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

[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.

[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 barrett

For some reason I enjoy rooting for a loser far more than for a team that wins all the time.

Well, you've clearly found your ideal team. And I will say that I am definitely a more mellow fan all the way around than I was ten years ago. Or even five years ago. Wiser? Obviously not.

[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 chuck

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

Perhaps. The Broncos board I attend (now THAT is a miserable place this year) has three (count 'em) three very public Patriots fans and a fourth that turns into a Brady worshipper every January.

I loathe people who think it's their duty to visit boards of other teams just to troll and talk trash but this board tolerates the Pats fans plus one resident Raiders fan and a resident Chiefs fan. Go to your own fan board if you want to gloat about how great your team is - don't pollute someone else's lawn.

(Disclaimer: I have visited fan boards of other teams but just to read their post-game meltdowns, not to join and shitpost. It is fun to read comments when a team blows a big lead like those Oiler playoff teams of yore.)

[Keith]

Originally Posted by chuck

I have no idea how old barrett is but him aside, I'm pretty sure Keith and I are the youngest idiots in here. Which feels nice, let me tell you.

I go back to the Luv Ya Blue days.

Ha, I guess so. Luv Ya Blue days as well. Houston Oilers Number One was my jam. On vinyl.

Probably earliest Oilers game memory I still have was the road playoff loss to the Raiders in 1980. Can't tell if I truly remember games before then firsthand or if I just remember it from watching highlights over the years. I mean, aside from knowing Bum and Earl in the late 70s - and who didn't back then - that was the earliest game I still remember, though I moved to Spring the winter of 78/79 I think. Anyway, in the '80 wild card, Raiders pulled away in the 4th, and my dad took me out for ice cream before it was over. Bum's last game iirc.

Little did I know then that there is not enough ice cream in the world for coping with 35-3 and Frank Reich some 13 years later.

P.S. I was at Alameda County Coliseum for an A's-Rays game earlier this summer. Place is a time warp back to the 80s. I kinda dug it. Not many multi-purpose stadiums like that left anymore. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Keith

Ha, I guess so. Luv Ya Blue days as well. Houston Oilers Number One was my jam. On vinyl.

Probably earliest Oilers game memory I still have was the road playoff loss to the Raiders in 1980. Can't tell if I truly remember games before then firsthand or if I just remember it from watching highlights over the years. I mean, aside from knowing Bum and Earl in the late 70s - and who didn't back then - that was the earliest game I still remember, though I moved to Spring the winter of 78/79 I think. Anyway, in the '80 wild card, Raiders pulled away in the 4th, and my dad took me out for ice cream before it was over. Bum's last game iirc.

Little did I know then that there is not enough ice cream in the world for coping with 35-3 and Frank Reich some 13 years later.

P.S. I was at Alameda County Coliseum for an A's-Rays game earlier this summer. Place is a time warp back to the 80s. I kinda dug it. Not many multi-purpose stadiums like that left anymore. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing.

This thread brought me out of my lurkerhood. I guess I'm another "young" idiot. I was in elementary school for Luv ya Blue, and remember the excitement that was in the air more than the actual games. My family got Oiler season tickets starting around 1984 -- after the Ed Biles and Chuck Studley eras, there wasn't exactly a waiting list. That's when I really started getting into the Oilers and the NFL and obsessed over any crumb of information that I could find about the team, which was usually limited to John McClain's daily notebook in the paper. Like everybody else I went through the rollercoaster ride/soap opera until they left town. Personally, the loss to Montana and the Chiefs was more disappointing than the Buffalo game because that team was on such a roll. I remember on the ride home we were all just numb.