Win or lose, Texans give Houston fans reason to rally

In December 1996, three days before Christmas, the long-favored NFL franchise in Houston, the Oilers, played its last game in the Astrodome. The Oilers lost that game. The city of Houston lost the Oilers.

In a city where Oilers fans previously greeted the players with “love ya blue” rallies, the home team was missing. The men in blue on the field had left home to play for new fans in Tennessee. From 1996-2002, Houston had a professional football deficiency. Houston had a problem.

It wasn’t until 2002 that the city saw the birth of a new franchise, the Houston Texans. The city had won the rights to an expansion team over Los Angeles, who also vied for an NFL team. Houston had a solution.

A loyal fan base started to grow as officials unveiled pieces of what the newly conceived team would look like—the logo, team colors, a new stadium, the team name. Only one thing could excite fans more than these revelations.

The opening game was held Sept. 8, 2002 in Reliant Stadium, the new venue in Houston that would serve as the Astrodome’s replacement. That night, the Texans battled the Dallas Cowboys, Texas football royalty. The Texans won the game 19-10, a feat that had only been met one other time in expansion team history since 1960.

Since that game, the team has lost more games than it’s won, but fans remain loyal. We root for the home team because they’re from here. Win or lose, they’re our team and we’ve come to realize that what matters most isn’t always the number of wins, but having someone that you can rally for.