Yeah yeah, it is coach speak, but there is a lot of truth in it.
(on empathizing with Capers situation) I sure can. Dom is in a situation where there really was no track record. Its just the normal bumps and bruises you take as an expansion team. Youre trying to get everyone to come in and get on the same page, and join into your philosophy. Going to Tampa, there was a history of not winning, and a kind of defeatist attitude in the city and on the team. And so that was the biggest task: to get people to think like winners, to act like winners, to practice that way, to do everything, in season, off-season, on the field, off the field. And thats the biggest task when youve got that history going against you. Fortunately we had some young players come in from winning programs in college: Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Ronde Barber and Mike Alstott. Those guys came in with the right attitude, and then it was just a matter of trying to get everyone on the same page.
(on preparing for 0-5 Texans) All we can do is look at the tape of our last few games with them, and well see the problems theyve created for us in that type of thing. You know, we saw them really in a 10-9 situation with Tennessee into the third quarter. We saw them in a 13-10 situation with Cincinnati, who only has one loss, in Cincinnati where they had the ball with a chance to drive it and win. So our guys realize what Houston is capable of. You have to look at how they play you, and we have a little bit of a feel for how they play us defensively and offensively. Now their offense is a little different since Joes taken over, but we definitely look at how theyve played us in the past defensively, and really prepare for that.
This may not be a popular point of view but I am gonna say it anyways. When your team is doing poorly, it is emotionally easy to get caught as a fan despairing at how bad the team and kind of mentally preparing yourself for a 0-16. It can become kind of a bloodless sport, like with John McClain, to see how many different ways you can say that the team is playing sorry. Ha ha, look at what a great joke I cracked, bag on my head, etc.
As much as fans value teams that never give up and never surrender, fans give up on teams pretty easy. As a group, it is easier to kick em when they are down, and just write off the team as a bunch of overpaid brats or whatever slur they want to say.
I am realistic about how things are going but I must admit that it is kind of cool to see the guys in the Battle Red unis as it is on the home page. Makes me feel like the whole Any Given Sunday thing means something. The games aren't played by robots--they are human beings that have pride and are trying to be a team. Their Battle Red record may be a partial reflection of their human side.
As horrible as some of the gameday stuff has been, the worst has been seeing the actions of the fans. You know, feeling like you are going to puke because folks are booing and was it Bullock(?) motioning his arms upward, encouraging the crowd to boo louder. It made me sick.
I am just suggesting that some might consider toning down the more defeatest posts and maybe leaving the brown paper sacks at home. Because defeatism feeds on itself. As much as you might not like some of the moves that have been done, or the folks making the decisions, tough times are a referendum on what sort of fans you are. You don't need to show your disfavor with the team because Mr. McNair is not oblivious.
Do you kick em when they are down or do you try to lift them up to higher things??? We have tough times ahead but at least we have an owner who cares and really does want to put a winning product together--not easy to do from scratch. Most of our team is going to stay here for next year, let's as fans keep giving reasons for the best players to stay and for F.A.s to want to help turn things around.
Yeah yeah, rah rah and all that, but as someone who mostly has lurked trying to find some logic and insight about my team, it just gets a little tiresome to have to read through all the posts trying to out clever each other on different ways to say how bad things are.
Don't mean to offend, nor to dis other Texans fans--cuz with times like these, our team needs the most fans it can get. Just venting in my own way, a way that is meant to be positive. Defeatism just gets on my last nerve.
So there you have it. Battle Red it the way on up.
Laughing at venting my own way. 
