Always arranged my Sundays around the game.

The only thing that really bothered me about them was Bud Adams. He was just so damned embarrasing and cheap. Ran into someone who was a player on one of Bud's first teams, and he said that Bud still owed him money. There was the middle finger incident. And the clothes. And the continuous foot in mouth disease. And trying to weasel out of paying incentive bonuses.

But I could deal with an embarrasing, short-sighted owner because the Oilers were the NFL team in my town. And then that vulgarian, with no PR guy to help him out, tried to get a stadium at the worst time and in the worst way for a prideful town.

The Astrodome was a bad place to watch a game, and even the best seats were not terribly close to the field. But instead of quietly selling and PRing his way into a new stadium with some good timing, he did what he did. He moved his team out of his home town.

I miss the feeling of the playoffs and the hunt, but I do not miss that Bud Adams.

And now, ironically, some of the season tickets for his company are right behind my new seats. It is weird.

 

[Vinny]

I became an Oiler fan in grade school so they probably meant more to me than any other club I've followed so I'm probably harder on the Texans. I would have much rather of had the Browns expansion 2.0 name and history package myself.

 

[dantem]

Dan Pastorini was on 610 a month or so ago (and I've heard him say this other times as well) he was asked what it was like to be a quarterback in Houston. And he basically said it was intense. Fans were ruthless even when they would see him in public, he would get threats of bodily injury, called every name in the book. He said it was never an enjoyable experience. and then went on to say he knows what David Carr has to put up with and it is not easy.

My daughter saw Carr in a resturaunt in Sugarland and some ***** just walked up to him in front of his family and yelled "You Suck". He just shook his head like he was used to it.

anyway, I remember Oiler Fans being a lot worse than Texans Fans.

 

[Texans_Chick]

I became an Oiler fan in grade school so they probably meant more to me than any other club I've followed so I'm probably harder on the Texans. I would have much rather of had the Browns expansion 2.0 name and history package myself.

I'm okay with what happened.

I did not care for the "Tennessee Oilers" name myself. I think it would be very hard for your team to be done stolen and then have the name perpetuate. I have biases against those teams that have done that in my lifetime.

 

[Bamaborn-Texasbred]

Again, couldn't have said it better myself. My dad got Oilers season tickets when the Tyler Rose was drafted. He and I split them when I got older. It was hard to watch our old team make the Superbowl under another guise.

 

[Vinny]

I'm okay with what happened.

I did not care for the "Tennessee Oilers" name myself. I think it would be very hard for your team to be done stolen and then have the name perpetuate. I have biases against those teams that have done that in my lifetime.

Not me....After 1-13 my early years were watching Bum's team that started with the Gillman turnaround. From about 1975 till a few years before they left they gave us a couple of big time eras and had some great teams. It's just such a shame all of that is gone. At least we have our new Mo Townes.

 

[TEXANRED]

As Oilers fans, we must have been medicated. How else can you explain us putting up with a Clown (Glanville) and a Zombie (Pardee) as our head coaches for so long?

Glanville was like Tom Penders, he could make an average team out of poor players and an average team out of great players. The more talent he got, the more they underachieved. Also, players tired of his dog and pony show. He lost his players in both Houston and Atlanta. Once that happens, adios amigo.

Pardee let the inmates run the asylum. I think he slept through his 4+ years of coaching the Oilers. It was obvious he was asleep in the 3 consecutive tough playoff losses from '91-'93. If it were not for the "game we do not mention" most of us would be most tormented by the Elway comeback from a 21-6 deficit.

If the fans were as opinionated then as we are now, history might be different.

O.K.

No

Glanville was the best thing to happen to the Oilers since Bum Phillips. He was an instant market success and exposure. Something the current Texan fans complain that we don't get enough of. Not only that but we had a D that was fierce and ferocious and slap your momma if she was sitting in the stands. Not to mention he was able to get the Oilers to the playoffs for the first time in 9 years.

Pardee was the man. Even after the game we shall not mention, the next season we started 1-4 and then went on to win 11 straight.

Yea we never made the super-bowl. Neither has Manning or TonyD.

To answer the year and a half old question, yes, they were just as negative. Like ogre's post talking about Glanville and Pardee, they only won several Divisions and made the play offs 7 straight years.

 

[Mr. White]

They were more negative, but that's changing lately. Texans fans will catch up soon.

While some of still may have a place for them in our hearts, they were a dysfuntional franchise. I found this out when Bum Phillips got fired. Earl Campbell got traded over a pitcher of beer. Everything was Pastorini's fault, so he got traded for a hungover QB on the decline. The yankee GM mooned a wedding party...and you guys think Casserly was awful.

Bud threatened to move the team to Jacksonville.

Bud got Glanville on the cheap, and then found out by accident that he was a good quick-fix artist. Still Glanville's behavior was typical of a dysfunctional franchise.

The Run-N-Shoot was a dysfunctional offense. It was inflexible. It couldn't make adjustments. Good defensive coordinators often knew what play was coming. Ask Bill Cowher. They never had a TE or fullback to pick up a CB blitz. IIRC, Rod Woodson got 6 sacks on Moon in one game. Moon was an awesome QB, but was oblivious to backside pressure.

The cameras liked to show Jim Eddy jumping around and screaming...then his defense made history in Buffalo. If you watch NFL Films, this is the only reference they ever even make to the Oilers. In hindsight, I think this spelled their end in Houston.

Bud threatened to move the team to Conroe and become the "Texas Oilers." I don't think that Conroe really wanted them. Nashville did.

They went to a Super Bowl because the NFL made Bud hire a guy that actually knew something about football. He got credit that Bud wanted..so now he's gone. He's got his "yes man" in Floyd Reese.

Judging from stories about Steve McNair's exit and Billy Volek's exit, these guys are still a mess. And there's no doubt who's running things.

Bud Adams defies conventional wisdom. He's always got a better way.

Now we've got a team with a better owner, a better front office, and better coaches.

And better uniforms.

 

[TEXANRED]

Jim Eddy

Please never mention his name again.

In the future just say "You know who" or "He who's name must not be spoken."

Thank you for your cooperation.

 

[Blu]

Were Oilers fans this negative?

Yes..so they became Cowboy fans!

 

[santo]

I became an Oilers fan right when they were playing Buffalo in the playoffs. That was the first time I ever watched an Oilers game.

Funny thing was, eventhough they lost and it was heartbreaking, I fell in love with the team and watched pretty much every game the next season and every one after that until they moved to Tenessee.


One thing I do miss is the rivalries with Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.

Is there any way we can petition to the NFL and have them trade us with Baltimore so that we can be in that division?

Man, that would be awesome to see again, because quite frankly, I hate the division we are in.

 

[TEXANRED]

I became an Oilers fan right when they were playing Buffalo in the playoffs. That was the first time I ever watched an Oilers game.


Man, that would be awesome to see again, because quite frankly, I hate the division we are in.

So I can blame that loss on you then?

You would like the division more if we are capable of winning games. Our only real rival is the Jags.

 

[Stampede]

We're the Houston Oilers, the sorriest football team
we take the ball from goal to goal, but all for the other team,
we're in the air we're on the ground, never in control,
and when you say the oilers, your talkin toilette bowl

We got the offense, that dont make any sense,
we give the other team some hope,
Houston oilers, houston oilers, ya know i think they're all on dope

1, 5, 7, 8, we're the worst in the lone star state..(doot doot do do)

Uh yea, some of us were negative.

 

[TEXANRED]

We're the Houston Oilers, the sorriest football team
we take the ball from goal to goal, but all for the other team,
we're in the air we're on the ground, never in control,
and when you say the oilers, your talkin toilette bowl

We got the offense, that dont make any sense,
we give the other team some hope,
Houston oilers, houston oilers, ya know i think they're all on dope

1, 5, 7, 8, we're the worst in the lone star state..(doot doot do do)

Uh yea, some of us were negative.

Substitute Texans and you have summed up our who season thus far.

Wait, was that negative?

 

[santo]

So I can blame that loss on you then?

You would like the division more if we are capable of winning games. Our only real rival is the Jags.

Well, maybe you can blame the loss on me

Man if you think about the division that we are in, all of the teams are "sellout" teams except maybe Jacksonville, but even then, they tried to steal the Oilers from Houston.

Indianapolis stoled the team from Baltimore, Tennessee from Houston and Baltimore stoled the team from Cleveland. All of these teams would be in a perfect division with each other.

I know Bud took all of our tradition, but at least the NFL could have done is kept Houston in the same division with Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.

 

[done88]

Were Oilers fans this negative?

Its hard to tell the Oilers were never this bad.

 

[painekiller]

Texas Chick, Bud is from Oklahoma, sorry but a technicality I had to correct, Houston doesn't need to be blamed for birthing him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

My father had season tickets from the first year of the team. We sat at the 40 yd line behind the Oiler bench in the dome. (We had the 50 yd line tickets but the people in front were so bad we traded with out business partners).

I started going in the early years of George Webster, Kenny Houston, Charlie Johnson, I remember Lynn Dickey and Dan Pastorini both being drafted in the same year, and both looking pretty good. (What a QB draft that years was Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning, Lynn Dickey, Dan Pastorini, those were some pretty big named guys back then.)

I started becoming a huge fan when we got the Human Wall Curly Culp, and this unknown coach named Phillips. Well we got close but never could get to the Super Bowl.

In the early 80's my favorite fan story was, remember the team was beyond bad, and no one was going to the games. A guy has 2 tickets to the game and cannot find anyone that want to take them off his hands. So he goes to a local mall on the Saturday before the game, and leaves the 2 tickets under the windshield wipers for anyone to take. When he came back out 2 hours later, there was now 6 tickets under his windshield wipers.

That is how bad the team was and what the apathy of the fans was like. We had draughts in the 60's , 70's , 80's and 90's. The team lost more years then it won, Bud would always play hardball with the players, oh he paid them well, he just made them go to hell to get the money.

We had draft picks late to camp every year, player's refusing to play for us period, Matuszak. It was a joke of a team more year than not.

 

[painekiller]

Its hard to tell the Oilers were never this bad.

Oh to be so young as the miss the late 60's early 70's and the early 80's after Earl was used up. Yes Done88 they were worse. And for a far longer time. Before Earl the team sucked for over 10 years, after Earl they sucked for 4 years. And after Moon nobody cared becasue they were moving.

 

[LBC_Justin]

Regardless of the topic web forums are very very negative places.

It is a place where people can stand up and shout and be heard by hundreds or even thousands of people and do it under the cover of their computer screen.

This is one of the reasons I am less active during weeks we lose. I don't want all that negative energy rubbing off on me. In fact I rarely open up threads that are clearly negative. I watch all the Texans games, I don't need some 18 yr old bandwagon fan telling me the team stinks or that some player is a bust.

anyways...yea Oiler fans were pretty negative at times(like all fans). The blown lead to Buffalo and never being able to get over the Steeler hump brought out some frustration in people.

 

[Double Barrel]

I became an Oiler fan in grade school so they probably meant more to me than any other club I've followed so I'm probably harder on the Texans. I would have much rather of had the Browns expansion 2.0 name and history package myself.

yep, same with my history. The Oilers name was synonymous with Houston football, and win or lose, they were our team.

And the more I've thought about it, the more I hate Bud Adams for not only taking the team away, but taking our history away, too. Irregardless of the history of choke, that was a hurdle that we would have overcome. Instead, Tennessee gets a new team and gets to the big dance. It's just not right.

The Astros had a history of futility up until the last couple of years. That's why we're fanatics, because each new season brings new hope. And it would have been the same way with the Oilers.

 

[DBCooper]

Houston has some of the best on-ramps and off-ramps of any Bandwagon in the nation.

 

[TEXANRED]

yep, same with my history. The Oilers name was synonymous with Houston football, and win or lose, they were our team.

Someone else hit the nail on the head when they said that people in Houston are not from Houston.

I was thumbing thru a Magazine I have that is from 1975 and it had an article in it about Houston. In '75 Houston was the 6th largest city in the US with just a little over 1 million people. 30 years later the pop has grown a little under a mill and a half. Thats a lot of people from other places. Why should they root for a loser when they have there home teams.

 

[El Tejano]

All I know is the higher you go in the stadium the more dedicated the fans are.

 

[DBCooper]

Some of you football historians would be more apt to answer this question for me.

I've always wondered ever since the Oilers left town...

Why was it that the Browns were able to become the Ravens and move and have another team set up in Cleveland...seemingly over a period of a week or less...and the Oilers "situation" with "you know who" seemed to drag on F-O-R-E-V-E-R???

Serious question:
Was it really "HIS" fault or was there a change within the leagues policies? (Don't misunderstand me...I absolutely can't stand "HIM") I was just looking for clarity. Was it a case of different situations? Or different ownership? Or why was it SO easy for Cleveland and SO painful for us?

??????????

Bud still had a lease on the Astrodome and did not have a stadium in Possum Hollar to play in yet.

The Browns skipped town, and the NFL gave them the next expansion team within weeks.

We (the Oilers) had the lame-duck status for a year and a half.

Dark times. Worse than having a bad team, in my opinion.

 

[TEXANRED]

Some of you football historians would be more apt to answer this question for me.

I've always wondered ever since the Oilers left town...

Why was it that the Browns were able to become the Ravens and move and have another team set up in Cleveland...seemingly over a period of a week or less...and the Oilers "situation" with "you know who" seemed to drag on F-O-R-E-V-E-R???

Serious question:
Was it really "HIS" fault or was there a change within the leagues policies? (Don't misunderstand me...I absolutely can't stand "HIM") I was just looking for clarity. Was it a case of different situations? Or different ownership? Or why was it SO easy for Cleveland and SO painful for us?

??????????

In two words. Our Fans.

The difference between Cleveland and Houston was Cleveland had a rally of 100,000 fans and Houston had a rally of 70.

The three headed monster is who I blame for the whole thing. Blineberry, Roberston, and I believe McClain continued to spearhead a "We don't need a new stadium, Bud won't leave, if he does leave who cares, campaign. People read, people sided with the columnists. Wrong. Can't leave out Lanier or Judge Robert Eckles. Eckles and Lanier were probably the two most responsible for the Oilers leaving town.

Truthfully it started to simmer in Buffalo and then boiled over after we had home field thru out the playoffs, first round bye and then lose to Montana in the last few minutes of the game.

We even had Drayton (He was the head of renting out the Astrodome) come out and say the Oilers didn't need a new stadium, nothing was wrong with the stadium, it was perfect for both football and baseball and a great place to watch a game. Then right after the Oilers leave threaten to move the team to D.C. if 1.) Didn't build him a new stadium, just for baseball, 2.) Attendance had to be over a million. What a piece of crap that McClain guy is.

What has this city spent in new stadiums over the past 7 years? 700, 800 million dollars?

I hate Bud Adams and hope some day I will get a chance to "accidentally" move a chair on his oxygen tube. However its just as much our fans fault as it was Adams.

 

[Cruuuuuuuz]

I was just a kid then, so i dont know all the politics but i do know this...when the oilers lost to buffalo...i cried because i KNEW the oilers were the best team in the league and if they didnt win the superbowl that year they never would...and they never have....That was the day...the oilers DIED.

Too much PAIN for one city, one team and its fans to handle...
thinking about it now...its ironic the Astrodome was called the house of pain
because it really was...for the astros and the oilers....Thank Goodness for Hakeem and the Rockets! I have to say they saved the city!

with no new stadium the oilers had to go...never to be forgiven...

It makes me happy to have a new chance with the Texans and hopefully they can get it together and start winning, so my kids will have better football memories than me....

Earl Campbell is STILL my favorite football player.
Warren Moon is pretty close.