It's 'Don't Give Me Hope' Season
Houston Texans Stun Los Angeles. Have a Date with Mahomes and the Chiefs
You know, there’s an oft-repeated scene in the Avengers movies where Hawkeye, distraught that he lost his family in ‘The Blip,’ starts living the assassin life. Black Widow confronts him and tells him there’s a way to get his family back. Hawkeye looks back at Widow—in the rain— and says “Don’t Give Me Hope.”
I can feel his pain.
Ever since a winter’s night in early 2002, when I was SO fed up with the New York Jets, I decided to switch my allegiance to the expansion Houston Texans, (a team who at that point hadn’t even played a game yet), I’ve been riding on this Hope Rollercoaster. There are some years where we do A-OK. There are some years that it’s a complete disaster. And while I feel I made the right decision in switching, as the Jets will forever be one of the most embarrassing franchises in history sans Joe Namath, the Texans have never made it easy.
This past weekend, against all odds and with a team that limped into the playoffs and was riddled with injuries, dem boys from Houston throttled the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 in their Wild Card Game. Now technically playing with house money, their next challenge is the current defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Now to be fair, the Chiefs are sometimes derisively referred to as either “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s team,” or the “squad the NFL referees built,” but you don’t get to the top of the mountain in the NFL by being a bad squad. And just because I, alongside everyone else loves an underdog, I truly believe the Texans have a chance to do the impossible.
Don’t Give Me Hope.
The Texans have NEVER won a playoff game past the Wild Card round. That is in the years 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2023, and last year they won ONE game and then trip over their shoelaces. All of those years they win JUST ENOUGH to get you to order playoff merchandise to only have you sobbing in tears when it finally arrives in the mail. A team so banged up and coming off such a regular skid towards the end, some fans were calling for coach DeMeco Ryans’ job. But yet?
I got so much hope man. SO MUCH Hope!
CJ Stroud has a full career ahead of him, but can you imagine if he sent Pat Mahomes home? And I’m not even a Mahomes hater, his dad was a New York Met. Imagine if we got some fresh Super Bowl matchup like Houston vs. Detroit? Could I contain myself if another team I supported finally became a champion?
Man, I hope it happens…