Why are the Titans wearing Houston Oilers uniforms?
If you’re just a casual fan of football, you may not know that the team we know as the Tennessee Titans was something completely different in past.
You may have noticed that the Tennessee Titans are wearing a uniform that is not theirs. You may have also noticed that they were able to defeat the high-scoring Miami Dolphins in their last game. Could there be a connection? That’s for the superstitious to say, but what we can tell you is that there’s a very good reason why their duds aren’t the ones we’re accustomed to.
A little Tennessee Titan history
Back in 1960, there was a team in the then-AFL called the Houston Oilers. When the league merged with the NFL, the franchise made what can only be described as a big jump, and as you can imagine there were several changes that followed. Indeed, one such change came in 1997 when the club headed to the east and became known as the Tennessee Oilers, a name that never truly fit its new surroundings i.e., the Volunteer State. With that in mind, it wasn’t a huge surprise when the team rebranded itself as the Titans in 1999, the name by which it has been known ever since.
So, that’s why the Titans are wearing Oilers uniforms?
Pretty much. As we all know, change is inevitable but maintaining one’s essence is a very important aspect of life. Indeed, as much as the team now has a new name and look, it should never be forgotten that this is simply a rebranding of the Oilers that were. Consider for a moment, that although the Texans gave Houston a new NFL team, it was just that, a new team i.e., an expansion franchise that started with a blank slate. As for the Titans, they can and have paid tribute to the past from which they come. That’s precisely why they wore throwback Oilers uniforms—featuring pale “Love Ya Blue” jerseys and a white helmet featuring an oil derrick during their October clash with the Falcons and will be wearing them once again when they take on the Houston Texans on Sunday, December 17th.
“It allows us to honor as many players as we can, because it covers so much time,” Surf Melendez, Titans Vice President and Executive Creative Director, said. “It also represented our transition to Tennessee, because we wore these uniforms in Tennessee as well.”