- 2 days ago
How fun will the Texans' road trips for 2026 be for fans? Seth and Sean lay them out and power rank them based on the city, stadium and grudge factor.
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00:00I like road trips. I like traveling to go see games. I don't get to do it as much as
00:03I used to
00:04because you and I have game day duties for the Texans, so we can't travel to go see road games.
00:09And we know that there's a lot of traveling Texans that do like to do that. Some travel to
00:12practically all of them. So I like to kind of rate the road trips at the beginning of the year,
00:18make some recommendations. I've been to some of these places before. I've been to probably
00:22half, maybe more of the stadiums of the cities that the Texans are going to be playing in this
00:28year. And you've played in most of these places too, so you know what it's like on a game day
00:33there from a player's perspective. I've played in most of these cities, not necessarily. Oh yeah,
00:37I've played in most of these stadiums. Yep. So I'll count them down here, Seth. This is
00:44one man's opinion on these road trips for you Texan fans out there. I always put the division
00:50games at the bottom, not so much because you hate Indianapolis and Tennessee so much, although
00:55that factors into my rating. Mostly because you can go to these every year if you want
01:00to. Yeah, there's nothing special about it. You can put it off and it's going to be just
01:04there. We're not reorganizing it anytime soon. Yeah, it's not like, oh my God, they play
01:07Green Bay once every eight years on the road. I really want to go see Lambeau when my team
01:12is there. So of those divisional opponents though, which do you have at the bottom?
01:18Colts at the bottom, just because there's nothing remarkable out in Indianapolis.
01:23Nashville at least is kind of a genuine tourist attraction. It's got a nightlife to it.
01:27Yeah. Indianapolis is a place that like John Mellencamp wrote a song, or no, Tom Petty
01:32wrote a song about having to get the hell out of Indiana. Right. And the Colts weirdly
01:36use that as some kind of an anthem. You know? Yes. Yeah.
01:40Somebody is saying, I got to get the hell out of Indianapolis. Yeah. Some little trollop
01:44that's there and tired of it has to get out of there. And they're like, yeah, this is our
01:48song. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yep. Cool. Now Indianapolis is nice though. If you do want to go and be
01:53able to walk to the, you know, stay at a hotel, walk to the stadium and everything.
01:56Yeah. Everything's right there. Yeah. That part of it's nice. That part's cool.
02:00You can go, you can go, go to a steakhouse where somehow they've made seafood, the prime
02:05attraction and have some of that shrimp that's flown in from out somewhere. They didn't catch
02:10it in the, in the Mississippi river. They better not have. Yeah. They better not have.
02:15So Indy would be nine Titans would be eight. Although I will acknowledge that Nashville is
02:20a, is a fun city to be in. I would say after that. And again, so people are like, well,
02:27is Jacksonville seven? No, Jacksonville is obviously on a different burner this year
02:31because the game's in London. So we'll get to them. We'll get to Jacksonville. So among
02:36the other non Titan, non Colt games, I have the Eagles seventh on this list. It's just
02:44fear of violence. Well, a little bit. Yeah. I mean, this is a stadium that I don't know
02:49if they still do, but at one point they had a judge in the stadium to be able to adjudicate
02:54citations. They got rid of that. I think just because of, for PR purposes, it was never clear
02:58that they got rid of it because they didn't need it anymore. I think they got rid of it for
03:02PR purposes. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. So, you know, it's weird though that I don't
03:06think kids these days would understand it because tickets have gotten so expensive. It's not like
03:11it used to be at a lot of NFL. It used to be genuinely terrifying. And, uh, and I'm guessing,
03:19I'm guessing concession prices have gone up too. So even just people aren't necessarily drinking
03:24as much as they used to. Uh, yeah, it used to be scary as hell at a lot of places
03:29like in the
03:30Northeast, like Philadelphia or Cleveland, especially. Yep. So, um, I think the environment
03:35would be good. It's just traveling on the, some of it's just traveling on Christmas Eve
03:39or Christmas day. I like, I like being home on Christmas, you know? Yeah. That's part of
03:43it. Number six would be the commanders. Um, again, cold weather game. I'm not anti cold
03:48weather, like in terms of going to a game, as you'll find out later on this list. Um, but
03:53the state, Amy and I went to that stadium last year during the bye week. It's not a good
03:57stadium except for the sports book in the stadium, which is awesome. Yeah. I like the sports book
04:01in the stadium, but that would be number six would be the commanders. Do they have, do
04:05they, uh, are there blanked out sections of seats in that stadium? It used to be a huge
04:11capacity and now it's less than that. I don't recall that. I mean, we went for a Monday night
04:15game that was Jaden Daniels versus Caleb Williams. So yeah, I don't, yeah, not that I recall.
04:21You know what? Their new stadium is going to be finished in 2030, which depresses me because
04:26it kind of gave me an idea of, Oh, if we're talking about a new Texan stadium, this might
04:31be something that's in our lives for a long time. Uh, or it actually gets done. Yeah.
04:36They, they, I mean, the Texans, they haven't even, they haven't even decided to build a
04:39new stadium or anything, but if they did, it might be a long, long ways off. Well,
04:42the lease ends in it at, uh, reliant in 2032. So they're probably not even breaking ground
04:49on anything until, until 2030, at least. Um, number five, Cleveland Browns, um, the Browns
04:55road game in week 10, I'm ranking the road trips based on recommendations to go there.
05:00Probably your best chance for getting a win on the road, I would say. Yeah. Cleveland.
05:04So if you want to be there for a win, that's a good one. If we go with a grudge
05:08factor,
05:08there's a chance that Deshaun Watson is still walking upright and starting quarterback.
05:14Possibly if he ever is at all this year, nobody knows what's going to happen with the Browns
05:17quarterback situation. But also I think that would be, I would, uh, I would be in for a, whether
05:23you have any kind of grudge against Deshaun, but then also be the, if Shadour is starting
05:27by that point, it's going to be a big story, you know, for better, for worse, whatever it
05:31is, he's either going to be, people will have decided by week 10, whether he's going to be
05:37the greatest quarterback of all time or whether he's garbage and trash, et cetera, et cetera.
05:41I'm glad you brought this up. Cause I, I said this on, um, on Friday is that I think I
05:46said
05:46it when John Harris was on with me on Friday is that if Deshaun Watson is starting for the
05:53Browns in week 10, it means he's probably having a pretty good season. Yeah. That's a good point.
05:58Right? Yeah. Cause if he's having a bad season by week 10, they'll be like, we got to get the
06:02young guys in there. We got to see what, yeah, we got to start developing these guys, see what
06:06we got all of that. Yeah. And I also, I think that I remember I was talking to Albert Breer
06:10after
06:11the game a couple of years ago when Deshaun came in and it was his first game back from suspension
06:15and he's playing against Houston for the first time. Um, Breer commented to me that he was,
06:20he was surprised that there wasn't more venom for Deshaun or acrimony for it. And I, and
06:26I told him at the time, I think most people are just tired of being a spectacle. You know,
06:31we were just, we were tired of the entire ordeal at that point. Nobody, you didn't really get
06:36a sense from the fans that, Oh, Hey, this is a vengeance game or anything like that. We just
06:41didn't, people didn't want to talk about it. No, no dude. It was a game that
06:44Kyle Allen started. Kyle Allen was starting for the Texans. Deshaun was terrible in that
06:51game and the Browns won by two touchdowns. It was, yeah, it was, that's you, you're spot
06:56on. We were just a spectacle for other reasons. Also just the state of the franchise as well
07:02beat down. Now at that point, Easterby had been fired at that point, but, uh, so that probably
07:08felt pretty good, but, uh, you're, you're spot on. So number five, uh, the rock and roll
07:13hall of fame up in Cleveland, if anybody's interested in that. Have you been? No, I
07:18haven't either. And I fly into and out of Cleveland all the time and drive right past
07:22it. And I haven't done it. I don't want to go. I don't feel very rock and roll to go
07:26into the rock and roll museum at 2 PM sober on a weekday. I feel like I need, uh, I
07:33need
07:33to be in a certain kind of state of mind. Yeah. You got to lather up for that one. For
07:37sure.
07:37For sure. Um, counting down, rating the road trips. Number four Steelers week 13, Sunday
07:44night football. Yeah, that'd be a good one. Great atmosphere. Amy and I went to a Brown
07:49Steelers game on the Texans bi-week two seasons ago. That was when the bi-week was week 14 in
07:55December. Underrated city too. Pittsburgh's underrated city. There's a lot to do in Pittsburgh.
08:00It's a, it's a lot smaller than people realize. And it's not just small because of the population.
08:04It's just, it's slapped down into this valley in between the mountains. And, uh, it's just
08:09kind of got a unique feel to it. It's a fun place. Uh, there's no grudge factor with the
08:14Steelers that I can think of off the top of my head. Other than that, it feels like Aaron
08:17Rogers is, it's kind of like that guy that you've already beaten down and you're just,
08:22you're imploring him to stay down just for your own good. Stay down. He's just, he's going
08:26to get back up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which he did. He looked like an old man for about five
08:31years now and it's not going to be any better this season. Should he shave his beard? Would
08:36that help? Cause he's got the gray. No, cause I think the beard looks good on him. I know
08:40the gray beard on an athlete looks, uh, you never know quite what to make of that, but
08:44I like, uh, I feel like he needs the beard. Yeah. Um, someone's saying, how is Philly
08:47not nine on your list? You'll die if you go to that game. Fair point. But they're, uh,
08:53like Philly, I don't know. Like I'm, I'm guessing they're not actually all that physically
08:57violent, very, it's not like that in most places anymore, but they'll, they'll harass
09:01the hell out of you. And they don't care whether you're with your six year old son or not. They'll
09:06just, they'll harass you. There will not be Christmas cheer being spread at the link on
09:11Christmas Eve that night. No, no, no. So I have Steelers number four. Again, that's a cold
09:15weather game. So take that how you will. I'm not anti going to cold weather games. Um, number
09:21three chargers week nine LA trips are fun. You know, the weather's going to be good. So
09:28five stadium, so five stadium is on the short list of stadiums that I've, that I want to
09:33go to. I've heard great things about so five stadium. What about, um, the atmosphere there
09:38for chargers games has never been, uh, like regarded as a, like all that impressive or anything,
09:45but I have, I don't know. I, that was also included when the Rams were good and the chargers
09:49weren't, but it's not, it's not like a, Oh, you got to go and, and feel what it's like to
09:54watch a
09:54game there. Um, but it's just, it's warm weather. It's not like LA is a fun place to visit unless
09:59you
10:00have something specific to do. Yeah. Yeah. And you go take your, you know, your Englewood tourist
10:05trip or whatever. Oh yeah. The, the maps with the houses of the stars and stuff like that.
10:10Do they still, do they shop Friday and all that? Yeah. I want to buy one of those maps, man.
10:15I,
10:15I like to having the map in my hand. I'm sure you can get it on an app now.
10:18Um, so that's number three based almost entirely on weather. Um, number two Packers. Ironically,
10:26I have LA and their nice weather. Number three, I have the Packers Monday night football week 17
10:33at number two. It is going to be wicked cold there. It's going to be crazy cold. It's the best
10:42football environment that I've ever been in. And I've been twice. I went once back in 2008 when the
10:48Texans played there. Amy and I went again about four years ago in November for, uh, Seattle for
10:54Russell Wilson versus Aaron Rogers back when both could still play. And it's Monday night. So you
10:59can go to one of the many bars in green Bay on Sunday and just watch the full slate of
11:03games with
11:04a bunch of, a bunch of cheese heads in green Bay, or did you have to stay in Appleton?
11:08We stayed in Appleton. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they do that thing in green Bay. Like they do in college
11:13towns for big college games where all of a sudden the Marriott, which is one 89 a night. Most of
11:18the
11:18year is in one of those nights where it's seven 89. And that's what happened. I had to deal with
11:24that in Binghamton this week. You did? It was, uh, it was going to be luckily this,
11:29because this, the, the, the one college at Binghamton graduated at 815, 830 AM on a Friday
11:35morning. It wasn't as bad, but the, the hotel rates for Friday and Saturday were like $475 a
11:42night. Yeah. It's like any standard Marriott or something like that. Was it because of the
11:46graduation? They, they, yeah, a hundred percent. They bumped up the prices. Yeah. Yeah. That. And there
11:50were other like Ithaca college, which is in the region, had a graduation the same
11:54weekend. So we stayed in Elmira, which was more reasonable, but still pretty pricey
11:59for staying in Elmira. I think the Red Sox had a farm team in Elmira back in the day,
12:04if I'm not mistaken, they did like a single a team, I think back in the day. Um, it was
12:08like a, it was like $205 for a night at a, in a, in a, what was it? Where were
12:13we in?
12:13One of those, uh, Marriott types, uh, places like a courtyard or something like
12:17that. Like a, no, it wasn't even a courtyard. Fairfield Inn. It was
12:20a Fairfield Inn. Yeah. That's the, the pecking. $205. Yup. It goes Marriott. Free
12:25breakfast. Courtyard, town place, and then Fairfield Inn. Is Fairfield below
12:30time, town place? I think it is. Oh, cause town place is sweet. It's sweet. Yeah.
12:34Yeah. Fairfield is always super clean. Whenever I've stayed in a Fairfield, I
12:38always feel like it was just recently renovated. I got a kind of a, I always
12:41look at, I see a Fairfield and a residence in, and the residence in will be
12:45more expensive. I'm like, no, I'm not going to go where your kids had diarrhea all
12:49over the couch as you were cooking, as you were, as you were cooking scrambled
12:53eggs on the stove and, and let, you know, uh, caught a couch cushion on fire.
12:58Right. Right. Right. Right. I'm going to go to a Fairfield Inn. Just a bunch of
13:01business travelers that were in and out. Yeah, man. Amy and I just stayed at one a
13:05week ago when I had, I had a, I had the, uh, purse bingo event that I was doing up
13:09in, uh, for last Friday in Conroe, right on Lake Conroe there. And I'm like, I'm not
13:14driving an hour and a half back home on Friday night after a few glasses of wine.
13:18We stayed at the Fairfield Inn up there. Was it $205? Like it wasn't Elmira? No, it
13:23was, uh, it was $142. Yeah.
13:26Don't worry. Things will turn up, Sean. Things will get better for you. Thanks, man.
13:29Appreciate it. Not everybody can, uh, you know, take a vacation to Elmira for a night.
13:33No, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Meanwhile, I'm in Conroe. Hey, Brandy, let me go show you
13:38the, uh, aging, uh, abandoned smokestacks down the road. That's it, man. That's how your
13:42marriages stayed together so long. All those Elmira vacations, nothing like upstate New
13:47York cities to feel awesome. Absolutely. Yes. How are so many things so dilapidated?
13:56It's crazy. Elmira, Elmira Corning is actually kind of like a happening spot for upstate New
14:01York. Um, number one, number one Jags London trip. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Trip to London, huge
14:11divisional game. Um, I would say enough said on that one. I think that it's, no, that
14:17would be a international trips always got to be number one, right? I feel like, I feel
14:20like London's got a little bit of a Houston thing going on where every time I've heard
14:24about people going to their, to go into a game over there, they talk about how the driving
14:28is a nightmare and that you got to really plan a long time if you're driving anywhere.
14:33So I would, I would, I would try to map out exactly, you know, how close I am to the
14:38stadium.
14:38What's a fun place to stay where we can go to some pubs and everything and not have to
14:42be in a rental car driving on the wrong side of the road. Absolutely. Yeah. For any of you
14:47who are going over there, just know that. Okay. Oh yeah. They drive on the left side of
14:52the road. Yes. Yes. Which they call a starboard. Yeah. Yeah. Port starboard. Yeah. Or no, what
14:59is it? Is left? I forget. Is that port? I think left is port. Yeah. I think, I think you're
15:04right. Um, Spring Hill suites is also part of the Marriott family. Somebody's pointing
15:08out. I don't know where that fits in, in the pecking order. Um, I'm not generally good
15:12with any Marriott except residents in is dicey. And I think it is, I can only guess it's because
15:17people just, they, they treat it like they treat it like their own homes, except that they
15:21know they're not going to have to clean up. Well, you with the kid with the diarrhea on the
15:25couch, I'm never staying at one again. Now I feel like that's a very specific story that
15:31I'm just thinking about a family on vacation in Orlando and by, by day three, one of the
15:35kids has gotten into something or whatever. Yes. Yeah. All right. Pain and Pendergast with
15:39you. So those, that's your road trip rating right there. I like your grudge topic. I may
15:43repurpose that for tomorrow. Texans schedule via grudges. I like that. I couldn't come up
15:48with a grudge for the Packers. Do we have a grudge other than just whatever Jordan Love
15:52versus CJ Stroud debate there is, man. The exercise for this would be very similar to the exercise
15:59that I do for five reasons I hate you. Yeah. So I'll just go through that and we'll find
16:02some things to get grudgy about. Yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll, I'll just do that.
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