Presenting . . . the Houston Texans (yawn)

by EVAN BEVINS
managing editor

I shouldn't write this.

The last time I wrote a column about mascots, I ridiculed the name of Columbus' new NHL team, the Blue Jackets. Then someone pointed out to me that Blue Jacket was the name of a famous Native American leader in the Columbus area.

So maybe I was wrong on that one. But I fully understand the meaning behind the name of the NFL's 32nd team, the Houston Texans (Houston is in Texas for you geographically-challenged folks out there).

But as my Uncle Charlie, my favorite football expert, pointed out, Houston once had a great team name: the Houston Oilers. They moved to Tennessee and became the Titans.

The new team could have followed the new Cleveland Browns, who reclaimed their name when an expansion team replaced the franchise that became the Baltimore Ravens. But Houston mimicked the former Oilers in another way -- adopting the name of an old franchise from a different city.

Just like there used to be New York Titans many years ago, there were once Dallas Texans. That team eventually became the Kansas City Chiefs, leaving the name open for another team from the Lone Star State.

Texans isn't that bad, but Oilers was at least a bit more creative.

If they ever make my beloved Redskins and other teams with Native American-based names change their mascots, I don't know which would be worse: the Washington District of Columbians or the Washington Triangles.

The Triangles were a Dayton-based team in the old American Professional Football Association. Maybe some names should be left in the past.