ElDobleK

A Short Story About my Rockets Fandom

On Saturday, April 4, 1992, my dad took me to The Summit to watch the Rockets play against the Orlando Magic, for my birthday. The Rockets won 110-101, with The Dream putting up 22/11 and 8 blocks. I was six years old, and it was my earliest memory of watching the Rockets play. Not long after that, my family left Houston.

When I was old enough to afford tickets, I started going to games whenever they came to my city (which changed quite a few times over the years). From 2007 to 2017, I saw the Rockets play about a dozen and a half times --- at Indiana, San Antonio, NY, Brooklyn, Phila, Miami, Atlanta -- and NOT ONCE did they win. The one time I got to see them play at Toyota Center, when I was in town for my grandmother's funeral, they lost. For those counting, that's 25 years without watching the Rockets win live.

On Friday, January 6, 2017, my wife took me to the Amway Center to watch the Rockets play against the Orlando Magic, for Christmas. The Rockets won 100-93, with five guys in double digits and Ryan Anderson leading the way with 19. It was the happiest and most relieved I've been for the Rockets to win a game since Game 7 of the 1994 Finals.