Do we really want to be a darkhorse?

If already eluded to, or if it plugs up the GARM I apologize in advanced.

So heres the deal: Do we want to be a dark horse team?

I've toiled with this question for a very long long time. Speaking from a purely illogical and just luck obsessed individual I can't help but cringe whenever
I see a Rocket on the cover page of Yahoo! It's always something, either failure to launch or rocket's beginning take off, or some other misguided use of a pun. It isn't the stupid puns that get me, it's the fact that whenever we're in the eyes of the public as the team to be(at), it never bodes well (and the obvious is that I don't like reading Rocket's bad news). It's at those moments that our streaks end, our success dwindles and our momentum ends. Purely illogical, purely psychotic, and seriously delusional as it may be, i hate it when we are in scope. I still think the only reason why we won the two years we did is because Yahoo! Sports didn't jynx us. It's not only that, I never really think I've ever liked being the team that everyone is out against, short of Duke of course. I like it when we are under the radar, when we pull off wins that we shouldn't, and i like it when people tell me that we really can't compare to the Suns, Spurs, Mavs... whatever.

With all the hype of Shaq to Suns, Gasol to Lakers, Stoudemire to Spurs, Kidd to Mavs... nobody has noticed the little run we've gone on, we're a blip in the pool of cannonballers. We aren't making waves with our wins, we're just winning. I like that. I really think that it's the best chance we have to actually making the playoffs this season.

I've also looked at it the other way, what if we somehow held our own and became that team to beat? Night in and night out people would bring their best against us, teams like Memphis who have no chance at the playoffs would send forth guys like they were trying to afford a stay of execution. that seems harder than it should be. I don't think we can be them, 1. with the fact that our guys don't like playing at home, and 2. because well lets be honest, outside of Houston fans nobody likes the Rockets. Our pace, our play, our players are not the kind that people are drawn to. Let's say I'm Joe Smoe and i live in Phoenix but i don't like the suns (but I like the NBA). Will I go to see a Suns vs Rockets game, or will i go see Suns vs. Lakers, Spurs, Mavs, so on and so forth. Chances are I'll choose the latter. WHY? I like basketball, but i don't like Rockets Basketball, thats why. There's a lot of reasons why we will never be the team to beat, people hate us, our players are popular singularly to Rockets fans, and in general that isn't our style.

I guess what I'm getting at here is what's so bad about being a dark horse, bring on all the blockbuster trades, bring on Kobe and Shaq 17, bring on the fact that I can't watch any national coverage of Rockets games, bring on the wins with nobody noticing. I'm done ranting, and if you read this far I am very very sorry.