Clowney to IR, Ending His Rookie Season

[Keith]

Can't we all agree that the quixotic plight of a Houston pro football fan can lead someone to wayward tendencies? The years of unfulfilled hopes, the mental and physical anguish incurred over decades of abuse, it leaves a scar.

He is chuck. He is you. He is me. He is all of us.

[HPF Bob]

True dat. I remember when the Titans went to the Super Bowl and I complained that it wasn't fair that they got to enjoy the spoils of all our misery. Thanks, Bud. Keep rotting, you old buzzard.

[Nconroe]

It may be some of you just don't follow Chucks humor. just relax.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Keith

Can't we all agree that the quixotic plight of a Houston pro football fan can lead someone to wayward tendencies? The years of unfulfilled hopes, the mental and physical anguish incurred over decades of abuse, it leaves a scar.

He is chuck. He is you. He is me. He is all of us.

I am Chuck.

[Nconroe]

Originally Posted by barrett

I am Chuck.

I bet you don't even look a little bit like Chuck. Mentally, perhaps so.

[Arky]

Originally Posted by Keith

Can't we all agree that the quixotic plight of a Houston pro football fan can lead someone to wayward tendencies? The years of unfulfilled hopes, the mental and physical anguish incurred over decades of abuse, it leaves a scar.

He is chuck. He is you. He is me. He is all of us.

I am chuck. I am also Napoleon Boneparte. I am the walrus, koo koo ka choo.

[chuck]

This is all fairly entertaining, and I have to say that I'm enjoying the board's being more active than it has been in a long while.

Bob, I know you think Carr would have been a good player under different circumstances. I think that is crazy and I think that the facts clearly state otherwise. He didn't lack confidence, he lacked intelligence. And he never studied film. If you're an idiot who never watches tape you are not going to succeed in the NFL as a quarterback. He had several fresh starts in other places and could never get anywhere close to the field, even on quarterback starved teams.

I was born and raised in Houston. I am a fan of Houston pro football. What do you want me to do, change teams mid-life? Have a second team like you do? I'll do neither. But my fandom does not preclude me from making a sober appraisal of the franchise I follow. It sucks. Two playoff wins in twelve years. That is indefensible.

No, I no longer have season tickets. I'm pretty sure I mentioned my letting them go at the time. When it became clear that the owner doesn't care much about winning and the team is more interested in advertising and cheap jingoism than a football experience inside the stadium I realized that it is lunacy for me to travel internationally six times a year or whatever it was simply to watch a team whose leadership is brazenly disrespectful to its customers. And the lock-out was absolutely the last straw.

And I have absolutely no idea why you think I'm an Astros fan. We've talked about this, too. My esteem for Bob McNair is stratospheric compared to what I think about the current and former owners of the Astros, two slimy dickwads who conspired in a most cowardly way to steal fifty years of history from fans like you and me. No sir, I am no longer an Astros fan. I will admit that I do enjoy watching the team struggle and it pleases me that Luhnow is a league-wide pariah. You'll note that several of their recent free agent targets have turned the Astros down in order to sign less lucrative contracts with other clubs. No one with any real options wants to play for this group of frauds and that makes me happy.

On the other hand I want desperately for the Texans to win; I simply recognize that as currently organized they won't.

The truth is I am not nearly as invested in the team as I once was, both literally and otherwise. It's impossible to continue to be as emotionally tied in as I once was when the team underperforms for more than a decade. Also, I am now a part owner of a professional futbol team here and that takes up a great deal of my sports-related emotion. It's a very rewarding experience, actually. Not financially certainly, but in every other way it has been quite something.

[Arky]

Originally Posted by chuck

This is all fairly entertaining, and I have to say that I'm enjoying the board's being more active than it has been in a long while.

Bob, I know you think Carr would have been a good player under different circumstances. I think that is crazy and I think that the facts clearly state otherwise. He didn't lack confidence, he lacked intelligence. And he never studied film. If you're an idiot who never watches tape you are not going to succeed in the NFL as a quarterback. He had several fresh starts in other places and could never get anywhere close to the field, even on quarterback starved teams.

I was born and raised in Houston. I am a fan of Houston pro football. What do you want me to do, change teams mid-life? Have a second team like you do? I'll do neither. But my fandom does not preclude me from making a sober appraisal of the franchise I follow. It sucks. Two playoff wins in twelve years. That is indefensible.

No, I no longer have season tickets. I'm pretty sure I mentioned my letting them go at the time. When it became clear that the owner doesn't care much about winning and the team is more interested in advertising and cheap jingoism than a football experience inside the stadium I realized that it is lunacy for me to travel internationally six times a year or whatever it was simply to watch a team whose leadership is brazenly disrespectful to its customers. And the lock-out was absolutely the last straw.

And I have absolutely no idea why you think I'm an Astros fan. We've talked about this, too. My esteem for Bob McNair is stratospheric compared to what I think about the current and former owners of the Astros, two slimy dickwads who conspired in a most cowardly way to steal fifty years of history from fans like you and me. No sir, I am no longer an Astros fan. I will admit that I do enjoy watching the team struggle and it pleases me that Luhnow is a league-wide pariah. You'll note that several of their recent free agent targets have turned the Astros down in order to sign less lucrative contracts with other clubs. No one with any real options wants to play for this group of frauds and that makes me happy.

On the other hand I want desperately for the Texans to win; I simply recognize that as currently organized they won't.

The truth is I am not nearly as invested in the team as I once was, both literally and otherwise. It's impossible to continue to be as emotionally tied in as I once was when the team underperforms for more than a decade. Also, I am now a part owner of a professional futbol team here and that takes up a great deal of my sports-related emotion. It's a very rewarding experience, actually. Not financially certainly, but in every other way it has been quite something.

Looking back, I always felt Carr needed a mentor, someone to guide him right from the get-go. Show him how to be a pro in the NFL. Show him in the film room what he needed to do to become a better - someone that knew what they were doing. I've forgotten who his QB coach was at the time but whoever he was, he did a terrible job with Carr. Instead, he was allowed to be the Golden Boy, the face and savior of the new franchise and along the way, he picked up bad habits that were never corrected.

Re: season tickets, I read a lot of Texans stuff on the internet. One thing I've noticed is that the fans who regard their "investment" as disposable income are a lot more at peace with what transpires on Sundays. Especially, when things aren't going well with the team......

Interesting that the joke-of-a-franchise Texans have your favor and the joke-of-a-franchise Astros do not.....

[HPF Bob]

Chuck, I apologize if you're not the "Chuck" that posts at Orange Whoopass and its predecessors. He seems to have the same general attitude about many things as you.

I fully understand the "Houston or die" fandom and having to confront whether you can still support a team that's not heading in the direction you desire. I had to deal with it during the short-lived McDaniels era in Denver as well as the continuing Astros debacle.

I will disagree with the idea that two playoff wins in 12 years is "indefensible". I believe that is more than the Cowboys or Bengals over that time. Certainly more than the Lions, the Chiefs, the Browns or the Dolphins. Assuming they win one more game, the Texans will have just two losing seasons in their past eight. That sounds like they are giving their fans a legit franchise to watch.

I, too, have disagreements with the way some things are handled but, at the bottom, I believe the Texans do what they do because they want to be NFL champions. I believe the Astros do what they do to prove their pet theories and any championships they may accrue are just a byproduct.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Chuck, I apologize if you're not the "Chuck" that posts at Orange Whoopass and its predecessors. He seems to have the same general attitude about many things as you.

I fully understand the "Houston or die" fandom and having to confront whether you can still support a team that's not heading in the direction you desire. I had to deal with it during the short-lived McDaniels era in Denver as well as the continuing Astros debacle.

I will disagree with the idea that two playoff wins in 12 years is "indefensible". I believe that is more than the Cowboys or Bengals over that time. Certainly more than the Lions, the Chiefs, the Browns or the Dolphins. Assuming they win one more game, the Texans will have just two losing seasons in their past eight. That sounds like they are giving their fans a legit franchise to watch.

I, too, have disagreements with the way some things are handled but, at the bottom, I believe the Texans do what they do because they want to be NFL champions. I believe the Astros do what they do to prove their pet theories and any championships they may accrue are just a byproduct.

I think being respected in the Billionaire owner's club and in NFL circles comes first for McNair and championships 2nd. I think if you offered Bob a choice of the following;;

1 superbowl title in the next 2 decades with a 5-6 year stretch of losing that alienated fans somewhere over that time period, plus a scandal of some kind thrown in.

Or another 2 decades just like our last 8 years (6 non-losing seasons like you pointed out, and 2 division titles and playoff wins), general respectability, largely contented fan base, other owners back slapping him, etc...

I think Bob takes door number 2 every time.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by barrett

I think Bob takes door number 2 every time.

I don't always quote posts out of context.
But when I do, I make sure sodomy is implied.

Originally Posted by chuck

it pleases me that Luhnow is a league-wide pariah.

There was this Business Week article awhile back about the Astros, talking about Luhnow with the Cardinals before he came to Houston, where this was mentioned, which I enjoyed to no end:

But the people running the Cardinals’ old system resented the bespectacled interloper with his MBA and ideas about how they could do their jobs better. Behind his back, they referred to Luhnow as “Harry Potter”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...ets-data-reign

That said, I'm a Moneyball lover, so I find the Astros interesting at least.