Must Be Tough *question for Rockets game attendees*

Not as tough as watching your team get swept in the finals after leading Game 1 at home by 3 points with 10 seconds left and one of your guys at the line with 4 chances to make a free throw.

 

It's even worse when you're a road fan, where you only get to see your team play twice, and they lose by an average of 24 points. That completely blows, actually!

I imagine that after the initial disappointment of having a terrible team to follow wears off, the season ticket holders just go to the games for the pure fun of being there. If you're a complete diehard fan of the team, and not just an overall basketball fan, then I suppose that you go to the games in hopes of catching a rare "Francis-three beats Utah" style game. Games like that can often make up for Sacramento type games.

 

Will, Well said Dawg! Magic Fan, Don't post here no more unless you have some positive sh** to talk about. Of course it hurts watching your team lose at home.

 

not that i get to go to the games or watch them (not even the damn spurs game) but right now every loss is like heaven. the ping pong balls just keep rollin' in. hey cleveland won tonight. however, next year when i have league pass we best start winning.

 

I am a season ticket holder, and I live in Austin, so going to games is harder for me than most.

It really ticks me off to drive a long way and see a crappy effort, like the Sacramento game. The team laid down and even the building laid down as the 24 second clock did not work (again). It made me wonder if I was the only one putting out full effort (ie paying full price).

However that being ranted, You look for different things. Don't get me wrong, I would rather see a win than just about any option, but I have taken great pleasure in what I do see.

I understand the way the team works much better than I used to. In the emotion of the game, I just care about the basket or the block. In a lost game, I am more incline to see how we defend the pick and roll, and how they defend ours. I start to see how the players get freed up, and it is cool.

I have always had a habit of picking one opponent and following just him for about a five minute stetch, usually in the second period. It is fun to watch Alan Iverson move without the ball, Tim Duncan's footwork and such, even if you don't see the fianl basket. That is stuff you can not get on tv. I do that type of thing more often now.

I was at the Utah game where we won, and what a great game. Watching Malone get stuffed and cry like a little girl was great. By the way, I was focusing on Malone during the ensuing time out and saw the techincal comming. It was great. At the time I said to myself, this has been worth the price of admision alone, even if we loose. Which, sadly, is what I expected. When we won, there was a primal scream from section 208. Now in the winning old days, that block followed by a loss would have put me in a bad mood, and my wife on egg shells. But with this team and these expectations I could accept the block as a gift in spite of a loss. And to win was a phenominal pleasure that I have never gotten from watching previous wins over Utah, even in the playoffs. True.

Lastly I watch the development of players. In a previous life I was a baseball fan. My favorit games were when they expanded the rosters at the end of the year and I could see the minor league prospects. So this year I have watched with great interest the development of Terrance Morris, Collier, Cato, and Moochie. I am not making this up, I told my ticket partner that "Cato is starting to play like a man" before his stats went up, and before this board was discussing his improvement. I feel I have an honest opinon on each, not a comparison of stats but an honest opinion. To me Langhi looks lost while TMo seems to have a nose for the ball. Collier is really slow and dosen't make the plays, but he standing in the right place just about all of the time.

I enjoy watching the development of the team. If this team turns out to be of a championship calibure, I will have seen it from day one and take great pride in that. If this team just fall short of that level (Utah, Seattle) I will understand why. It will be a dissapointment, but it will make the Olajuan years even rares and more precious.

The only thing that would really dissapoint me is if I invest this much time and effort into a team of quitters. I don't mind telling you this team is making me nervous. Francis and Mobley, our leaders have shown a willingness to practice year around and play in pain. (I am not a Mobley fan at all, but I was really impressed when he had that root canal equivelent at halftime and played with packing falling out of mouth. You have to admit that was way cool. ) But I am not sold on their heart. To me the only palyer who will really gut it out 48 minutes a game is Kenny. Everybody else is willing to play 48, but not necessarily work 48. When John Elway retired, someone asked him if he couldn't face another season. His response was soimething about another season is ok, it the preperation for the season I can't take. That is the kind of dedication I haven't seen from our leaders. They play all year, but that is not the same. By the way, Tmo may have that internal toughness. Watch him around the basket on defense. Even when somebody else's man scores near him, you can see he takes it personally.

A good team takes what the defense offers. So my long winded answer to MagicFan is as a fan, I enjoy what what there is to enjoy. And I look forward to a more sucessfull future.

 

MagicFan - I am not a season ticket holder but watch every game on League Pass so I feel qualified to comment.

I'll bet you can relate to having a star player with a recurring injury (can you use "Grant Hill" and "migraines" in a single sentence?).

I have been a Rockets fan since moving to Texas in 1980. My level of fan interest ebbs and flows, but this has been a totally unique and bizarre season.

I attended UofH and was there for Phi Slamma Jamma and watched as this amazing kid from Nigeria improved not from season to season but from game to game...unbelievable. I continued to watch and cheer as he became a hometown hero. And was saddened, sickened, and disgusted as the hero left town to play in another uniform in another city.

The Hakeem ordeal was only the tip of the icberg.

My expectations and enthusiasm were dashed at the signing of a player I felt should not have been signed (Rice)...I have watched a #7 pick rookie grow in leaps and bounds and then have him remind me all too bluntly that he has well over a year before he can legally drink as he makes a rookie error or hits the wall.

I have observed a general harmony at CC.NET digress into more than the usual name calling, finger pointing and player bashing.

I have waited patiently for a team of alleged (self-proclaimed?) "young guns" to dash down the floor only to sit and watch as they dribble out the shot clock.

Frustration is an understatement. I love defense...I love fastbreaks...it's just not there... and I can't fully understand why.

But the team is truly enthusiastic about itself and there has been a general feeling of comraderie.

And we get to spend alot of time speculating about our draft pick and watching in amazement as the Carter-less Raptors make a charge at the playoffs which will net us an additional #14 draft pick if they do.

Hunter S. Thompson once said something about it not being weird enough for him... he should have been a Rockets fan this season.

 

it's not that tough when you have



CLUTCH THE BEAR!

 

For me, it's not that tough to see them lose, even though I'm the biggest Rockets fan in the world. Whats tough is to see injuries, selfishness, or lack of effort. If I could make 3 players magically appear on our team, it would be Rashard Lewis, Ben Wallace, and Kenyon Martin. Man, talk about a team with all the intangibles.

 

hehe