POETIC JUSTICE
Here's why every Houston football fan should bask in Texans' big karmic win
Dec 18, 2023, 12:29 pm
Desmond King II and Sheldon Rankins of the Texans crush Titans QB Will Levis. Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images.
Apparently, clothes do not make the man.
The Tennessee Titans, in a screw-you move that would embarrass elementary school yard bullies, decided to wear decades-old, dead-and-gone Houston Oilers uniforms against the actual living, breathing Houston Texans on Sunday, December 17. The Titans even added an extra touch with “Oilers” in each endzone.
Nostalgia took a beating.
The Texans won 19-16 on a Ka’imi Fairbairn 54-yard walk-off field goal in the final seconds of overtime, dealing the Titans’ playoff hopes a death blow in the process (and karmic blow). Nice touch, Texans.
Tennessee hoarding the Oilers’ legacy has been an infuriating, irritating subject for Houston football fans (and legends) since the Titans began recognizing their birthright as Oilers several years ago.
We get the uniforms back.
That’s how this works, I don’t make the rules.
Sorry, not sorry.
Too bad, so sad.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 17, 2023
How it started…
A brief history: the Oilers, who were born in 1960 as an American Football League team, moved from Houston to Tennessee in 1997. The relocated franchise actually played two seasons as the Tennessee Oilers wearing the Oilers celebrated Columbia blue uniforms. The franchise rebranded its name to Titans in 1999 and adopted new team colors.
A few years ago, the Titans began “honoring,” as they put it, their roots as Oilers. This whole Tennessee Oilers reawakening has never sat well with Houston fans who have maintained their recessive love for the original Oilers despite the Houston Texans joining the NFL in 2002.
In Houston, fans consider the Titans donning throwback Oilers uniforms Sunday as a slap in their face and AFC South declaration of war.
It’d be one thing if Nashville had any connection with the oil industry, derricks, gushers, black gold, Texas tea, big money, America’s best BBQ — or, anything that connects with Houston or the Lone Star State for that matter.
Fun fact: you wanna talk oil? Texas produces 1.8 billion barrels of crude a year, by far No. 1 in the United States. Tennessee is No. 46, producing 165,000 barrels, a comparative drop in the gas tank.
Tennessee dressing up as cosplay Oilers? Stop embarrassing yourself.
Entering the 2023 season, the Titans went nuclear by announcing they would wear throwback Oilers uniforms, complete with the word “Oilers” and derrick image on their helmets, for two home games, October 29 against the Atlanta Falcons and December 17 against, here’s a shocker, the Houston Texans.
Yeah, real subtle.
The Titans have nine home games on their schedule. They went out of their way to hold Oilers nostalgia day against Houston.
The Titans basically said, “You don’t like it, Houston? Do something about it.”
…and how it ended
Oh, Houston did. The Texans won despite starting quarterback Case Keenum, who hadn’t started a game since 2021. The Texans played without rookie sensation quarterback C.J. Stroud, electrifying rookie receiver Tank Dell, rookie defensive star Will Anderson Jr., and leading pass catcher Nico Collins.
No, in your face, Tennessee.
(By the way, the price of gas in Tennessee: $2.74 a gallon. In Houston: $2.50. At my corner Valero, $2.38.)
You couldn’t blame Texans fans for being sore winners. Here’s ESPN 97.5 FM talk host Paul Gallant rubbing the Titans’ nose in their humiliating, heartbreaking defeat:
“Some advice: If you're going to troll an entire city for a full week because 25 years ago your dad was too poor to buy his own house in an extremely affordable city, make sure you don't end up losing to a third-string QB while wearing the most valuable thing you own. Life is tough enough when you're living in the shadow of what, the 10th-best football program in the SEC this century? You'd hate to get skid marks all over your pretty clothes after showing your whole ass.”
I understand about half of that, but who cares? The Titans got what they had coming.
The perfect win to watch — almost
For sure Houston laid the smackdown on Tennessee on Sunday … except for one thing.
Football fans in the Volunteer State got to watch the game on local TV. That’s because the Texans-Titans game aired on CBS and Tegna doesn’t own a CBS affiliate in Tennessee.
Back in Houston, Tegna owns KHOU, the CBS affiliate. Tegna and DirecTV are in a pee-ing match over money, and until a settlement is reached, Tegna is blacking out its stations’ programming on DirecTV. So for the past three weeks, DirecTV subscribers haven’t been able to watch Texans games.
This wouldn’t have been so painful in recent years when the Texans sucked, but the Texans are competitive and fun to watch this year. The Texans have three more games this season and they’re all on KHOU. Reportedly no settlement is in sight, and guess what, the Super Bowl will be telecast on CBS in February.
I am a DirecTV subscriber. I wonder how much refund I’ll be getting because these two multi-billion dollar companies don’t give a crap about their customers?
I’m putting the over/under at $0.00
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The NFL Draft, NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs all dwarf baseball in the sports pecking order this week, but that doesn’t detract from the Astros playing their best stretch of baseball in the still young season. Following up taking two of three from the previously sizzling hot Padres by sweeping the Blue Jays three straight has the Astros’ record at a just fine 13-11 as they open a three-game weekend series in Kansas City. 13-11 may not sound special, because it isn’t, but having come home from St. Louis last week with the record at 8-10 makes 13-11 a quality leap. Plus, a 13-11 pace over 162 games extrapolates to 87 wins, which last season were enough to win the American League West and for an AL Wild Card spot.
Batter up!
While no one will be confusing the potency of this Astros’ lineup with those of the 2017 or 2019 juggernauts, some welcome perking up may have kicked in, despite Yordan Alvarez still not getting rolling. After Joe Espada gave Christian Walker a “mental rest” game off Monday, Walker produced a three-hit game Tuesday and a two-hit follow-up Wednesday, including a home run. Walker’s .202 batting average and .640 OPS are still lousy, but a much lesser grade of lousy than the statistical abyss he was in starting the Toronto series. Yainer Diaz has been much worse than Walker to this point. Diaz managed at least one hit in all three games of the Jays series. Baby steps. He is still sitting on an unacceptable three walks in 78 plate appearances.
Speaking of hits and walks, Jeremy Pena carries a 14-game hitting streak into the weekend. One-quarter of the way to Joe DiMaggio’s big league record! Willy Taveras set the Astros’ record with a 30-gamer back in 2006. Pena hasn’t been crushing it during the streak, during which he has just two multi-hit games. He’s had stretches where he has hit better and slugged harder (2022 postseason anyone?), but while too small a stretch to declare a leap has been made, it is noteworthy that over the 14 games Pena has drawn six walks. That gives him eight free passes in 24 games this season. More math fun! That’s one walk drawn per three games, which over 162 games would make for 54. Last season in 157 games played Pena drew a paltry 25 walks. Add in that his defense has been superb so far this season with a number of fabulous plays made and just one error committed, and Pena could be making modest offensive improvement that makes him a meaningfully better player.
Furthermore speaking of hits and walks, it’s been a struggle on both fronts the last couple of weeks for Jose Altuve. A two-week funk does not represent a crisis, but there are troubling trends that bear watching as Altuve sets to turn 35 years old May 6. Over his last 14 games, Altuve’s OPS is a sub-Maldonadian .547. In this stretch he has two doubles as his lone extra base hits and drawn just two walks. Altuve has struck out 22 times in 24 games. Setting aside the short 2020 COVID season when Altuve never got it going, last year he had the worst strikeout percentage of his career, while his walk rate was his worst since 2015. So far this season, Altuve’s strikeout rate is more than 20 percent worse than last year’s, with his walk rate down 30 percent from 2024. He is hitting line drives at a much lower rate than ever before, and struggling to get the ball in the air. The season still isn’t 20 percent old, but since Altuve last season finished with his lowest OPS (.790, again, exempting 2020) since 2013, and his current .728 OPS is 62 points lower than that, the antennae of at least mild concern are up. This is the first season of Altuve’s five-year 125 million dollar contract extension. Remember, the Astros would not offer Kyle Tucker a contract that took him to age 35.
Bringing the heat!
Hunter Brown makes his next start Sunday in Kansas City. Good luck Royals! Until getting a doubleheader against the pathetic Rockies Thursday, K.C. was averaging under three runs per game. Brown's earned run average through five starts is 1.16! It's waaaaay early to focus on this, but the best season ERA for an Astro pitcher who qualified for the statistical lead (one inning pitched per team game played) belongs to Nolan Ryan who posted a 1.69 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Over a full-schedule season, Justin Verlander's 1.75 in 2022 is the standard. Brown has fired 24 consecutive shutout innings. Ryan Pressly holds the Astros’ record with 38 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Orel Hershiser set the Major League record by finishing the 1988 regular season with a ridiculous 59 straight shutout innings. Yes he won the National League Cy Young Award. The Cy Young is strictly a regular season award. Hershiser in 1988 also won the League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award, and World Series MVP.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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