Pat and Bob McNair
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March 9, 2000
Mission Accomplished!
by Pat O’Neill
HoustonProFootball.com
I managed to score two passes for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Harris County Stadium from Lance Zierlein and John Granato, co-hosts of The Bench (heard weekday mornings on STAR 610 KILT). I thought it would be a great opportunity for the website. Ric agreed and drove down from Dallas. To be honest, while excited to get the opportunity to attend, my expectations were not very high at all. In fact, they were pretty low. I figured, in a best-case scenario, we’d get maybe a photo or two… possibly a sound bite from someone important. In a worst-case scenario, we’d get shut out from photos and sound bites, but get to experience a monumental event for the city of Houston. I could not have been more wrong.
At 7 am, Ric and I headed out for the Astrodome parking lot, where the ceremony was to be held. We listened to The Bench on the way and heard John describe the set-up and layout of the tent. Tent? We’re going to be in some ratty tent? Not quite. We walked in around 7:45 am and were both amazed: it was huge — like a circus tent. There were ice sculptures, waterfalls, food, drinks, cakes, a huge stage, seating for about 250 people… The place was empty except for Lance and John broadcasting in the corner and the workers, who were busy prepping food and drinks. We chatted with Lance during his commercial breaks, and walked around to soak in the atmosphere. They had a model of the stadium, booths with ticket information and other team gear. It was starting to get a bit more crowded. Then, I noticed Steve Patterson walking around.
He sat down at the broadcast booth with Lance and John for the entire 8 – 9 am hour. Between callers, Steve posed for two photos for us. Lance then came over and asked me if I wanted to go on the air and ask Patterson some questions. Ummmmm… yes! I introduced myself to him, plugged the site and asked him a
couple of questions live on the radio (Ric was too frightened to do it). I walked away very pleased with the “on-air” interview. When Steve finished with Lance and John, Ric, with his tape recorder rolling, grabbed him and asked three or four questions. Already, Ric and I had shattered my best-case scenario — and it was only 9 am!
For the next 30 minutes, Ric and I went our separate ways. I went to try and secure us prize seats for the actual groundbreaking while Ric bumped around with all of the other people in attendance. He talked with Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle (who actually introduced Ric to Patterson and supplied me with the first on-air question I asked him). Meanwhile, I talked to Rick Blankenship of the Houston Apollo website and Sean “King of Smack” Pendergast. Sean, of course, was the winner of Jim Rome’s 1999 Smack-Off, and is my pro wrestling insider. We snacked on some food and waited on Bob McNair’s arrival. Sure enough, shortly thereafter, Bob walked into the tent and was gobbled up by all kinds of media people — Ric and I wanted no part of the mob scene. With McNair was NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The commissioner and the owner joined The Bench for a few segments. Now, with McNair present, it was starting to feel like a very special event, and the ceremony was about to begin.
The media was engulfing our so-called prized seats (which I had been holding for 30 minutes): sixth row, middle aisle — close enough to see the beads of sweat on emcee Ron Stone’s forehead. Stone finally got all of the important people seated and the proceedings started. Former Oilers Elvin Bethea, Greg Bingham, Ray Childress, Bubba McDowell, Cris Dishman and Warren Moon were introduced first. A couple of city councilmen spoke, then the Rodeo Commissioner, followed by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship winner. Next up was Mayor Lee Brown and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue stepped up to the podium after that. He spoke about the great city of Houston, the new team and the new stadium. Then it was Bob McNair’s turn. Bob spoke longer than anyone else and rightfully so. I mean, he spent millions and millions of dollars to get us a team back in Houston — let the man talk as long as he wants! As he was winding down, Bob made a statement that raised an eyebrow, or two (mine included): “I am proud to be a Texan, but I’m even more proud to be a Houstonian.” Hmmm… A hint regarding the team name, perhaps…?
When Bob was done, all the bigwigs donned hard hats and grabbed shovels. Tagliabue and Mayor Brown flanked McNair as the dignitaries took their shovels and “broke ground” on the new stadium… and then did it again…. And again…. And again… They repeated it over and over, allowing for numerous photo opportunities. We got some choice shots, and again, at this point, Ric and I would have been happy to call it a successful day and leave, but the mission was just beginning.
McNair did some impromptu interviews. All around him were Houston’s top sportscasters: Matt Musil, Mark Berman, Steve Mark, Bart Enis, Ric Sweeney… what the..? That’s right — Ric was in the middle of all the action, firing questions at the owner. McNair wrapped it up, and turned to leave when Ric asked Bob if his statement about being a proud Texan was a possibly a prelude to the future name of the team. Bob sidestepped the question by stating that it was indeed one of his five favorite names. Ric followed up with another question about the team name, then all the local media started firing away with questions about team names. Ric had started a new wave of questions.
Everyone was starting to leave, but not us. We stuck around — I’m not sure why, but we did. We walked around and met with Tom Franklin from 740 KTRH, long-time Houston newspaper columnist Mickey Herskowitz and NFL writer John McClain. At this point, Ric and I decided: we’re here; we might as well go for it all. We had three items of unfinished business: Casserly, Tagliabue and more with McNair. I wanted Casserly, in hopes of laying the groundwork for future interviews while Ric wanted Tagliabue — he’s the commissioner for crying out loud! Ric’s break came first. After warding off a pesky cop/bodyguard, Ric asked Tagliabue a few questions – one on one. Meanwhile, my target, Casserly, was busy chatting. When he (finally) finished his conversation, I went for it. I introduced myself, we chatted, exchanged phone numbers (yeah, that’s right — I got his direct line) and set up a future interview. Sweet!
Bob McNair was breaking away from the small crowd that was still left. Ric went to get a few more quotes from him. Simple questions, simple answers. McNair was signing autographs as he answered Ric’s questions. When I walked up, he looked directly at me and said, “Well… hello there.” WOW! I introduced myself to him, plugged the website and asked him a question too. We then posed for a picture. Absolutely freaking awesome!!! Ric and I decided to leave – get out while we were still ahead. No need to tempt fate — we had more than accomplished our mission. We walked away from a memorable ceremony with sound bites, photographs, phone numbers, and the memories of the day’s events. Our expectations were blown away.
Click here for more on the groundbreaking
Pat O’Neill, a washed-up high school quarterback, is currently on a mission to land Bob McNair as his next interview subject. Please send Pat an e-mail if you can help him realize his dream.
