A (Columbia) Blue and Red New Year

This time, it's personal. VERY personal.

When the Houston Texans play the Tennessee Titans on New Year's day on the Texans' home turf, you'd better believe dad and I will be there. There is no more important game to us right now. It is the first step toward healing a wound from many years ago. Will we win? Of course. We have already beat the Tennessee Turds once this season IN THEIR STADIUM. But it's time for a homecoming. A homecoming, and a comeuppance. The Tennesse Traitors, and particularly Bud Adams, are going to find out the hard way you can never really go home again. We were left at the dance many years ago, clutching our sad memorabilia with tears in our eyes because that is all we were left with. That, and an enduring, burning bitterness toward those who jilted us. Is Bud Adams the most hated man in Houston? You bet your sweet bippy. I wonder if, when we beat the bejesus out of his Tennessee Tampons, he will flip us the finger, as he is wont to do when he wins? A real class act he is, right? No, I rather believe he and his Tennessee Twerps will leave the glory of Houston's Reliant Stadium and our triumphant Texans with their tails tucked between their legs and their heads down in shame. Which is as it should be.

I do hope that Adams enjoys the atmosphere of our new stadium. The one we WOULDN'T build for him, despite his unreasonable demands. When he didn't get what he wanted, he acted like a spoiled little boy and took his toys with him to another state. Oh, of course the Astrodome should have been good enough. And, in fact, as much as we love the Astrodome, we knew that our fair city would need a new stadium eventually, as the aging dome would surely give way to some other venue. And yes, we wanted a new stadium, too. We just didn't want to - and wouldn't - build it for Adams. So, I hope that he sees - and feels - the glory of a city and her people that have prospered and flourished after his departure. I hope he feels the power and the memory of Earl Campbell, Dan Pastorini, George Blanda, Warren Moon, Ken "Snake" Stabler, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, and Bum Phillips. For they are there with us, always. And I trust he will know the force of Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, T.J. Yates, Mario Williams, Kareem Jackson, Matt Schaub, Wade Phillips, and Gary Kubiak.

Sunday will be the first time dad and I will set foot in Reliant Stadium. I hear tell it's an amazing venue. We will go with the memory of our dear Oilers in our hearts and with the structure of the Astrodome only steps away from our seats. We will be able to finally reconcile our past with our present and begin to heal old hurts. We will rejoice with the Texans as they make our city proud once more. Because that's what Houstonians are all about. Resilience. We have had so much taken away from us. The house, nay, the whole neighborhood my dad grew up in, then I grew up in? Gone. Astroworld? Gone. His high school, the same one I would have attended? Gone. Our favorite restaurants/drive ins/places of entertainment? Gone. You see, Houstonians are accustomed to the impermanence of things. But we always look to the future and know there are better days ahead. And Sunday starts a new day, a new year, a new era for us all.

Because this time it's personal. VERY personal.