Wow! A Guest Poster !!

This is a guest post from Chance McClain.

When the Oilers left, Houston was left in a state of shock. This football-Mecca of a city no longer had a professional team and the fans were scarred. We got a taste of the fact that loyalty to a sports franchise was not a reciprocal emotion. The attachment we felt to the team was not given back and this was a sobering fact.

Flash forward a half a decade and for some absence truly made the heart grow fonder and Bob McNair was the knight in shining armor bringing professional football back to Houston, Texas. These fans were injured but loved football so much that they transferred their loyalty immediately and started bleeding Battle Red.

For others the wound was deeper. They recognized that The Texans coming to Houston was a great thing and were excited by the pageantry that surrounds a pro team in the city. They bought the gear and watched the games. They rooted for the team to win. Some of them bought PSL's and season tickets. But the attachment to the 32^nd franchise was guarded.

There was another group of Houstonians that were hurt more than the other two groups. These folks were disgusted by Bud Adams and The Oilers and gave up on the NFL product. Much like Major League Baseball is still recapturing fans from the strike The Texans are still fighting for this segment of fans.

This brings us to the 2005 NCAA football season. The Year of The Trojan. ESPN crowned USC as Champion of the Rose Bowl in September and the marketing machine was set on its highest gear. Unprecedented attention was given to the soon-to-be three-peaters and their quest for infamy. And all along Houston's own Vince Young was not-so-quietly looming in the shadows, doing the impossible much like USC's much-heralded Reggie Bush. Statistically they were both phenomenal, once-in-a-lifetime collegiate players. After the games of December 3^rd the stage was set. Vince Young versus two Heisman winners. The outcome of this game was predetermined. USC would win. ESPN was more concerned with USC beating the greatest teams in college history than beating Vince and the Longhorns.

January 4^th, 2006. We all remember the game. Leinart had amazing numbers. Reggie had amazing numbers. And the kid from Houston put on an inhuman show and shocked the nation with what has been called by some as "The greatest performance in the greatest game ever played". In a night that followed suffocating hype and under unparalleled football pressure, time stopped for a moment after the 4^th and 5, 8-yard Touchdown run by the Superhero with the strange throwing motion.

For four months Vince Young was electrifying stadiums, living rooms, and bars as he redefined the potential for the quarterback position. And all along The Texans were laying eggs in one of the most boring seasons in professional football history. In a city that was starved of professional football for so long and then forced to suffer through the uninspiring product on the field in 2005 it became apparent that the honeymoon was in fact over. The sold out Reliant Stadium was half-full. The beer vendors that were raking in the tips from a raucous crowd in the past were left picking lint balls out of their trousers. The tailgaters were uninterested. The hooligans in the Bull Pen were not wearing papier-mâché bull heads. Dads were cutting the grass at noon on Sundays and the television ratings proved it. The Texans sucked and earned the first pick in the draft.

No topic has ever been more heated on Houston sports radio stations than the Great Vince/Reggie debate of 2006. Period. Not steroids in baseball. Not the Rockets back-to-back championships. Not move Steve Francis to the two. Nothing. Ever.

The Texans are finally warranting front page consideration. After an embarrassing season The Texans are back in the headlines. However they are disproving the axiom that 'any press is good press' because with each passing day they are alienating themselves from people that love their city but only like The Texans…if that. What I would give to have been a fly on the wall of The Texans conference rooms as the PR spin machine tried to veil the Texans intentions with the first pick during the announcement of Gary Kubiak as head coach. Coach Kubiak was well coached. Every Vince Young question was stealthily deflected by the new chief to incorporate Vince and Reggie. When Bob McNair spoke he was certain to sing the praises of the stars of his 30^th ranked offense. And David Carr? His name was brought up more than Coach Kubiak's and one would think that David had just come off a Super Bowl victory with the way that The Texans brass were glorifying him.

Does that brass know that with limited exceptions, Houston has lost faith in Carr? I realize that they have made a great investment in the face of the franchise but have they considered the fact that the fans have not? David Carr may be a great quarterback someday. He may culminate his skills and make an NFL team happy. But he has lost this city and whether it is his, Dom Caper's, Chris Palmer's, the offensive line's, or nobody's fault is immaterial. He's lost the ability to rally the troops on the field and the fannies in the stands.

Vince Young can be the cog that galvanizes this city behind the team. He can be the piece of the puzzle that instantly creates an emotional connection to the organization. The Oilers showed us that football is a business and the only tie that each franchise has to the citizens of the cities they represent is geographic. We cohabitate Houston with The Texans, that's it. This is not about Vince the Longhorn. This is about Vince the Houstonian. He epitomizes the winning spirit that we Houstonians expect out of our team. The Texans have an opportunity to distance themselves from the heartache of the Oilers and create a bond with the people of this city that didn't dive in without testing the water. Everyone is quick to point out that winning cures all ailments and this is true. Winning will put butts in the seats and pique interest in the team. If The Texans win with Reggie Bush then Houstonians will yell and scream and cheer "They did it! They won! They are winners!"

If The Texans win with Vince Young the same fans will yell and scream and cheer "We did it! We won! We are winners!"

Big difference there folks.

Pick Vince Young