Allegiances

Tom Regner's football card from 1970 - I have two of them!

I grew up in Sugar Land, Texas in the late 1960s and lived there through the mid- 80s. My mom still lives in the house we grew up in, though it is quieter today than it ever was when my brothers and I grew up. It was at the early age of eight in 3rd grade in 1970 that I became a football fan. I was a fan of the Houston Oilers, who were not very good in the early 70s. Our next-door neighbor was Tom Regner and he played for the Oilers. The 1970 season was his fourth as a professional after a college career at Notre Dame where he was a first team All-American in 1966. As a third grader, and even today, I remember him being big, though his football card from 1970 lists him as 6’-1” and 255 lbs., small by today’s standards but he made a huge impression on me. I have fond memories of watching the Oilers play in the Houston Astrodome and I will always be an Oiler fan, even though the team has since moved and become the Tennessee Titans. A new team came to Houston after the Oilers left and it plays in a new stadium built for them instead of the Oilers and it dwarfs the Astrodome, but it is hard to root for the Texans because I have no connection to them.

I moved away from the Houston area in 1987. I moved to San Francisco Bay area and was there when the 49ers and Joe Montana won two of their Super Bowls. I then packed up and moved to Dallas where I watched a football game in the old Cowboy Stadium. I saw the New York Giants defeat a young Cowboy team in 1990. Next, I moved to Chicagoland and it is where I live today. I never embraced the Bears, though I feel Mike Ditka got a raw deal when he was fired in 1992. I rooted for the Packers who have been better than the Bears in the 90s and since. Today, they play in a playoff game against each other though the two teams have played more games against each other than any other two franchises. It is a big game, the NFC Championship, which decides who goes to the Super Bowl. I will be rooting for the Packers, but I will not be too upset if they lose.

Tom Regner and his family will be rooting for the Packers; I am sure. He grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin just north of Chicago and still has family there. It is Bear and Packer weather today with temperatures in upper teens and low twenties. It is sunny and probably windy along Lake Michigan in Soldier Field and it will be a good game. I will be watching and pulling for the Pack. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even one football game at a time!

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