One of the great things about working for in a University, is you get a lot of time off. My last day of work for 2006 was Thursday night and I don't have to be back until January 2nd. I usually like to start off my breaks and vacations with one day of nothingness. I like to sleep late, eat a late lunch, watch some daytime television, and let the chips fall where they may.

Today, I was watching an NFL Films show on ESPN called "The NFL's Greatest Games." It's a series that they do where they show all the highlights from classic games, with commentary from the players and media interviews mixed in between.

Today's episode was about the Houston Oilers 1993 Playoffs collapse against the Buffalo Bills. For those of you who don't remember, or for those of you who have post traumatic stress and have blocked it out, the Houston Oilers were up 35-3 well into the third quarter with Buffalo's best players all sitting on the bench. We had the game in the bag, right? Wrong! The Oilers let that game slip away piece by piece.

As much as I get into sports and watching "my teams," I tend to not let losses haunt me. Quit laughing, it's true. Outside of the immediate 12-24 hours after a tough loss, I tend to let it go. You see, that's the line I walk that separates me from the *really* crazy sports fans. I'm just *kinda* crazy when it comes to sports. You see Anya, there is another level.

That loss still stings, though. I hadn't really thought much about that game since the game and the immediate aftermath of its happening. Sure, I'd hear announcers occasionally reference that game during blowouts in an effort to try and retain viewers who might otherwise shut off the tv, or I'd occasionally think of the spectre of that game when, oh I don't know, the Astros give up a late inning home run in the playoffs when they had the game securely in hand, but I really had suppressed any and all thought of this game.

Seeing the “NFL’s Greatest Games” special on ESPN really brought back a lot of memories of that day. It was a pretty uneventful day in my house. We were supposed to take down Christmas decorations, but other than that, we didn’t really have much on the agenda outside of watching the playoffs game.

We decided that we’d watch the first half and put away decorations during halftime and after the game. The first half of the game started out great. The Oilers could literally do no wrong and built up a 28 – 3 lead. With the lead, and presumably the game, well in hand, we decided that we’d put away decorations during the second half. When the Oilers made it 35-3 during the early stages of the third quarter, I thought that the game was basically over.

We should have shut off the television as soon as the score was 35-3. We should have just shut the damned thing off. It would have been better to find out the Oilers lost after the fact than it would be to sit there, watching your team crumble before your unbelieving eyes. But no, we sat there and watched the unthinkable happened.

When the Bills made it 35-10, I didn’t really think much of it. I thought, well, we weren’t going to blanket them this whole time. But when the Bills made the score, 35-17, I began to get a little nervous and let my dad know so. “The Oilers are going to blow this game,” I said. “Don’t be silly;” said he, “the Oilers have this game.”

Maybe I should provide a little historical context, which may help explain my uncertainty about the Oilers 35-17 lead over the Bills. Houston sports teams are notorious for their chokes.

- The Earl Campbell-led Houston Oilers teams of the 1970’s just so happened to be in the same division as the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team which went on to win 4 Super Bowls in 6 years. Many times, the team that gave Pittsburgh the most trouble in the playoffs was the Houston Oilers, who often gave the Steelers a better game than the teams they faced in the Super Bowl.

- In 1980, the heavily favored Houston Astros were 5 outs away from making the World Series, only to see their 5-2 lead vanish into a 6-5 loss in 10 innings versus the Philadelphia Phillies, who I must add, went on to win the World Series.

- The 1979 Cotton Bowl saw the University of Houston Cougars take a 22 point lead over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Not only did UH have a 22 point lead, the Fighting Irish were led by a physically ill Joe Montana. Joe Montana was so ill he had to take IV’s during halftime to replenish his fluids.

- The 1983 Houston Cougars basketball team, led by future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, lost the Championship game on a last second play.

- The 1986 Astros were ahead in many of their playoffs games against the New York Mets. The Astros were up 3-0 late into the ninth inning, only to see their lead evaporate into a 3-3 tie, which would be the story of the game for 7 more innings in what would become the longest game in MLB playoffs history. The New York Mets finally broke the tie in 16th inning and won the game, thusly giving them that playoffs series. The Mets, like the Phillies, would go on to win the World Series.

- The 1992 Houston Oilers took a 15 point lead late into the fourth quarter against the John Elway led Broncos. John Elway led Broncos…enough said.

So when the score went from 35-3 to 35-17 in a matter of a couple minutes, I got a little nervous. As much as my dad tried to reassure me that there was no way the Oilers would blow this lead, I knew the game was basically over. The Oilers were about to become the poster team for Houston chokes. All of the above mentioned teams would soon take a backseat to the team that blew a 32 point lead late in a playoffs game in which they completed dominated for just over a half. Only the Houston Oilers would go from a team that completely dominates a team for a half, to a team that is completely dominated for the next half.

I think my dad wanted to use this game as a lesson in sports watching and “believing in your team,” but with all due respect to my father, he was more of a Cowboys fan. I was a Cowboys fan as well, but the Oilers were my team. My dad followed the Oilers as well, but no matter what happened with the Oilers, he always had America’s Team to fall back on. The Cowboys have a rich tradition to fall back on. No matter what happens with the Cowboys, no matter how many bad seasons they string along, Cowboys fans always have those 5 Super Bowl rings to fall back on. Houston fans? Our biggest claim to fame at this point was a pair of NBA Finals appearances (and losses) against the Boston Celtics.

So as much as my dad tried to reassure me that “not even the Oilers could blow this lead,” I knew deep down what was at play. Which looking back on it, I wonder if the Oilers’ sideline thought the same way I did. I now wonder if their choke was almost built into their team DNA.

The end of the game is a big blur to me. All I really remember is the 41-38 final score…

That game really sealed my fate as a sports fan. That game caused me to watch sports differently. It’s hard to watch my team take a lead into the final stages of the game, because the belief that they’re going to blow the lead is always present. My dad once told me to “believe in my team.” Well, the Houston Oilers 32 point choke made me believe in my teams all right, it made me believe that it was just a matter of time before my team blew yet another lead.

But don’t worry; this story has a happy ending. The Houston Oilers followed this loss with probably their most successful year ever. They secured a 12 – 4 record and talk of a Houston Oilers vs. Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl gained steam…only the Oilers never lived up to their side of the bargain, losing yet another lead in yet another playoffs game, this time to the near retired Joe Montana led Kansas City Chiefs.

But as far as happy endings go, the city’s sports kharma changed dramatically with the 1994 and 1995 Houston Rockets teams. During both years, the Rockets were down and out in multiple different playoff series, only to come back and win all of those series in dramatic fashion on their way to two NBA championships, but that’s for a different post.

People in Houston love their Rockets and Astros, but I always felt that the Oilers were the soul of Houston sports. We may have loved the Astros and Rockets, but it seems as if people lived and died (mostly died) with their Oilers. That’s why everything so dramatically changed once the Oilers left for a new state (Tennessee) and a new name (the Titans). Even though the Rockets championships were great, and believe me, they were great, Houston would have absolutely have flipped its lid if the Oilers had ever found a way to win a Super Bowl.

But it wasn’t to be. No, the Houston Oilers left town for greener pastures. And with their departure, they exorcised all the bad sports kharma that existed in Houston up to this point. If you don’t believe me, just look at the 2003 Houston Astros. They were literally one out away from making their first World Series. After giving up a homerun which sent the game to Game 6, the Astros took care of business and made their first World Series. If this bad kharma were still around, that last inning loss would have doomed the Astros for the series.

…

The bad kharma is gone right? I’ve always wondered if the Houston Texans are named the Houston Texans because the name Houston Oilers was too charged with bad voodoo. The Cleveland Browns left Cleveland for Baltimore, but when it came time for Cleveland to get a new team, they wanted it to be named the Browns. I’ve always wondered if the owners of the newly arrived Houston NFL franchise were given a similar option to rename their team the Oilers. If they were given that option, I’m glad they passed. It's better for the health of Houston Sports that the Oilers vanished like the house in Poltergeist.