That would play well in Nashville, because it would be five more games than they won all last year.
I'm not typically a pro football fan. We have been to one Titans game since they came to town, and that was only because someone had tickets to sell and it was our anniversary. But I like Marcus Mariota. When he won the Hiesman, I dug around to see what dirt I could find. This guy is the real deal. When I run into Oregon fans, I ask them what they think. They all think he is a stand up guy. That's way better than what we have had to deal with so far. We need someone who is willing to lead, and be led, and not turn up dead in an apartment with his girlfriend, you know?
Steve McNair is still considered a hero in Nashville; he did not have much of a life after football, what messed up life he did have finally caught up to him.
I used to go to every game when they first moved and I lived a bit closer to Nashville. It was a very intimidating place to play for the visiting team, and you could count on 3 or 4 Sunday/Monday night games every year. I still remember the first game they lost there, it was the second year, I was sitting in the lower bowl when they employed their customary "4th quarter down by 2 run out the clock and kick the winning FG" strategy against the Ravens. It worked out well, when he kicked everyone down around me cheered until we saw the officials signal no good, and we confirmed from the replay at another angle. Then everyone got real quiet and walked out.
I went to the Colts game last year, it was very depressing. Scalpers on the street offering people money to take their tickets, walked right in, no line for the bathrooms, 40,000 empty seats, so you could sit wherever you wanted. People on the streets were exclusively selling Colts gear, something that would have gotten their ass kicked 10 years ago (the fake Terrible Towel guy once found himself in a predicament, but was saved by the mounties). The worst part, everyone was cheering the score updates from the Bucs game because they were winning most of the game while the Titans sent in Jordan Palmer at QB- brother of Carson Palmer, but a guy they literally pulled off the street a few days before.
We still have original PSLs (for those unfamiliar- you get the same seats every year, but you have to buy season tickets every year or you will lose the PSL), but let the parking passes go a few years ago. A new trend brought on by the NFL-sanctioned aftermarket for tickets- if the team sucks, the home crowd (who are committed to buying season tickets) does not go to the game, they put up their tickets on the NFL site to get bought up by the opposing crowd. The venue sells out either way, but one of those ways is devastating for morale.
People from Houston constantly reminded us how much hate they had for Bud Adams, we caught a taste of that before his passing. He rarely came to Nashville, and let his long-time executive VPs and management run the team. Except for the time he had them draft Vince Young, and start him before he was ready. And the time he had them drop everything and try to sign Peyton Manning (even offering him ownership stake after retirement) while all the other quality free agents signed with other teams.
The end result- the Titans have never had any real super star players since Steve McNair, Eddie George and the super bowl team left. This is what the fans are really wanting more than anything. Bud Adams left the team to his daughters, son-in-law and one of his grandsons (possible future CEO) has a role with the team. Last year, son-in-law pretty much said he didn't want it, as everyone suspected, because he also CEOs at KSA Energy and rarely comes to Nashville. The daughters don't even want to give interviews or be public at all, except to emphasize that they do not want to sell the team. They did bring in someone with history to run the team this year, who will stay in Nashville. One thing of note- last year, the Titans wore white jerseys for almost all of their games, including home games in winter. The reasoning behind this is someone in the ownership group didn't like the columbia blue being the main color, and they will rebrand (AKA going back to the navy blue) for 2015. No matter how much they deny it, I'm inclined to believe around Week 12 last year, they started talking about 2015 with Mariota in mind, and tanked to make sure they were in the top 3 or 4 for the draft.
