How Long Have You Been, and What Made You Into a Rocket Fan?

I became a Rockets fan when they moved from San Diego in 1972 (I think).
They used to practice at Houston Baptist College (now HBU) and watched them all the time.

I remember watching Jack Marin get into fight with Cliff Meeley (at a Baptist school no less), yelling out Ottoooooo when Otto Moore played, and using 2 for 1 Rainbow bread wrappers for tickets.

I really liked John Johnson who I think also played for Portland. He had great saavy and I thought played well for a 6'5" small forward.

John Lucas once came up to me in the HBU gym and opened my P Chem textbook and asked me, "What's this?" I answered, "I'm still trying to figure it out." (He laughed).

I have loved the Rox for for 33 years, suffered through 14 win seasons, and
was lucky to go to game 6 & 7 against the Knicks in 1994. I bleed Rocket red and am pumped for this season.


Houston Native

 

did you go to wainwright elementary school? because when I was in second grade there that's exactly what our teachers did and thats really when i became a rocket fan.

 

After Watching big "E" stop Lew Alcindor's streak in the Astrodome.... then later come home to Houston - I was hooked

 

im a lot younger then you fellows...but i was born and raised in houston...in 1982...first memory of rockets was the 94 finals...i was vacationing in florida with my family..and the rockets game was on fairly late at nite. (late cuz i was a little boy or was just nite time..dono) but i remember watching the manhandling of ewing by olajuwon...gosh i only wish i was a couple years older to see hakeem develop..as well as a player named jordan

my enthusiasm kinda faded wen we started playing really bad...(year b4 francis got here) ..i wouldnt watch as many games..but i used to love watching stevie play..because his style was so street ball...the slam dunk contest with francis, mcgrady, and vince carter was sooooo goood too...
prolly the best..post jordan era..

Now i go to college at UT-austin...and last year i had to pay for digi cable + league pass to watch all the rockets game...i actually recorded the games on DVR..and fast forwarded through all the commercials..timeouts.. freethrows. .etc.

i think i mite be too poor to do that all again
i guess i mite have to resort to d/ling them from clutch fans members...you guys rock!!

 

I used to be a laker fan during the mid 80's becoz of magic, kareem and worthy. When that team faded, i saw a huge poster of the dream in one of my roommates locker. It was akeem slamming it hard with two people going up against him. I thought the monicker dream was cool and also his last name Olajuwon. Even though i havent seen him play that time, I finally became a rocket fan. Then i saw him in 93 and he was unbelievable. He and David Robinson were just head and shoulders above all the centers in the game that time. All the time, i believe that D-Rob is much better than hakeem. Then came the 95 season. And Dream exposed the admiral. He made him his b**** for 6 agonizing games. Until today, still a rocket fan and now a huge Mac-Ming fan.

 

My turn.

I was born in Houston in the summer of 1983.

My earliest memory of actual NBA basketball was seeing the parquet floors of the Garden. I don't remember what year it was, but I know the Celtics were playing, and people were running on to the court. That is when I first learned of basketball. It may have been 1985, or 1986. Maybe 87 or 88. My first memories of the Rockets was around 87 or 88. I remember seeing it on tv, but I was like two or three or four. I remember my mom saying something about blowing the horn again so they can score or something like that. I never put thought into it.

Then we moved from this apartment located off 610 North loop and Ella to this neighborhood in northwest houston. I was like four or five years old and my neighbor was playing with a ball, and had this shrub in his yard near the driveway that he would use as a basket. We would shoot the ball in there. By then, I learned about basketball and stuff. We would pretend we were the Detroit Pistons cause they were the hot team. He would always want to pretend we were them. He would be the Microwave, Vinny Johnson and I would be the big enforcer, Bill Lambier.

But at this time, the Rockets were making the playoffs, but would always lose in the first round. They haven't captured my imagination yet, but they were still my team, mainly due to the fact that they had Houston on their jersey. As I got older, and understood more, I would learn about the team, and learn about the players.

Hakeem was Hakeem, and I hope we didn't trade him to the Clippers.

I remember not making the playoffs for the first time in a whole, and was actually kinda upset that we didn't. I didn't follow college basketball at this time, and Had no clue about Robert Horry, and the whole big thing.

We got back into the playoffs, and beat the Clips, but lost to the Sonics in the second round. For some reason, I can barely remember that Sonics series in 93. I can never remember that game seven.

You guys know what happens next year and stuff.

I guess I didn't come to my own as a Rockets fan til 91? maybe 90?

yeah.

 

Since the late 80's...

Watching Akeem Olajuwon representin Houston and takin on the league by himself on the mediocre teams from 1987-1992 (the Bill Fitch/Don Chaney years)...it was beautiful, and to get the championships was such a climax. I'm still a fan today, but not like I was then. It's hard to reproduce those years, but I feel we're coming close now more than ever. Tracy has given us hope, someone to depend on and rely on just like the Dream used to do for us. League rules now will never let a big man dominate like Dream did back in the day...sorry Yao (but he is better than any of the other second fiddle players we used to have: Buck J, Kenny Smith, Otis Thorpe, Horry, Sleepy, Vernon)

we will rise AGAIN. Some teams have never risen (Dallas). We are lucky.

 

I moved to Houston in 1980 from Germany (army brat) and was raised by just my mom who did her best to expose me to sports, but she only liked baseball. It was 1986 when I was over at a friend's house watching the playoffs. By the time the Lakers series started, I was totally hooked. Some favorite moments:

Sampson shot against Lakers with 1.4 left

Maxwell shot against Miami in 93-94 - we were down by nearly 10 the whole game until we made a last minute run and Max made a turn around three pointer from several feet behind the line to go into overtime. We kicked their ass in OT.

Same year OT had 40 against the hornets - the same night he had a cortisone shot for his hip.

94 Jazz WCF - oh, how I hated them

Drexler trade

95 WCF game 5 - we chartered a bus to San Antonio with 35 friends and 4 kegs in the back of the bus. The Alamodome had to be 33% Rocket fans that night. I almost felt bad for Spers fans.

My band played at the Rockets championship party after game 4 against Orlando. It was pure bliss to be there.

 

When I was 12 I went to game 3 of the NBA champioship at the Summit. We got stomped that day (94-71?) and enventually lost the series, but I became a die hard fan that day. And die hard Celtic hater, too!!

 

hakeem olajuwon.

loved the rox since then, even though i'm from detroit.

 

Moved to Houston 6 years ago. Rockets fan ever since.

 

since 1981... age 10.

My grandmother, who is in her 90's now, is a big fan. Every holiday that a Rockets game was on we were around the tube.

 

Followed Charles Barkley around... wherever he went, my loyalty went too (Yes, you guys killed me with the Kiss of Death). When word of his retirement was buzzing, i was hoping for him to get traded somewhere else... somewhere without Stevie Francis, hehe.

But I couldn't waver anymore. This site and this bbs stamped "Rockets love" into my heart. I knew that when Sir Charles retired, my love for this team wouldn't go away. I'm real glad I stayed, especially when the Rox landed Yao then TMac.

 

i have been a rockets fan since they traded steve francis.

i'm from vancouver, and found this site through grizzball.com - the site maker there was "inspired" by this site. i never watched any basketball until the grizzlies came to vancouver. my dad bought season tickets and i went to every single grizzlies home game (exhibition included). so that's how i started liking basketball. but i didn't like the rockets because of francis. i hated steve francis and still do because of the whole vancouver draft thing, and once the grizzlies left vancouver and traded away their nucleus (reef/bibby) i had to find another team. i didn't really have one for a while, always cheered for steve nash, bibby, and reef -- and started posting more and more here. but yeh, once they sent francis packing i just found myself cheering for them more and more. then when they played against the suns this year and i for some reason felt myself cheering for the rockets over nash, i realized that the rockets were officially my favorite team, even though i never intended them to be atop the list.

 

I became a rockets fan while Moses Malone was the Star. My uncle took me to a game at the age of 5. I got a chance to meet the players after the game because my uncle was a caterer and I had the honor of helping! I have never turned back since! Rockets til I die and death to any that opposes them!

 

I have been a Rockets' fan ever since Yao Ming was drafted by the Rockets!!

Yes, for as long as he plays for the Rockets, I will care about his play and his team. To be honest, I am more of a Yao fan than a Rockets' fan. There is not much difference for now, so I enjoy the time!

Go Yao Ming!

 

First move to Houston in 1981 from there on never look back and i became a solid Rockets fan.

 

Born and raised in Houston. Went to college at Rice so I've seen all of the ups and downs of the Rockets since I can remember. I was only about 13 when we won our championships and at that age, I was of course a bandwagon fan, but since then I've been a big fan.

 

Since about '85, while still in Mexico, I saw games on the Rio Grande Valley channel (I believe it was a syndicated channel) while the Rockets' had Jim Peterson and I believe still while Sampson was here. I moved here in '86 with my family and ALWAYS watched the games because 20 vision had them almost every night while going to school.

I remember watching a couple of games in the late '80s when Dream was still Akeem, and I remember even when he got elbowed by Cartwright and when we had Buck Johnson, Derrick CHievoous, and more around that time. Oh yeah, Purvis Short as well. Rainbow!!!

 

Like numerous of other Rocket fans in China, I gradually turned into a rockets fan and enthralled with every single match of Rockets since Yao Ming was drafted....