- 38 minutes ago
ITL debates John McClain’s take on the Oilers colors controversy.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00John McClain, legend in the game, the general himself, he was on, can you help me out with this fig?
00:06What was the name of this podcast again?
00:09Baltimore something.
00:10Okay, very good.
00:11I think it was Baltimore, hold on.
00:14Something in Baltimore.
00:15But he was talking to them people, he was talking to some people about the Texans and...
00:20Baltimore Positive Podcast.
00:21Thank you, the Baltimore Positive Podcast, which I probably should have seen if I looked down in front of me.
00:25My bad fig, you did the work.
00:26But John McClain was on this podcast, and in the midst of a long conversation, which, you know, he obviously
00:32has a lot to say about a lot.
00:34He was talking about the Texans and the relationship with the Titans, and, you know, kind of the rivalry that
00:40is and should be to a different degree.
00:42And in the midst of it, he said something interesting about that H-Town blue, that color that has become
00:47such a contentious thing at the very least when it comes to the way that Amy Adams-Strunk comports things.
00:52Is he right with what he said here?
00:53People here, fans, Texans, other than Hannah McNair, Cal McNair, the owner's wife, she and Amy Adams-Strunk kind of
01:04have a rivalry,
01:05because Hannah, who's very involved in this team, has taken some shots at them, especially over the uniforms and the
01:12colors.
01:13I personally like to see those colors, and if the only place I can see those colors is in their
01:20new stadium or on their new uniforms, that's fine for me.
01:25The players don't care here.
01:27Nobody does other than Hannah McNair, but the fans do.
01:31Talk shows just go crazy.
01:35Okay, so this talk show's going to go a little crazy on John McClane.
01:38I saw!
01:40My buddy John McClane.
01:41By the way, I saw him out at dinner randomly the other night.
01:43Hey, what's up, John?
01:45Who he was with?
01:46With his wife.
01:47What are you trying to imply?
01:48Yeah, yeah, what are you trying to imply here?
01:50You saw him out at dinner?
01:51Yeah.
01:51I'm like, okay.
01:52Was it a group dinner?
01:53No, he and his wife just decided to go up to Feejus Barbecue, which they're good friends of mine,
01:59and every once in a while I get a wild hair, go up to Feejus, and shout out to them.
02:03Who was you with?
02:04My wife.
02:04What are you trying to imply, man?
02:06I think that was a good question.
02:07I think that was a good question.
02:07It could have been a team dinner.
02:09You could have went to dinner with Sean Pintergast or something.
02:12No.
02:12It could have been a secret sports radio 610 dinner that I wasn't invited to.
02:16Me neither, honestly.
02:17All that said, I am going to take my shots here at John McClane.
02:22That's just not true.
02:24It's just like, you know, you have social media.
02:27You are on Twitter.
02:28You have seen the signs.
02:30You have seen the comments.
02:32You have seen the stadium.
02:34You are quite familiar with this city's history, more familiar than most everyone,
02:40because you've been there back as late as the 70s covering the Oilers
02:45and the passion this city has for those uniforms.
02:49And by the way, when they are talking about new uniforms with the Houston Texans,
02:54and have been, and even the last version that they came out with a couple of years ago,
02:58what was the common, you know, theme of, you know, the vast, vast majority of comments
03:05about what they wanted to see in those uniforms?
03:07Yeah.
03:08What was it?
03:09H-Town Blue.
03:10Yeah.
03:11And Houston Texans, they do a good job doing surveys and just trying to get everybody's opinion.
03:15That's a great point.
03:16Yeah, they're not just listening to one person like they are in Tennessee.
03:20No.
03:21They are actually tapping in with the fans and, you know, doing surveys to see what people really want,
03:26and they're trying to put it together as best as they can.
03:29Now, the question I will ask, because I know you said they're not asking one person,
03:33but are they asking a certain set of people is the question I'll ask.
03:35It's because the thing that comes to mind that's very clear in the history of Houston football
03:40is that there is a line of demarcation between when the Oilers were here,
03:44there's this period of time, and then there's 25 years of the Texans,
03:48and is that attachment to the Oilers, that history, the color?
03:52I understand that that's there, but how much of that is generational?
03:55Ends up being a question that immediately comes up.
03:57Well, I'll answer that very simply.
03:59I think you talk about who are they talking to.
04:02Well, hopefully Texans fans.
04:04There's a focus group of Texans fans.
04:05No, I'm sure, but like Texans fans at what age, right?
04:07Are we talking about Texas fans that vividly remember that time period?
04:11From my experience, I think it's all over, man.
04:14You got people that's older than me.
04:15You got people that's younger than me.
04:17I think that it's just widespread.
04:19Yeah, and you're right, because the focus group, just scientifically,
04:23if you do this via a marketing company or a company that does focus,
04:27they're not going to say, okay, give me all the old people.
04:29No, they're going to say we need a cross-section of Texans fans, of Houstonians,
04:33maybe some that aren't fans, and we'll have all this research
04:37and we'll ask these questions, et cetera.
04:39So I think that's just absolutely false.
04:41I also think this, and this is what John McClain's going to hate.
04:44I think John McClain has a certain affinity for Amy Adams-Strunk in particular
04:50and Bud Adams, her departed father, that he just can't let go of
04:56because he thinks, how many times have we heard him say,
05:00you know, well, it's, you know, they took it, Bob McNair didn't want anything else
05:06and all this other stuff, and it belongs to them and their history and the organization.
05:11Oh, the idea of Bob McNair wanting this to be a different organization from that.
05:17But he also often says, and we've heard him, we've had him in this studio talking about it,
05:22well, Amy Adams-Strunk does such a good job.
05:25You know, all the former Oilers players love her, that she has these reunions and everything.
05:29So I think he's sort of defending that,
05:32and I don't even know how accurate it is that all these former Oilers,
05:35I think they're going to these reunions and they're going to these throwback games
05:40largely because Amy Adams is tweaking the knife at Hannah and Cal.
05:45And the last thing, because I don't want to just dominate this whole thing,
05:49but to say no one cares except Hannah, that is almost,
05:56again, he's going to hate me, mouthpiece Amy Adams-Strunk.
06:00That is almost mouthpiece Amy Adams-Strunk taking a shot at Hannah directly.
06:06You know what I mean?
06:08Boy, I'd pick it back up. I'm cool with it.
06:11There's some people coming in on the text line.
06:13There's some people that are like, yo, this sounds like a disgruntled ex. Move on.
06:17The thing that I found interesting about this, and I wonder if you'll go with me here,
06:20the idea of Bob McNair, obviously the founder of the Texans,
06:24brought the team back in 0-2, or 0-1, rather.
06:32How much of that wanting to create that differentiation has shifted
06:36because the Texans at one point were an organization that worked one way
06:39and then they realized we need to tap more into Houston and what it actually is.
06:42You are absolutely right.
06:43That's what I was about to say.
06:45Yeah, you are absolutely right.
06:46Honestly, I feel like they don't want anything to do with the Oilers.
06:50I don't think they want those uniforms or anything,
06:52but they are tapping into the city and that color was part of the city.
06:56It's at the end of my block on the tiles where I live.
07:00Where's that again?
07:01H-Town Blue right up there.
07:03I'm going to get them one of these days.
07:05I'm going to get them.
07:05Yeah, they're not trying to remake the Oilers.
07:08Right.
07:08They're not trying to do all of that.
07:10I think they just try to bring in that color, which is part of the city.
07:16But again, you know.
07:17And they're still keeping it Houston, Texas, too, by the way.
07:20Exactly.
07:22The stuff they're doing don't really scream Oilers to me.
07:26That's interesting.
07:27Because I really don't want the Oilers like that either.
07:31But to me, I think this is Houston Texans.
07:34This is – look, I think what he was right about is there is a rivalry
07:37between Amy Adams, Strunk, and Hannah,
07:40but there's a rivalry between the Titans and the Texans
07:43and Nashville and Houston that is almost on par with that.
07:47But so, you know, being able – talking about this as like they own that color
07:52is nonsense to begin with.
07:54When you talk about NFL teams and using the spectrum of colors and all that,
07:58for her – and I have this on good authority –
08:00for her to have gone to the commissioner himself,
08:04Amy Adams, Strunk going to the commissioner himself
08:06and saying don't let them have that.
08:08I'm paraphrasing because I just heard the story.
08:10It's asinine.
08:12It's on her, and it's her bitterness.
08:15It's interesting because we do have some people on the text line
08:17and not to say that one way or the other is the end-all, be-all.
08:21There's a handful of folks that are like, yeah, I don't actually care about –
08:24That's fine.
08:25– that portion of this and that, yeah, moving on.
08:28Like from the 2A1, get over that stuff.
08:30It's equivalent to Dallas fans talking about the Super Bowl glory years.
08:33I think one of the things that makes this interesting is that that team remains
08:36in your division and in proximity to you all the time.
08:39And I think that John was right in talking about one thing,
08:42and I hope that I'm quoting him correctly here.
08:44It did seem like he was talking about this rivalry does seem like it could
08:48and should be bigger than it is in this moment.
08:50Yeah, he went on to say in that episode that it's not as big as we –
08:55that it should be because the Titans weren't that good.
08:58It was only good for a few years.
09:00Yeah.
09:01And he said – he actually mentioned the Coats were a bigger rival
09:04because they were actually pretty good.
09:06Yeah, and that's kind of a different topic.
09:08I think the Titans are growing, and largely because we like these stories.
09:12We like the personal rivalries.
09:14And, you know, Hannah with the broom after, you know,
09:16after taking the second game, Figgy, that was your video.
09:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:20You know, we like that stuff.
09:22But it's just silly.
09:24It was kind of a – like I said, it felt like a mouthpiece shot
09:27for a guy that has a real affection and affinity for the old Oilers
09:31and sort of taking her side, her being Amy Adams-Strunk.
09:36And it's just silly.
09:38Yeah.
09:38It's not true.
09:39Again, you talk about there's people on the text board,
09:42you know, move on or whatever.
09:43That's fine.
09:44But that's also been part of the focus groups.
09:46You know, the focus groups have been, you know, part –
09:48I'm sure they've heard that.
09:49Oh, it's not –
09:50They've probably heard more of the other.
09:51I wonder how much of this remains so front and center
09:55if the rivalry develops beyond what feels like that petty portion of it.
09:59Because, I mean, I think of the rivalry,
10:00and I think of obviously that portion of this
10:02and the moving of the team still stays very front and center.
10:06It's always going to be a part of this.
10:07Don't get me wrong.
10:08Maybe you get into, like, the Cortland Finnegan
10:09getting his ass whooped a portion of this.
10:11But it feels like it's not as strong of, like, the football of it where –
10:16and it's unfair to compare it to some of these other great rivalries.
10:19But there's definitely petty portions of, like, Steelers-Ravens
10:24or Ravens or whatever, like, whatever other rivalry you're going to bring up.
10:28But a lot of this can come back to the football of it.
10:31And I do wonder if the football of this rivalry doesn't get to a better place,
10:35if this doesn't end up being so much of a conversation.
10:37Yeah, yeah.
10:38I don't know.
10:38Maybe I'm wrong about this.
10:40And maybe I also –
10:41this is where I also recognize the portion of this
10:44where I'm on the younger side of things, right?
10:46And that's why I ask the question is,
10:47am I a little bit off in the way that this goes
10:50for some of the folks that are maybe in my generation?
10:52I mean, my kids – or one of my kids is exactly your age.
10:56And they just love the fact that there is that –
10:58because here's the thing.
10:59It is Houston's history, even if they own it, air quote.
11:02And my kids that are your age and Figgy's age exactly,
11:06they're like, man, that was cool.
11:07We need to get that back, you know?
11:09Yeah, but the thing is, I feel like –
11:11I mean, I do think a lot of people like the Oilers' throwbacks.
11:14Don't get me wrong.
11:16That's another thing is it looks so cool.
11:18That's a big part of it.
11:19No, it is cool.
11:19But I feel like – like, I don't think it's –
11:23what they're doing with their uniforms right now,
11:25just adding that H-Town blue,
11:26I don't think that's a thing where they're just trying to beat up Oilers
11:30or anything like that.
11:31They're making it Houston.
11:32They're making it Houston.
11:33And you could probably ask anybody over there,
11:35they're not trying to make a Houston Oilers jersey.
11:38No, no, but they made a concerted effort about three or four years.
11:41That color is part of the city.
11:42Yeah, about three or four years ago, there's been a concerted effort like,
11:45hey, we don't want to be just the Texans, this kind of untouchable,
11:50unapproachable sort of entity.
11:51We want to embrace H-Town.
11:53We've seen it over and over again.
11:55That's part of it.
11:55Yeah.
11:56That's part of it.
11:56You should be able to use it.
11:57Yeah.
11:58It used to be the color of police cars was that H-Town blue.
12:02Yeah.
12:02Yeah.
12:03I wish Tennessee kind of embraced their city a little bit,
12:06kind of lean into Nashville a little bit more.
12:08Mm-hmm.
12:09No, that's a fair point.
12:11But, of course, that remains pretty central to this thing.
12:14Yeah, it's just Amy being kind of petty.
12:17That's all it is.
Comments