Official Texans vs. Panthers Game Thread, 9/29/2019

[chuck]

Bob, did you spend your childhood in Houston?

[HPF Bob]

Roughly the elementary school years (Spring Branch area) and high school (Inwood Forest). Graduated from Eisenhower H.S. Also spent one year at Univ. of Houston before transfering to Univ. of Texas.

[chuck]

I did not know that. I would never in a million years have imagined that you grew up in Necktown much less that you went to high school at Eisenhower. I don't know why not. I guess I always imagined you were an Austin native.

Is Eisenhower even still a high school? I remember playing basketball games there when I was in high school. It was clearly going through a transitional period at that time, losing lots of students and changing demographics and so on.

[painekiller]

My father had Oiler tickets all the way back to Jeppesen Stadium, and I do remember going to a Colt 45 game in the temporary stands in the Domes parking lot. My first memory of the Oilers is during the Pastorini, Lynn Dickey as the QB days. Somehow I have a foggy memory of Sid Gilman on the sideline at a game.

My becoming a football fan was when George Webster, Curly Culp and Elvin Bethea. Another memory was being mad when they traded Kenny Houston. Seemed back then all of our stars were traded away. But I regress.

So most of you have confirmed we are a lot of "Old Goats" in here.

[barrett]

At just shy of 40 I'm definitely younger than the rest of you, but it encourages me to know my fandom will neither mellow nor grow wiser with age. Instead you bring me confidence I can stay the same miserable fan I am right now.

I was born in Massachusetts and football in particular and the Patriots in specific were totally irrelevant. Even the 1985 super bowl appearance was ignored. The Red Sox were king and the Celtics were close. The Bruins were a distant 3rd and the Patriots were ignored. So I had no actual favorite football team. Later in childhood I lived in Fresno California and fell in love with all things Fresno State. I held onto that even after moving to Texas in the mid 90s for High School.

In 2001 I moved to Houston 2 months before the Texans kicked off against the Cowboys. David Carr was my favorite ever Bulldog and the first draft pick. It felt ordained for me to love the Texans as Carr became the greatest player ever.

The opening win over the hated cowboys only confirmed the greatness of Carr and my lifetime commitment to the Texans. Neither of those things has worked out like I thought.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by barrett

I was born in Massachusetts and football in particular and the Patriots in specific were totally irrelevant. Even the 1985 super bowl appearance was ignored. The Red Sox were king and the Celtics were close. The Bruins were a distant 3rd and the Patriots were ignored. So I had no actual favorite football team.

Thank God you're not a Patriots fan or you'd be insufferable.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Thank God you're not a Patriots fan or you'd be insufferable.

Thank you Bob. I barely escape insufferable without the Patriots so I'm glad to avoid them.

I left when I was 7 so I honestly don't love any of the Boston teams anymore. The Astros are my overall favorite professional team simply because I share them with my son. Because of that I actively root against the Red Sox.

I love the Texans during football season and I get miserable when they lose. But happy miserable. For some reason I enjoy rooting for a loser far more than for a team that wins all the time.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Thank God you're not a Patriots fan or you'd be insufferable.

If he were a Patriots fan he most likely would not be on this board.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by painekiller

My becoming a football fan was when George Webster, Curly Culp and Elvin Bethea. Another memory was being mad when they traded Kenny Houston. Seemed back then all of our stars were traded away. But I regress.

So most of you have confirmed we are a lot of "Old Goats" in here.

George Webster was a holy terror when he came to Houston out of Michigan St. He was the Lawrence Taylor of his day. However, he blew out a knee in about his third or fourth year and was just a shell of himself after that. This was before the days of arthroscopic surgeries. Webster was named to the AFL All-Time team despite only playing in the AFL for three years (1967-69).

My friend, the late Dr. Bill McCurdy, was a champion for the Houston Sports Museum which had a home on the bottom floor of the Fingers Furniture Store on Cullen before it was torn down (home plate from Buffs Stadium was there at the exact location where home plate at Buffs Stadium once was). I got to tour the museum and among all the baseball memorabilia was a pair of size 19-1/2 playing shoes donated by Elvin Bethea. Bet that impressed a lot of ladies. The museum exhibits are in storage somewhere.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by chuck

Is Eisenhower even still a high school? I remember playing basketball games there when I was in high school. It was clearly going through a transitional period at that time, losing lots of students and changing demographics and so on.

Eisenhower was the Aldine ISD's answer to school integration lawsuits of the late '60s and early '70s. They took white students from Aldine HS and black students from Carver HS and put them in Eisenhower so they could tell federal judges they weren't "prejudiced" (the word "racist" thankfully was not part of the vernacular in those days).

To expedite this, it spent it's first few years as a combined junior high and senior high with different wings for each level so as to minimize high school boys, um, "integrating" with junior high girls.

By and large, the black and white kids self-segregated but they didn't create racial trouble like many of the parents thought we would. We all got along okay.

I remember the school had no "fight song" the first year so the marching band played the slow dirge-like alma mater song after every touchdown (which were few). I wish I could have suggested the band learn to play "Henry the VIII" from Herman's Hermits and just re-invent the lyrics. Heck, there's a major university up the road who is unashamed to play "I've Been Working On The Railroad" after every game.

The Inwood Forest area was thoroughly flooded out when Tropical Storm Allison hit. I have no idea how well it survived Harvey and Imelda but Allison destroyed the golf course and knocked out bridges so there became only one way in or out of large parts of the subdivision.