Among the many exciting happenings for the Houston Texans this offseason was the unveiling of the new uniform design a little over a week ago. The Texans dropped four new jersey designs of four different colors — white, dark blue, red, and their "color rush" uniform, which was a different shade of dark blue.

The hope among Texans fans, particularly fans who lived here while the Houston Oilers were a thing, was that one of the jersey versions would be a light shade of blue. To be honest, the Texans themselves were hoping that was the case, per owner Cal McNair.

Unfortunately, they ran into resistance from the Tennessee Titans (the franchise formerly known as "the Oilers), and their owner Amy Adams Strunk made a big stink about light blue uniforms.The Texans were forced to compromise, and they settled on the light blue (what they call "H-Town blue") as trim around the letters and numbers in the "color rush" uniform. If there was any disappointment over the Texans new uniforms, that's it.

Now, the truth of the matter is that a version of alternate blue uniforms were already being embraced last season, most notably by the University of Houston football team, who wore light blue uniforms in their season opener. This, too, riled up Strunk, who presumably went to the NFL and had the league's lawyer's send a cease and desist letter:

“The Houston Cougars’ attempt to free ride on the popularity of the NFL and the club violates the intellectual property rights of the NFL and the (Tennessee) Titans,” Bonnie L. Jarrett, an attorney for the NFL, wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to the university.

According to the cease-and-desist letter, the NFL also demanded that the university discontinue any sales of merchandise and remove any promotional campaign or social media posts that feature the imagery.

The NFL and the Titans were “disappointed to learn that the Houston Cougars made unauthorized use of the Oilers Trade Dress in a manner that is likely to cause consumers to believe that the Houston Cougars are associated with, or are an authorized licensee of, the NFL and the Titans,” the letter continued. 

So you basically had a multibillion dollar entity bullying a college over a color, a color and uniform that actually CELEBRATE the team that's looking to fight over it. It's silly, and according to a story from Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle, the University of Houston seems to realize how silly the NFL's assertions are, as they've informed the league that they intend to have an alternate light blue uniform, not just or football, but for ALL sports!

“We literally have a story we can show the city uses it,” athletic director Chris Pezman told the Houston Chronicle at the Big 12’s spring meetings. “This isn’t a reach. This is a layup. We’ve got a very defensible position.”

UH wore the blue uniforms for the football season opener against UTSA and during the women’s soccer and golf seasons. School officials weighed legal options and changed course with a letter sent in mid-April that notified the NFL of the school’s plans.

“We’re doing it,” Pezman said. “We’ve reviewed everything and come to the conclusion that we are going to proceed.”

“We’re giving them two or three weeks to respond,” Pezman said. “We’re waiting on a response to see if we get one.”

I absolutely love this. The fact that the NFL allowed Amy Adams Strunk to strong arm the Texans into using H-Town blue as a supporting color is embarrassing for the NFL. It's a UNIFORM COLOR. It's not like the Texans were putting an oil derrick on the helmet. Good for the University of Houston!

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