Houston 1836

[Varsity Blue]

There was no popular uprising,

Evidence?

If you're going to insist that the contemporaneous reports are wrong, surely you have something to back that up.

Well, you're asking him to provide evidence that something didn't happen. I'd like to see the reports you're talking about, because I lived in Houston then and I don't remember any kind of broad-based protest over 1836.

Other than Sylvia Garcia (the politician who opposed the name) a University of Houston history professor named Raul Ramos wrote an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle suggesting changing the name, complaining "The team logo compounds the connection (to the Texas secession from Mexico) by depicting Sam Houston on horseback, leading the charge against Mexican troops." That image of Sam Houston on horseback is from a statue of Houston in Hermann Park. So what Ramos was saying is that any representation of the statue is offensive but the statue itself is not? It's very similar to the dichtomy between 1836/Houston Spearhead talked about.

[29texan]

It's clearly worked out for the best. Clearly, and by far the strongest soccer market in Texas. Although Dallas (attendance wise) has not put up much of a fight. The San Antonio Scorpions of the NASL get better crowds on occasion compared to Dallas

Several reasons for that.

The "Dallas team" isn't in Dallas (being a Fort Worthian, it would be best NOT to disagree with me on that in any way), it's in one of the far north suburbs of Frisco. When you're that far away from Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington, the main cities, the area as a whole tends to care little for you. It's also Cowboy Country. Regardless of how The Jerry Jones Boys are doin', they own the Metroplex. The Rangers have gain much more popularity over the past few years, but it still doesn't touch what the Cowboys have done in 5 decades. Also, you have the Mavs who've won a title just a couple years back and even the Stars are more popular.

[Perfect Zero]

And to add on to that, Frisco was once one of the fastest growing communities in America. However a lot of that growth has gone down and has moved back into the inner areas (high gas prices and long travel distances to anything in the city will do that). The Hunt's built on the idea that Frisco could boom even further and it just didn't happen. Now the team has to depend on just northern Metroplex fans instead of everybody in the surrounding area. The team would be better off moving back into the Mid-Cities area or even into Dallas or Fort Worth proper.

[mmejia]

Varsity Blue has the correct answer, nice post.

I was at the press conference/logo unveilng for the 1836 team and also at the subsequent presser/logo unveiling for the Dynamo. The initial reception for 1836 was very positve. A few people began to overthink the name and raised, admittedly, mild concerns. Oliver Luck was the president of the Houston MLS team at the time and a his longterm plan for success leaned heavily on support from Houston's large Hispanic community. He felt that changing the name and moving forward was the right thing to do. IIRC, they had a new logo/name within a week or two, so it was not a drawn out process.

I have an 1836 t-shirt from the first presser.