Houston and Dallas is likely to be close-ish, however we’re so very totally different.
It’s a story as outdated as time. The Montagues vs. the Capulets. Coke vs. Pepsi. Drake vs. Kendrick…Houston vs. Dallas. For some motive, these two Texas cities simply can’t stand one another. Someplace between the countless ribbons of I-45, the stress is as palpable as an elephant in a one-bedroom condominium. It’s not only a rivalry—it’s a frame of mind. Whether or not it’s debating which powerhouse is extra livable or whose sports activities groups actually have grit, you’ll by no means discover a scarcity of comparisons. However how did we even get right here?
To know the roots of this rivalry, you must return—manner again—to when Texas was nonetheless figuring itself out. Houston and Dallas had been barely dots on the map, simply two settlements making an attempt to outlive the wilds of the 1800s. Again then, Houston hugged the bayous; muddy and unpredictable, a metropolis constructed on commerce and labor. Dallas, in the meantime, grew out of cattle trails and commerce, with its early successes tied to not the waterways however to the railways. The place Houston was formed by the uncooked vitality of ships and sweat, Dallas advanced with a buttoned-up, business-first mindset. From the bounce, the cities couldn’t be any extra totally different.
At present, these two Texan giants are nonetheless miles aside, and H-City has since blossomed into its personal distinctive patchwork.
“Houston is among the most numerous cities within the nation if not probably the most numerous,” says Raheel Ramzanali, host of Metropolis Forged Houston. “Our tradition is a mixture of various backgrounds, races, religions, and it’s created this actually cool immigrant avenue and Southern tradition you don’t get anyplace else.”
You possibly can hint the primary big inflow of individuals to the early twentieth century, when the oil increase reworked the Texas panorama—particularly Houston, with its proximity to the newly found Spindletop oil subject. Out of the blue, Houston wasn’t only a port city—it was the Vitality Capital of the World. Dallas, however, took a distinct path to energy, constructing an empire fabricated from banks, insurance coverage companies, and actual property offers brokered behind mahogany desks by folks in polished fits. If Houston had oil, Dallas had magnificence (no less than, it likes to suppose so).
In fact, sports activities solely fanned the flames. Soccer, notably. In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys had been born, rapidly turning into a nationwide image of soccer excellence and profitable their first championship in simply six years. Houston’s first main skilled soccer group, the Oilers, emerged within the American Soccer League (AFL) on the similar time, and located early success profitable championships in 1960 and 1961. However because the AFL merged with the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL) and the Cowboys’ star energy soared within the Nineteen Seventies, the dynamic shifted. Dallas grew to become synonymous with Tremendous Bowl victories and nationwide fame, whereas Houston’s Oilers, regardless of moments of glory through the Luv Ya Blue period, usually fell simply brief.
The Eighties oil bust hit each metros, however the affect seemed totally different. Whereas Houston, deeply tied to vitality, noticed its financial system crater, Dallas’s actual property and banking industries imploded as over-leveraged monetary establishments collapsed. Every metropolis watched the opposite intently, measuring rebounds and scars like two fighters buying and selling blows.
However the rivalry isn’t nearly economics and sports activities. It’s about moments—just like the 2017 conflict throughout Hurricane Harvey that made the rivalry really feel much more bitter. When Houston was devastated by catastrophic flooding, the Astros had been scheduled to play the Texas Rangers. As a result of disaster, Houston requested for a easy schedule swap: play the sequence in Dallas as a substitute, so Houston may keep away from pointless journey through the catastrophe. The Rangers refused.
“They made the Astros journey all the way in which to Tampa Bay to play that sequence whereas these gamers’ households had been impacted [by] the hurricane,” Ramzanali says. “We’re by no means gonna stay that down.”
The refusal wasn’t only a logistical inconvenience; it felt private. In a second when Houston was fairly actually drowning, the Rangers’ unwillingness to accommodate struck a nerve. Past baseball fields and floodwaters, each cities current themselves to the world distinctly. Dallas prides itself on bougie refinement, whereas Houston is extra undone—messy, sprawling, numerous, and unapologetically itself.
“Each time I am going to Dallas it’s the identical outdated stuff,” Ramzanali says. “Cool, you’ve bought a bunch of chain eating places there, and there are some standout locations, however for probably the most half, it’s simply…bland. Vanilla ice cream.”
Now, we is likely to be biased (I imply, “Houston” is actually in our identify), however H-City feels extra like a layered dish with warmth and depth. Our meals scene mirrors our folks—a mixture of Mexican, Vietnamese, Nigerian, Indian, and Southern flavors mixing into one thing larger than the sum of its components. Additionally, we now have Beyoncé and Simone Biles, so is there actually a comparability?
Whereas tradition usually sparks comparisons, sports activities are what retains the rivalry burning scorching. For Cowboys followers, historical past is all the pieces—the 5 Tremendous Bowl rings, the dynasties of the ’70s and ’90s, and the franchise’s nationwide model as “America’s Group.” However as Ramzanali places it, “The Cowboys haven’t gained something since Blockbuster was round. The final time they gained, you’d need to hire a VHS to observe the highlights.”
Houston followers level to newer success tales, just like the Astros’ World Sequence wins in 2017 and 2022. The Rockets’ championships within the ’90s and the Texans’ extra trendy presence within the NFL and different main leagues additionally give town lots to brag about, even when Dallas locals are fast to dismiss these victories as overshadowed by the Cowboys’ previous.
So, will this rivalry ever cool off? Ramzanali doesn’t suppose so.
“This beef is rarely, ever going to die down,” he says. “The one manner it could finish is that if each cities sprawl to this point that they meet in Centerville and simply battle for Centerville.”
The reality? They want one another. Iron sharpens iron, in any case. And whereas the rivalry may by no means finish, deep down, each cities know—Texas wouldn’t be Texas with out each of them.
