Wade Phillips: 5 years and still wearing the same Reebok sneakers.

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Someone once told me, that guys continue to dress the way that they originally dressed, accordingly to the last year that they truly thought they were cool. This trend will continue for the rest of their life.

So after I turned 30 last year, I thought about it a little bit more. Then I started noticing the way older guys dressed. My friends, my coworkers, my dad, my dad’s friends, older people in stores, people at bars. In the end, of my two week long obsession with the topic, the conclusion I came up with is, that this is absolutely a fact.

Fishing shirts for the guy who was kind of country in High School, going fishing with his dad.  Now an Accountant with 3 young kids, and wearing fishing shirts on the weekend, repressing memories of what truly makes him happy. He sighs as he misses his college Alma-maters football game on TV. Only to take his wife and their 3 year old kid to their neighbors kids birthday party, who has conveniently blocked off the street, and his driveway for the last two days to make room for a bouncing castle.

The guy who is wearing basically a complete warm up Nike pants suit that matches. Run DMC style. Despite the look his wife was destined to give him about saving for a rainy day, he splurged and bought the Nike one this time, not the one from Target. “I’ll show her, cant nobody tell me what to do”

Then there’s Wade Phillips, 66, fired from the Texans. Turned down by 7 other teams, not a minute chance at being an NFL staff member in 2014. Nevertheless, still rocking the same Reebok sneakers since 2009. 2 teams, 5 years, same sneakers.

Why change a good thing, right?

When things were good, they were good! Who wants to give up on the past when the future can still be the same? Not me, Napoleon. In fact, watch Uncle Rico throw this here football over that there mountain. Man…I could have been All-State.

Look I get it. Sometimes my friends and I sit around and reminisce about the times past. Sometimes there’s nothing better than reliving the past, and telling old stories. But we aren’t stuck in it. I don’t think that one city in the entire country has had as many sports minded, dramatic, complete overhauls of staff development, or team roster changes in the last 5 years, more than Houston.

Here’s what I’m getting at:

The Astros dismantled their team and planned to rebuild. A couple of months ago, we had former players on the 2014 Baseball Hall Of Fame ballot. Players just don’t show up on the Hall Of Fame ballot overnight. These players signify the last time the Astros were good. Which means the last time this team was relevant, was A WHILE AGO.  Furthermore, do I need to get into that piles of horse manure, they hung onto and signed? Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee….a scene from A Nightmare on Crawford St.

The Texans let a QB and a coaching staff hang onto a pipe dream. Gary Kubiak‘s mediocre coaching, left the Texans franchise in a purgatory. As we watched Andre Johnson get older, and other good players leave for free agency. Wasted talent. Calling each other pet nicknames, buying letterman jackets, and probably saying things like “lets ride this thing till the wheels fall off Kubs!” Living in denial, that some sort of change was needed for a long time.

Then there’s the Rockets. First, Yao Ming ate the Rockets salary cap for way too long. Leaving the team in a cap nightmare. From 2009-2012 were a team that basically consisted of Chase Budinger (who I saw floating the river one day in New Braunsfels, when I’m pretty sure he had a game that night), my dad, I mean Marcus Camby, and Royce “what do you mean I have to fly on a plane to get across the country for a game? Can I just take a bus, eat peanut butter, and knock up randoms” White. News Flash: Royce, this isn’t 1776. We aren’t taking a horse drawn wagon to play a game in LA, only to show up 9 months from now. On the other hand, the good news is the random you gave $600 court side tickets to, wont die of diphtheria on this trip, either.

Each one of these franchises, held on to players, staff, or people at the top for way too long. Until the city’s sports scene crumbled. Leaving us looking like the opening scene from Terminator, or the city of Cleveland, when it comes to sports. Last time, I checked, this city is made of oil and gas, not cardboard boxes, shifty bridges, and the bones of the resistance who fought Skynet.

Change is a good thing, sometimes. Other times, it’s a necessary evil. It should be embraced and looked at as a new opportunity. A chance to shed the past faults, and to make some new exciting changes that can only help. Assuming you were smart enough to learn from you mistakes.

Luckily, all the Houston sports teams are now on this path, and headed in the right direction. Finally! There’s a chance for some potential success to the city, that has been void for too long. I personally can’t wait.

For all our sake, hopefully we don’t fall down that same path and end up in  another case of that famous scene in Dazed and Confused. “Wooderson: That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.”

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