Cal McNair Video: Reaction

“Never assume competence” - Leadership Guru

Houston Texans chairman & co-owner Cal McNair spoke to the press yesterday. And, as we’ve come to expect from the billionaire oft referred to as “Tommy Boy” by those who know him best, the commentary he offered seemed more appropriate for an alternate universe from the new Dr. Strange movie than the reality of the last several years of H-Town Football.

Cal McNair

...We’ve always had the fans with us...

Let’s stop right there for a moment. Like, come on, this sentence alone is rife with inaccuracies. Yet Cal spouts it like the gospel.

Case in point: this guy who was escorted out of NRG last season for voicing his (non) support of Cal and the team. All he wanted to do was communicate the fans’ feelings to Cal in a meaningful way. Cal is clearly paying attention.

TotalProSports.com

The Houston Texans are a complete dumpster fire that only got worse on Sunday when they lost at home to the Colts, 31-0. During that blowout, one male Texans fan was near owner Cal McNair’s suite and let him hear it by showing off some signs and screaming at him.

After flashing a sign demanding McNair sell the team and repeatedly calling him a loser, the fan was confronted by a stadium police officer, who ushered the disgruntled fan away.

But, Cal refuses to let that stand without doubling down on the misstep.

McNair

...it’s exciting to have, um, even more excitement than we’re, than we’ve had the last couple years...

While most hear the word “excitement” and think of positive energy, happiness and exuberance, since none of that has been present in Texans-ville in many, many years, perhaps Cal meant a different version of “excitement”.

Dictionary.com offers another variation of the root word, excite, as “to arouse or stir up the emotions or feelings of: to excite a person to anger; actions that excited his father’s wrath.”

So, is Cal saying he’s angry that we’re going to have even more reasons to be angry about this team? Or, is he happy we’re going to have more reasons to be angry? On the surface, it seems like he means he’s happy we’re going to have more reasons to be happy, but the qualifier of “than we’ve had the last couple of years...” doesn’t fortify that stance, at all.

McNair

...we’ve had a lot of different things impact us, attendance at the stadium...

This, good readers, is what many often refer to as “double talk”, “politician speak” or “talking out the side of yo neck”. I.e. contradicting something you just said in close proximity to the original statement.

...We’ve always had the fans with us...

...we’ve had a lot of different things impact us, attendance at the stadium...

If they’ve “always had the fans” with them, then “attendance at the stadium” wouldn’t be an issue. Sure, COVID slowed things down, but the mass exodus of season ticket holders, sell off of PSLs and general ‘boycottiness’ surrounding NRG of late have nothing to do with the pandemic and everything to do with how the team has been led and operated over the last 4+ seasons.

Overall, the video comes off as someone who is entirely out of touch with reality. And, what does this do? It insults the intelligence of the fan base, it devalues our experience and sends a message loud & clear that, right or wrong, Cal would rather lie to the Texans faithful than face the reality of what his tenure as chairman has wrought on H-Town football.

While keeping Jack Easterby on MUTE has allowed time to begin its healing work, having Cal make these utterly tone deaf statements continues to pour salt in open wounds.

At a time when fan support is finally lighting up again after a seemingly positive NFL Draft, this was yet another major misstep in the handling of the Houston Texans.

If Cal chose to have a town hall meeting, own up to his own incompetence, ask forgiveness, pledge to do better, to try harder, and then ask the fans to join him in turning this franchise into something great, he would likely have people lined up from NRG to the Woodlands to support them once more. The Texans fanbase is incredible - the team is not.

Instead, we get empty soundbites, contradictions and proof positive of a guy fully embracing his privilege in the face of the adversity he’s wrought on the fans of this team.

While Nick Caserio and Lovie Smith take one step forward, Cal promptly takes two back.

And, so the saga of a Texans fan’s misery continues...