MDA "Our crowd doesn't usually get their till 8 and we didn't start playing till 8"

Honestly it doesn't matter whether the start time is 7:00 or 7:30. Nor is this just a problem for the Rockets. It is equally a problem for the Astros.

7:00 is the right time for games to start. People leaving early would be an issue (as it was) if the time was 7:30. But sadly Houston is planned in such a shitty way that 7:00 doesn't work out either.

• In an ideal city there would be trains running into downtown from all the major suburbs. There should be one train going south to sugarland. One going west to Katy. One north to the woodlands. One northwest to cypress. One northeast to kingwood. And that is at the minimum. These are the areas a bulk of the city's population (especially the people who can actually afford expensive tickets) live.

• The people who live inside the loop who have any interest already have an easy enough time getting to the game relative to these people anyway. Plus the rail (as shitty as it is) already runs through downtown, midtown, and the medical center so there's really no excuse. The galleria area is close enough that *most times* you should be okay making it to the game at 7. Obviously a light rail expansion needs to be done in the loop. This might actually happen one day. It would help a lot.

• Furthermore the stupid mentality a lot of Houstonians have about this being "only a football town" drags us down a lot. Our other sports teams have had so much success. Support them. Period. This is part of the reason Houston does not get as much "respect" as other major cities. If our own population doesn't support our teams how the hell does anyone expect outsiders to?

City planning and apathy are the reasons why the Rockets and Astros are really suffering in attendance.

Both teams deserve better.

Good on Dan Tony for calling out the city.

 

A true Dude you are. All of us dudes represent and don't give two ***** about what the haters think. Your post is spot on, but I disagree with you on Damn Tony calling out our fans like that. It's just bush league and not very professional on his part, if he has an issue with it he needs to take it up with Les. As you stated in your post, part of the problem is the location of the arena and lack of good transportation options, and fans can't do anything about that.

 

I think D'Antoni calling out the fans is okay only for three reasons.

1) I have this hunch (that I can't support but seems obvious) that other coaches we've had have brought this up to Les. I'm sure Dan Tony has as well. I think it has fallen on deaf ears. In particular, I can't help but wonder about JVG starting the red rowdies. That guy had to have brought it up to Les, likely to no avail. Hence why JVG started the rowdies with his own money.

2) I don't think the fans will actually feel slighted by him saying it. The ones who are getting to the games on time won't feel anything because they're likely already pissed (like most cf posters) that others don't get there on time. The ones who aren't getting there on time likely didn't even hear about this. The corporate shills don't give a **** either way.

3) For the reasons above, I think it was worth a shot for him to say something publicly. Sometimes public pressure gets people talking and makes the owners think twice. At the very least tickets could be lowered a little to help the common man buy lower bowl tickets.

Like I said though, I think most of the problem is poor city planning and Houstonians' apathy towards sports that aren't football. I refuse to believe in a city of (what is it now?) 6 million people we can't fill a basketball stadium for a team that has the best player in the world.

I absolutely refuse to believe that. None of this **** matters; it's just pure apathy. If the Texans ever had this type of season there would be no tickets to sell. Everything would be instantly sold out.

 

Texas folks don't like the "hip hop culture".

 

Agreed on that. I think the apathy comes from the fact that most people in this town are all transplants and many of them do not even live here through the full year, or they only intend to stay here so long as their employment requires. They have no connection to our local teams nor are they here long enough to establish any sort of deep relationship with them. Carpetbaggers, dude.

The Texans draw fans from all over the state because of the fact that they're called the Texans. I don't think Houston as a city is what makes them the valuable franchise that they are, they were on the Forbes list of top 15 most valuable sports franchises in the world. I think most of it comes from the fact that they're a state team and not a city team like the Rockets and Astros are.

I'll let you have the final word here, Dude.

 

Man, I wasn't even talking about behind the basket seating. That's a whole different world...and again we pale in comparison to number of options to those stadiums I mentioned.

but those few seats for the Red and White Restaurant (or whatever ti's called now) is somewhat off topic wrt the seating MDA was talking about....and certainly the seating I thought we were talking about. It's the baseline seating that we are talking about, no?. Behind the basket I'm pretty sure fills up earlier like the Upper Deck. Sp. we have no problem there. I mean, if you want to talk about behind the basket, then I think that's probably going to go against the argument that 7:00 start is too soon.

 

Not accurate. The Rockets have the third most wins at home in the NBA since the opening of Toyota Center. And their % of wins at home vs the road over that period is better than OKC, SA and Dallas (slightly below GS). But why let facts get in the way of a good argument...

 

what does that have to do with the TC and the lack of crowd noise/energy.

 

So much this. We need better rail going to all places.

 

Brown Lost said that "the Rockets, for years, have been as good or better at home than they've been on the road." ..Implying that lack of crowd energy at home was costing us wins. The facts don't back that up.

 

Well, there you have it. About 17 years of mediocrity have turned all of the average fans into fairweather fans.

The same thing happens to baseball, and hockey.

Football's biggest asset is that it's once a week. No mid-week work nights.

 

On Super Bowl weekend, they had $1 beer before 7:00.

They do that every game I think it will be more packed early.

 

Unfortunately I agree with everything you said here. Some generalizations but mostly harsh truth. Good post.