Will he be a Titans fan?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Cast Away
wesperkins — 9 years ago(December 28, 2016 08:24 AM)
For decades, Memphis tried unsuccessfully to get an NFL team. Finally one comes and it's moved to arch rival Nashville. They were not even trying to get one for very long. I wonder if he will support the Titans or view it as a team in enemy territory like so many in Memphis did. Based on his quote, I don't see him being a huge Titans fan.
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Joel_S — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 05:27 AM)
I'm not from Tennessee so I don't know what the sports politics were/are during the 90s and early 2000s, but I grew up in Houston during the 90s, so I know about the Oilers who became the Titans. Based on the quote, I always got it as astonishment that an NFL franchise moved and became a new team relatively locally. If you're a kid today you probably don't remember the Houston Oilers, but if you got rescued from an island in 2000 and had been away for 5 years, it would be a surprise to learn Tennessee has a football team.
Though I do remember in the early 90s the sleazebag owner Bud Adams was threatening to move the team from Houston to Nashville, before the deal was finalized in 1996.
I didn't realize Nashville and Memphis had some rivalry. I do remember early rumors that the Oilers would be called the Nashville Fiddlers, which sounded stupid as hell. I guess they went with Tennessee Titans (and rightfully so) to get statewide support. -
wesperkins — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 08:04 AM)
As a football fan, I hated to see the Oilers leave Houston. They were an important part of AFC history and had some epic matchups with Pittsburgh and Miami and Cleveland and hekk a lot of teams lol. They actually moved to Memphis for the first year, then permanently moved to Nashville. They were not well received in Memphis, bc we knew it was just a one year thing while Nashville built their stadium. We had been trying for years to get a team. In the late 80's, the NFL had 5 possible expansion cities: Jacksonville, charlotte, Baltimore and some other city I can't remember. Anyway, every city but Memphis got a team. So we were bitter about hosting Nashville's team for one year. Bc we didn't support them it made us look bad. But we also knew that Tennessee wasn't getting 2 teams. In states in the south, most states have the one dominate big city. Georgia has Atlanta, Mississippi has Jackson, Alabama has Birmingham.. well Tennessee has 2 cities almost identical in size and fighting each other for power. At one census, Memphis was 40 and Nashville 41 in city size to tell you how close they were. So we really don't like each other. So that's a brief history lesson of Memphis Nashville history lol. When they added in the joke about us losing a team, someone writing must have known a little bit of that history.
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Joel_S — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 08:05 PM)
I can kind of understand the Memphis vs. Nashville thing better now with your explanation. But from an outsider looking in, it's not like one city really has it over the other. Memphis has the Grizzlies after all.
In Houston, smaller city Dallas basically owns Texas and national love and attention with the Cowboys and the various TV shows. What's worse is that TV show about big oil families was supposed to be set in Houston, anyone who's in Texas knows all the super wealthy oil families are in Houston not Dallas. But the Cowboys had been to a few Super Bowls in the 1970s and just won one, so they were seen as the more sexy city, so the TV show became known as "Dallas".
The Oilers were always "that other football team in Texas", or worse "oh yeah, Houston's football team". Back in the day, sometimes networks would black out the Cowboys for smaller towns closer to Houston and only show Oiler gamesthis would enrage many people who didn't care for the Oilers. Truth be told, the Oilers never had much love more then 20 miles outside the Houston city limits, the rest of Texas was always Cowboys country. But since Bud Adams retired the team name and all the records, the new team was forced to become the Texans. The name change was also a hope to get more statewide support then the Oilers ever did. The crappy part for the city of Houston is that all the records and accomplishments of the Oilers are like in limbo. I'm not sure if the Titans and Tennessee owns them, but I sure as hell know Houston doesn't own them. The Oilers won the first two AFL championships in the 1960s, and a division title years later. The franchise was plagued by a cheapskate owner in Bud Adams, and incompetent front office management, which forced Houston to watch Dallas and their superior front office team management and owners build champion after champion.
You know it's weird this movie is now 16-17 years old, I still remember watching this flick in 2000 and hearing chuckles in the audience in Houston at the Oilers-Titans line. At that time, it was still a very recent transition and the Texans NFL expansion team were still 2 years away. -
wesperkins — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 08:58 AM)
When I think of the Oilers, I think of Earl Campbell, Bum Phillips, Love ya blue and 2 playoff losses. The famous Buffalo letdown of course, but being older school, I also remember the loss in the playoffs to Pittsburgh when Renfro caught the TD but was ruled out of bounds incorrectly. I think that play helped start the call for instant replay. I can see Dallas getting all the attention. From the outside, that's what we read about more. I always found it interesting, bc Houston is such a bigger city. At one time, I thought it was the 3rd biggest city in America? Being from Memphis, we play Houston a lot in college, so I like them and hope they do well. When they look good we look good. The Rockets have always been good with periods of some bad times in between, but have been a major player. I remember when they played the Celtics, I was so happy it was not the Lakers in the finals for once in the mid 80's. I do have to admit I didn't know the Astros moved to the American League for a couple of years after they did lol. Their 86 series against the Mets was one of the best ever. But I get when another city gets more attention and how it can affect the psyche (spelling?) of a city. I was shocked the Oilers left, bc they seemed to be relevant, and in a good stadium at the time, with a good fan base. But that's from the outside. I know when you have years of being good, but don't quite make it to the final game, it wears on a fan base. You take it for granted and get a little apathy. The Braves fans of the early 90's were as rabid as you will get, but later they had trouble selling out playoff games.
You brought up a great point about the Oiler records. Who does own them? Are they part of the Titan history? I never thought about it. That may warrant a google search lol. I also have wondered if the Texans are as well liked in Houston as the Oilers were? I get the whole name them Texans to get the whole state thing. That's why Tennessee isn't called the Nashville Titans. It didn't work immediately, but I think the younger generation who wasn't around doesn't hate that Nashville has a team and Memphis won't. I am a die hard Dolphins fan, but will never support a team out of Nashville. Being an old school Memphian, I hope that city fails at everything it tries. I know no one outside of Tennessee cares though lol. But next time you see someone from Memphis, ask them where they are from. 90% of them will say Memphis. Ask people from outside of Memphis and they will say they are from Tennessse. We don't associate ourselves with the rest of the state. And they don't care for us either. I live out of state now, but it's very common if we see a license plate from Memphis (our county names are on them) for us to randomly go up to people and just start talking about Memphis. My wife was from Birmingham, and always was mortified when I did that. She never has gone to a car in a parking lot and just started talking to people bc of where they are from. But it's a common thing for people from Memphis to do. In fact I thought everyone did that till I moved away. Idk if Houston is like this, but 75% of the people from Memphis I would guess love the city and have a lot of pride. The other 25% hate it and bash it for all its problems. It wasn't till I moved away that I saw that people called Memphis the Detroit of the South lmao. I never felt that way, and it's not nearly as crime ridden as people say. To me anyway. I always felt safe there. I knew someone from Houston and during Katrina, wasn't happy with the New Orleans refugees they took in after a little time. Now I'm just rambling lol. I'll end this reply now. -
cdz6969 — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 11:29 AM)
So many fan bases got screwed up when their teams moved. If an Owner is that much of a greedy SOB he needs to move the team because that old city doesn't want to build them a new stadium, there should be a plan by that league to replace the team in that old city within a certain amount of time.
The Cleveland Browns case is the only team that I could remember in any league that got this right. The owner wanted to move to Baltimore, he even changed the name of the team to the Ravens. Great. Baltimore has a new team with a new identity. Then within 4-5 years the new Cleveland expansion team took the name of the Browns. Now they could honor their past with bringing back Jim Brown etc.
Houston Oilers to Tennessee Titans Could have worked but didn't. Because the Houston new expansion team is now the Texans. No jersey # retirement of Earl Campbell, Warren Moon, etc.
Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis Colts. The team kept the name Colts. Did Johnny U get honored in either city stadium?
LA Rams - St. Louis Rams - LA Rams: This is even worse because the Rams won a Super Bowl in STL. Then they left and took their name too. Fans of the Kurt Warner / Marshall Faulk SB teams are to root for the LA team? Just doesn't seem right.
Leagues should just have a rule. If they are going to move a team, keep the name in the old city and build an expansion team around that name to keep the fan base happy.
Note: The city of Seattle wants to bring back the Sonics. Not the OKC Thunder team but a new team where it would assume the old Seattle's team identity. Hopefully they could find a owner who feels the same way.
Jesus would support Universal Health Care -
wesperkins — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 03:13 PM)
Great examples cdz!
Yes Cleveland did get it right, I wonder if that was bc of Art Modell changing the name or bc they negotiated it? I remember it was done in the middle of the night when they moved lol. And poor St Louis. They got screwed twice. Which records would they have used anyway lol? Cardinals or rams? Doesn't matter now but interesting. Retiring Jim Hart's number in LA doesn't seem right. Nor in Phoenix. I would have thought St Louis would have done whatever it had to, to keep the Rams. But then again, I'm not there and I'm sure the owner asked for too much. Their stadium wasn't that old I don't think. Wonder if the fans their wil root for the cardinals or Rams more?
When the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis we kept the name. We don't have grizzlies around Memphis but I was happy they kept the name. When you look at all time greats, those from the Vancouver days are included and that's fair I think. It's usually the fans that get screwed in these mega deals and moves.
You don't see it in baseball as much. Wonder why? Or am I just not remembering? -
Joel_S — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 08:21 PM)
Oh yeah St. Louis is a horrible situation. That whole thing with the Rams starting in L.A. then moving to St. Louis and winning a championship there, and then moving back to L.A. This is like an Israeli-Palestein level of conflict. Which fanbase owns what? Everyone seems to have some sort of legitimate claim. St. Louis has the worse end of it.
The Oilers move to Tennessee did create an urgency in Houston to grant new stadiums for the rest of the pro sports teams. The Rockets and Astros both got new stadiums/arenas within like 5 years after the Oilers left. And obviously, a new stadium was created to lure an NFL team back to Houston. So for all the crap owner Bud Adams pulled, the Oilers leaving Houston did have some positive ripple effects.
The bad part is that people in Houston are somewhat hesitant to hold the current owner Bob McNair accountable for Texans misfortunes. i.e., the idiotic move to sign an unproven QB in Brock Osweiler to a ridiculous $75 million contract. Fans blasted Bud Adams back in the day for being a cheapskate who mismanaged the team. There is a fear that if fans get too nasty with McNair, he may move the team again. The weird thing is that Bud Adams was too cheap to sign anyone to that kind of contract. Bob McNair is not cheap, but he is rather clueless on the NFL.
It was indeed the over 30 years of playoff losses in the NFL that helped create the apathy for the Oilers in Houston by the mid 90s. By 1996, not many people remembered the Oilers AFL championships as bonafide titles, what mattered was titles in the NFL. The loss in Buffalo was humiliating for the city of Houston, it was salt in the wound that same year in 1993 the Dallas Cowboys won yet another Super Bowl, and would add two more championships for Dallas before the 90s were over. I still remember the NBC announcers saying "the Cowboys won, and now all of Texas is happy!", and you could just feel most people in Houston just rolling their eyes collectively.
So when Bud Adams wanted to pack up the Oilers to Tennessee, really only the diehards that had been following the team since the early 1960s cared.
The Rockets and Astros are more beloved in Houston, and have a far richer legacy, so if either team bolted for another city, you would cause a fan riot.
The Texans, have less to show after 15 years in existence then the Oilers did after their first 15 years, but yes the Texans have a HUGE following. Games are regularly sold out. I'm not sure why this is. The "Luv Ya Blue" era in the 1970s was slightly before my time, but from what I am told, that was the most rabid era for football in Houston. Now I remember the 80s/early 90s Warren Moon era very well. Even during the Moon era, the Oilers didn't seem as popular as the Texans now, and the Oilers were a far, FAR better team back then then any Texans team that has ever existed. This will sound silly, but I think the name and logo of the Texans plays a huge part in this loyal following. The name and logo gives the team a cool, sexy aesthetic that the Oilers lacked. And I say that as someone who always loved the old Oilers Columbia blue jerseys. -
wesperkins — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 09:15 PM)
That's so interesting, bc from my outside vantage point, I was completely wrong. I was slightly young for the Luv ya Blue.. I was about 6 but remember watching a full astrodome with the blue Pom poms I believe it was and thinking "wow that's great". The Oilers loss to Pittsburgh in the afc championship (I believe) still gets to me because of the blown call. I was young, but already tired of Pittsburgh lol. The Warren Moon-Buddy Ryan era was great. Those were really some good teams. They just couldn't get over the hump. I can see the apathy it could create. However, bc of my early memories of the Oilers, I always pictured a loyal fan base then. More than I thought the Texans have. The stadium is sold out when I watch them, but it seemed like the Astro dome was louder. That could just be me though. Never been to either. Bc the Texans have become good not great, I pictured more apathy. I also think Bc the pundits shove the Patriots and Steelers down our throats as the only teams that can win, the Texans aren't seen as a team that can really make the super bowl anytime soon. I kinda agree bc of the QB situation. I will say, they put up one hell of a fight against the Patriots though. I think bc in my head, I pictured the Oilers more serious super bowl contenders, I assumed the Oilers had a bigger following.
I also found it interesting they had the name Oilers, bc when I think of oil I think of Dallas. Probably bc of the show. I think of Houston as a big city more than an oil city. I know there is lots of oil, but it's amazing how that one show Dallas can warp my perception.
I've wondered how Houston breaks down as far as college goes. Memphis for example, is in the middle of the SEC, and is split. Probably 50-60% Memphis fans, 20% Tennessee fans and 20% ole miss fans. The rest are split between Mississippi State, Alabama, etc. if Memphis does well one year in a certain sport, then those who aren't fans will join in for that year on the band wagon. It's a bigger basketball town than football, but the recent success of the Memphis football team is really starting to change that. Add in the basketball team is sliding down, it has made football more important than it was. But they LOVE the Grizzlies. They have captured that town and we are so proud of them.
I watched the 30 for 30 ESPN movie about Phi Slamma Jamma and Houston knocked out Memphis one year in the tourney. I've always thought Memphis and Houston had a lot in common as far as college goes. Except for the Cougars have had a lot more success in football. -
cdz6969 — 9 years ago(January 20, 2017 10:25 AM)
That's another city that got it right.. Sorta..
Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans. Kept the name for a while and eventually changed it to the Pelicans.
Charlotte 2 years after got an expansion team the Bobcats. They kept the name for 10 years because the Hornets were still in New Orleans / Oklahoma City. Then after they became the Pelicans, the Bobcats became the Hornets and assumed the history / identity of the Charlotte Hornets. Now they can have Muggsy Bouges night.
Still, had New Orleans changed their name from the start, Charlotte wouldn't have needed the Bobcats and could have just went straight to the Hornets.
Jesus would support Universal Health Care