Hakeem's retirement ceremony was horrible!!!

you mean there's a costashater1 running around out there?

 

What a sour puss you are.

I think Michael Cage, Billy Paultz and Roy Tarpley should have been able to speak too.

 

I'd have thrown in a foreign policy debate between Noam Chomsky and Colin Powell just to ease the gravity of the ceremony.

 

Personally, I think David Robinson should have been there to hand over the 1995 MVP trophy.

 

Hakeem has never been one to enjoy all the praise. If it were up to him, he probably never would have had a ceremony.

 

rudy did seem like he was on something when he gave his speech...

but clyde was there..and the crowd cheered every other sentence...chanted MVP at one point...

and hakeem never stopped smiling...

he seemed to enjoy it..

it was a good ceremony...

 

I saw it on t.v. and from those angles I could see Hakeem was smiling alot and bowing his head in humility, truely greatful for the night. You should have seen the suprised look on his face when Rudy announced he was gonna get a statue. He was "WOW"! I thought it was pretty long though for a half-time too. Maybe actually being at the game made the time seem to go by quicker, I dunno? I was wondering if it was odd having his retired jersey sideways in the Compaq, know what I mean?
Helluva game to be at though!
Anyhow, too late now

 

I didn't see the whole ceremony, just the highlights they broadcast at halftime of last night's game. Rudy just seemed excited and trying to get the crowd pumped up too. I didn't think it was that weird, although CD and Les took a very different approach to their speeches.

 

I thought this dude has been banned.

Let me say it one more time: costashater2 is rockets hater 2. Get it? TROLL!

 

Outstanding and funny stuff!

I thought it was pretty good and Hakeem seemed very pleased with everything that went on. Rudy was awesome! His demeanor only made what he said seem genuinely heartfelt. Clyde was great. The only thing that could've been better was if Les had relaxed a little and not read a prepared speech. What he said was fine,he just seemed very uptight and robotic. And I must admit when they raised the jersey to Tina's "Simply The Best",it was hard to choke 'em back by that time Rocket brothers. Even swallowing was hard.

 

Now it’s Toronto turn to throw Hakeem a big retirement sends off. Maybe they can top Houston’s halftime show. They can bring out a couple of Maple Leaf Hockey player and tell how much Hakeem meant to them. Or have Raptor management tell how Hakeem ripped them off. Thanks Toronto for the extra draft pick.

 

One question: Kenny was there- why didn't he speak?

 

My guess is time. They only had about 20 mins to do this and I think it went over that time by at least 2-5 minutes. I was watching the countdown clock and I know it was stopped at 3 minutes or so for a while.

 

No matter how it was done I am sure there would have been some unhappy fans.

I am sure Rudy was a little choked up after everything that he went through with Hakeem during his career and then with the "fall out" they had through the media when the Rockets tried to resign him.

I think what the Rockets did was classy. They didn't HAVE to honor him with a statue in front of the new arena or anything like that. I am glad they decided to and think it is very well deserved.

On the aspects of the length of the ceremony. When did you want them to have it? If they would have had it before the game, less people would have been there and if they would have had it at the end the not so true basketball / Hakeem fans would have been walking out the doors.

I am interested in hearing what you would have done different and how.

 

The last retirement ceremony they had, they were fined by the league a BUNCH of money because they ran long. I'm sure there were some pretty specific instructions to avoid that.

 

I thought Rudy was very sincere .. I got choked up listening and I could tell Hakeem was touched by what he was saying...Dream had a huge smile on his face the entire time..I thought it was great.

 

that it was...

 

Holden,

Good observation. Rudy is always on something.

 

Costa:

First, let me say that there are better things to b$%ch about.

Hakeem was very appreciative and the fact that when the statue goes up (which is larger than what Clyde got from the Blazers--how many players have this in the league?), there will be another retirement ceremony of sorts, only made the ceremony that much better.

I agree about having a couple others speak, like McCray or Levell would have been nice, but it was not a horrible ceremony by any stretch. It was simple, Hakeem was deeply touched and it was very sincere!

Chillout dude...