It's still Mario

Boy, I'll bet that Texans draft day party was a hoot.

The Texans threw a draft-day party at Reliant Stadium on Saturday in anticipation of celebrating their selections with the fans.

But the party changed into a Texans roast as thousands packed Reliant Park on Saturday morning still upset from Friday night's news that the team was going to use the No. 1 overall pick on North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams instead of the fan favorite, Southern Cal running back Reggie Bush.

The chants from the fans and season-ticket holders inside Reliant Park included, "Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!" and "Bob is dumber than Bud! Bob is dumber than Bud!" in reference to Houston owners present and past.

Reminds me of Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in 1982. The Yanks had let Reggie Jackson sign as a free agent with the California Angels, much the the displeasure of the fans. The Angels were the opposing team that day, and naturally, Jackson hit a home run as his team won the game. The fans, who did their trademark "Reg-gie, Reg-gie" cheer every time he came to bat, broke into a loud chorus of "Steinbrenner sucks!" as Mister October circled the bases. I recall there was a camera shot of Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner while this was happening; the look on his face was priceless.

1982 was the start of a dark era for the Yanks, while Jackson helped lead the Angels to a division title. That said, the decision to cut him loose was clearly correct - that first season with the new team was Jackson's swan song, something that was entirely predictable for a 36-year-old coming off his worst season ever.

I point that out to say that whatever people may think of the Texans' choice yesterday, we won't know how dumb or smart they were for a few years. Apparently, the rest of their draft went pretty well, which is nice. I don't think you can make up for that kind of lost opportunity by saying "hey, we got a couple of good O-linemen later on", however. This one stands or falls on Mario Williams. Either he makes people forget about Reggie Bush and Vince Young or he doesn't. End of story.

More thoughts from Tory, Lair, and Kevin.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on April 30, 2006 to Other sports | TrackBack