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Retro Obsession: The Houston Oilers

The Astrodome, Houston, Texas.
(AKA "The House of Pain") (AKA "The Eighth Wonder of the World")

It is a tough thing being a football fan. Even more so when your team no longer exists. For me that team was the Houston Oilers. The most frustratingly great football franchise in NFL history, and a lifelong addiction that I still can't seem to kick.

You see, football addicts generally have the opportunity to confront their sins, their past misgivings, and/or their failures. As an Oilers fan I will never have that opportunity. I was rocking my baby blue and white #1 jersey while other kids my age were sporting black and silver Raiders Starter jackets. But, it has been well over fifteen years now and I still haven't recuperated from that ridiculous loss to Denver in the playoffs, and, ummm...that 1992 Wild Card "game" against the Bills.

Despite all of the setbacks, the Oilers were able to draft and sign some tremendous talent, bring in larger than life personalities, and field some remarkably good football teams. Everything was big about that franchise. The cowboy hats, the hype, that "good-old-boy" Texas-sized ego, the marketing schtick, the on-field and off-the-field player antics, and the rivalries; those fabled matchups between the Steelers, Browns, and Bengals.

The teams over the years had serious swagger even if they couldn't always back up the trash talk, and provided entertainment at a time when the league's future was very much in jeopardy. I used to work with a guy that played for the Oilers back in the late 60s and he had some great stories from that era.

I will never know what true redemption feels like regardless of how many times the Tennessee Titans make it to the Super Bowl. And no, I am not a Tennessee fan now. I am a Redskin. A real glutton for punishment.

R.I.P. Oilers (1960-1996)

Still Luv Ya Blue!

Outspoken Oilers team owner "Bud" Adams (left) and singer/songwriter Mack Hayes. Hayes wrote and sang the tune that would eventually become the Oilers fight song.

Coach Bum Phillips. As coach of the Oilers, he became the winningest coach in franchise history (59-38 record). He was known for his folksy mannerisms, and for wearing his trademark cowboy hat on the sidelines, except when the Oilers played in the Astrodome or other domed stadiums. (He stated that his mother taught him not to wear a hat indoors.) Via

The unstoppable Earl Campbell. Every kid growing up in Texas had at least one #34 jersey in the closet.

Hall of Fame defensive end, Elvin Bethea. Bustin' heads no doubt.

Campbell doing what he does best. Attacking that line of scrimmage.

Billy "White Shoes" Johnson doing his famed "funky chicken" in the endzone after a score. Yeah #37, you just got burned.

Jerry Glanville. Is there a more hated head coach in NFL history?

Hall of Famer Warren Moon. My favorite quarterback. Ever. 49,325 career yards and 291 touchdown passes.

Target 1: Drew Hill. Five 1,000+ yard seasons with the Oilers. 9,831 career receiving yards and 60 touchdowns.

Target 2: Haywood Jeffires. Two 1,000+ yard seasons with the Oilers. 6,334 career receiving yards and 50 touchdowns.

Target 3: Ernest Givins. One 1,000 yard season with the Oilers. 8,215 career receiving yards and 49 touchdowns.

Target 4: Curtis Duncan. 3,935 career receiving yards and 20 touchdowns. All as an Oiler.

Blue collar defensive lineman, Ray Childress. Nasty.

Hall of Fame guard Mike Munchak protecting Moon in the pocket.

The Houston Oilers Cheerleaders - The Derrek Dolls

Running back Lorenzo White looking for a seam to run through.

Chris Dishman. The brash, flashy and outspoken cornerback. The Oilers' answer to Neon Deion. In 1991 he had a seven game stretch where he forced at least one turnover in each game.

One of the greatest offensive tackles ever to play the game. Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews.

Running back Alonzo Highsmith. One in a long line of great rb's from The U.

The great Eddie George beginning his career in Houston.

The late-great Steve McNair.

Houston Oilers Roughneck, Art Horridge, banging his drum for the last time. Sunday, December 17, 1995 at the Dome.

I need this in my life.

Vintage Board Love

The Art of Surf Photography: John Severson

Big Surf Event


"In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts...."
- John Severson

I received my first subscription to Surfer Magazine when I was 18 years old. It was an event when it arrived in my mail and I'd turn to those gorgeous full page spreads of colorful reefbreaks in far off distant lands. My college dormmates and I would argue over who had the sickest shreds and the gnarliest wipeouts; checking out the boards and racks as if we were speaking of girlfriends. In a way we were because we loved surfing.

Severson's vision created that publication and his legacy lives on through millions of people that wait patiently, each month, by their mailboxes.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The Curl. 1962.

Sunset Beach Drop. 1961.

Standing Island Pullout. 1959.

Rincon Cruise. 1960.

Mickey Munoz "The Quasimodo". 1959.

Kemp Aaberg at Rincon. 1959.

Hang Ten. 1959.

Hammond's Reef. 1964.

Greg Noll. Pipeline. 1964. "Da Bull".

Banzai Beach. 1959.

SURF ART

Wild Angels.

Ranchlands.

Soup Arch.

Golden Age.

His bestselling book, Surf Fever, is out of print. A few copies may still be available for sale on his website.

Here's a short preview of his legendary surf movie, Pacific Vibrations: