Why Didn’t They Just Call Themselves the Oilers Again?

August 4, 2020June 9, 2021 Stan

Let me first answer that question. Bud Adams, despite the fact he changed the nickname to Titans when he moved the team from Houston to Tennessee, retired the name Oilers in 1999. Adams originally made his fortune in the petroleum business so we can perhaps understand where he’s coming from. Then came the year 2002 and the news that Houston had a new professional football team. On March 2, it was announced the franchise had narrowed the list of potential names down to five: Bobcats, Stallions, Texans, Toros, and Apollos.

Now I don’t know about you but I’m looking at that list thinking to myself this is a NO BRAINER. Stallions would be a great name. First of all the only city I ever remember using the name was Birmingham from the USFL. But the USFL has been out of business for a long time and no college team I can think of has that name. Not to mention that Texas has over one million horses and is second only to California in thoroughbred breeding stallions. Apollos seemed to be a rip off of the Astros and a bobcat is not an animal I associate with the state of Texas. Toros seemed a bit too Spanish but hell they ended up putting the image of a bull on the helmets anyway (there must have been some sort of compromise there). If they were insistent on putting a bull on the helmet then why not the Houston Bulls? Which leaves us with the Texans, the other possibility.

Over 65,000 people voted on the name and Texans actually won. THANKS FOR THE GEOGRAPHY LESSON. What do you think Texans (I’m talking here about people who live in Texas) would think if any of the other 49 states named their team after the state in which they’re located. Something like the Miami Floridians or the Phoenix Arizonians or even the Denver Coloradians. We, yes I live here, would think “what a stupid choice for a name”. Do the people in Houston really think that when the people outside of Houston hear that name they ask the question “Houston? Where is Houston again?” Bob McNair, the owner of the Texans, should have taken a page from Bud Adams’ book. McNair founded Cogen Technologies, which produces electricity and steam. I guess the name Houston Steamrollers never crossed his mind. You would think most folks would want a name like that which somehow depicts what the opposition will face on the field. As if to think when the Pittsburgh Steelers come to play the Texans they have images of the Alamo with Davy Crockett at defensive end wearing a coonskin cap for a helmet and Jim Bowie at linebacker wielding a knife before each play.