Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Oilers Breakdown

As you all know by now, I am an avid sports fan, especially football. There are 32 teams in the league right now, but they have used 33 regular franchises in rotation throughout the NFL’s history. There have been other numerous teams, but from 1920 to 2021 those aforementioned 33 teams are the ones that stuck around in some form or fashion to help build the NFL.

Out of the 33 franchises that have stuck around in the NFL’s history and had the most influence on its history, you can’t write the history of football without the Houston Oilers. Bud Adams removed the Oilers from Houston to Tennessee in ‘97 and then changed the name to Tennessee Titans, along with the color scheme in 1999. He was also 1 of the original 8 owners who created the AFL, in opposition to the NFL. The 2 leagues merged in 1970.

I feel like Houston Texans should be the team name considered the odd man out, thrown out, and when the Tennessee Titans got a franchise they should have been forced to come up with their own color scheme. I like the name Tennessee Titans. I also like the name Titans in general. The Jets were the New York Titans from 1960 to ‘62 before changing their name to New York Jets in 1963. I even like the Titans logos. I just want Texans gone, and the Oilers to return.

I realize part of it is a legal situation. As vilified as Art Modell is by Cleveland for moving the Browns to Baltimore and calling them the Ravens starting in 1996. He did leave the team colors, records, and name to the city of Cleveland, so when they brought the Browns back in ’99, there wouldn’t be any red tape legally. But apparently, Bud Adams made it legally impossible for anyone to use Oilers and the color scheme ever again. I feel like calling someone the Dallas Texans, or Houston Texans throughout the NFL’s history is like calling someone from my hometown a Kansas City Missourian. I feel like it’s boring and unimaginative to my creative side. In no way am I trying to demean anyone, or anything, in this day and age where things are micromanaged, but it got me to thinking. I wonder if the team name is a reference to when the state of Texas was its own country from 1836 to 1845, when Sam Houston was their leader? Hence the foundation of where the city of Houston got its name. And, most team names tend to be synonymous with the area they represent.

I’ll say this, as someone born in July 1984, and growing up during the nineties, and 1^st decade of the 2000s, while the Houston Oilers were good from 1960 to 1962, then in the seventies under Bum Phillips. The decade of football played by the Houston Oilers from 1984 to 1993 was considered some of the best football in team history. I always said the run and shoot, and Warren Moon make those Columbia blue uniforms, with the white, and scarlet red look really good. And the ‘92, and ‘93 Oilers are 2 of the best teams to have the 2 biggest collapses of all time, and never win a Super Bowl. If you don’t believe me, being that you can find anything on YouTube, look it up. I was young, but I watched it live, and remember it well.