Texans’ most ardent fans pack into playoff tailgate
Long before the NRG Stadium gates opened to fans Saturday for the Texans’ playoff game, an ambulance sat third in line of the cars waiting to get in on Kirby Drive.
Nobody was hurt. They were just there to cheer on the Texans.
The Code Red Fanbulance is one of the more distinct tailgating vehicles in the Blue Lot most Sundays, and it still looks like it could transport a fan or two to the hospital postgame, which might have come in handy during Saturday’s heart-stopping, comeback Texans win. Pavan Pinnamaneni bought the truck from the City of Indianapolis 10 years ago and converted it into a tailgater’s dream.
It features two widescreen televisions: one inside, with video games, and another outside playing NFL Network. It also has two keg refrigerators and leather couches. Outside, family members lounged under a massive Texans tent as Indian tandoori chicken was grilled. The meat is not for the faint of heart, a fellow tailgater confessed.
The family started tailgating with an SUV before the upgrade a
decade ago.
“We were like, ‘We got to get something bigger,’ ” said Vijay Mikkilineni, Pinnamaneni’s cousin. Since most in the family work in medicine, they decided to go with the ambulance. Pinnamaneni drove it down from Indianapolis himself. While he was there, Mikkilineni said he put a hex on the rival Colts.
The NRG tailgate scene has come a long way since the team’s early days, said Gene Frazier, who works in restaurant equipment and arrives on Sundays in a red, white and blue school bus.
Modified trucks, trailers and school buses lined the parking lot Saturday, dotted with barbecue pits and cornhole kits of all shapes and sizes. Frazier cut the back of his tailgating bus off to make a standing deck, where family members were pouring themselves mimosas from a bar Saturday.
On the ground level, Frazier removed spring rolls from a sizzling deep fryer and replaced them with jalapeño poppers.
“There were years when nobody was even out here,” Frazier said. “It was just a handful of people.”
That wasn’t the case Saturday. In an adjacent lot, Joe Fitzgerald — another die-hard fan, who said he hasn’t missed a Texans home game to date — was preparing a Cajunthemed tailgate for his family. He said they do a different theme every week — Italian food one Sunday, bacon-wrapped everything another.
The weirdest one? Formal steak dinner week.
The family broke out white tablecloths and crystals, and they hung a candelabra from a tent.
“It’s been a while since we did that,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s too much work.”
Fitzgerald, like many fans, said he was confident — if also apprehensive — the Texans would prevail over the Bills.
Those conflicting emotions proved prescient. The Texans mounted a dramatic, comeback effort to erase a 16-0 deficit and win 22-19 in overtime.
Inside the stadium, Al and Linda Magdeleno turned to each other and high-fived after each successful play on the Texans’ drive.
“We got a chance,” Al said. “Plenty of time left.”
The season-ticket holder said he actually prefers when the Texans are behind. He said they play better that way, rather than when they’re trying to protect a lead.
“Always keep the hope,” he said. Mikkilineni said he too was confident the team would pull it off, as long as they got the run game going, he said. He joked that it’s also a revenge game.
He referred to the game known as The Comeback (or the The Choke), when the Bills recovered from a 35-3 deficit to beat the Oilers — the largest comeback in NFL history.
“We’re going to do it for the ’92 Oilers,” he said.
To that end, Saturday’s comeback was even more fitting.