Texans’ fan of year has not missed home game
Carlos Rodriguez attended the Texans’ first home season game in 2002 against the Dallas Cowboys and hasn’t missed a home game since.
Having been a season ticket holder for two decades, the 60-year-old from Brownsville was recently nominated by the Texans for the 2022 NFL Fan of the Year.
“The Texans have had some rough seasons, but I’m dedicated,” Rodriguez said. “I’m a true fan, through ups and downs, wins and losses. I’m there.”
His fandom started before he moved to Houston, where he is now a retired schoolteacher and principal, in 1983. Rodriguez said his father would drive him from Brownsville to Houston every year to catch Astros, Rockets and Oilers games.
“All those years as a kid, I became a Houston fanatic,” Rodriguez said. “I attended Oilers games from 1983 to 1996, the last year they were here in Houston before moving to Tennessee.”
Although many Oilers fans stopped going to games when they learned the team was moving, Rodriguez attended until the very end. Even years after that first Texans home game, Rodriguez remembers the score off the top of his head (Texans beat the Cowboys 19-10) and said it’s his favorite Texans game of all time.
On top of attending every home game, Rodriguez makes it a point to travel to at least one away game each season. So far he has been to 19 NFL stadiums and was able to attend the Texans’ two international games in Mexico City (2016) and London (2019). The only year Rodriguez didn’t go to an away game was during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Rodriguez admitted that it has been sad to see home games filled with the opposing team’s fans this year, as the Texans hold an abysmal 1-9-1 record and fan support is lowering.
“The last couple of games I went to, the whole bottom section is usually filled with jerseys from the other team,” Rodriguez said. “It’s sad. It’s tough to see that. The fans want a winning season. But this was expected from the Texans at the beginning of the season. It’s a rebuilding year.”
He says that he’s always optimistic, despite the Texans’ current record.
“Every time I go to a game, I’m optimistic we’re going to pull another one out,” Rodriguez said. “But at this point, we’re getting a very good draft pick, and I think for the future, it’s going to get better.”
But the football game experience means more than the team’s record for Rodriguez. He wants to recreate the love for his team for his grandchildren that his own father instilled in him.
“That’s a goal of mine,” Rodriguez said. “I want to be able to pass on the traditions to them so they can continue carrying on, just like grandpa.”
To vote for Rodriguez to be the NFL Fan of the year, go to: www.nfl.com/honors/ fan-of-the-year/2022/ vote.