I'm not sure Olajuwon or his agent ever gave a specific dollar figure but the $16m figure comes from Olajuwon making inuendos about "market value". The basis of market value was David Robinson who got 2 years @ $20m that same summer. I don't have the time or the energy to research it, but my recollection was he wanted 2 years at around $8m/year - hence $16m.
Olajuwon only started getting these ideas in his head after Toronto started talking to his agent. Houston had a bad relationship with Olajuwon until he started playing really well...when they game him the ball. I think the Rockets should have said, wow, he was right, I guess we were wrong. Hakeem come back. Well, at the end of the day....I guess it worked out to get Yao Ming, that is if he turns out to be worth something. He still could be a bust because of injuries or inability to defend. As for Houston and it's fair weathered fans...well, that's the perception of the country and a lot of Houstonians...so that's that. Of course, I haven't heard of what a troll is before, but I can guess...and if anyone who disagrees with your world is a troll, then I say you're practicing a form of self-deception that's rather unhealthy.
You have started a few threads now, and they ALL are very negative to the Houston sports team management and their fans. THAT is a troll. So until proven otherwise... New Yorker = TROLL Please prove me wrong. I (and everybody else on the BBS) welcome new people who have something to contribute.
I rather be a TROLL then a reed that bends to whatever way the wind blows. I express my opinions on here, nothing more.
What gets lost in this discussion is that the last few seasons, Olajuwon said he was going to retire after his Rockets contract ran-out. The organization cannot be blamed for planning based upon taking the man at his word. Olajuwon NEVER played "really well" that season. At his best he was "better-than-average." Olajuwon may have been misused, but he also did not earn court time. During that first half (before the outburst), he was consistently a liability on both ends of the ball. As far as the organization crying and whining "come back Shane, come back," they made a fair and reasonable offer. Was it "everything that could've been done?" Probably not. It doesn't matter though, as has been documented, Olajuwon NEVER intended to consider staying. As it turns out, the trade of a broken-down icon for a solid prospect is a "good thing."
Well, isn't that just typical. Soundly beaten in an argument, and you resort to calling someone a troll. YOU are the troll. This is a forum for open discussion of all Rockets-related topics, not just positive Rockets related topics. Get used to it. Refman = TROLL
I just love how you've singled me out when New Yorker has been labeled as a troll by about a half dozen people in 3 threads. When somebody starts 3 separate threads to do little else than call Houstonians bad fans...he's a troll. Sorry if it offends you, but that's the fact. It isn't the fact that he disagrees with the Rockets on this issue that makes him a troll. It's his consistent m.o. of labelling Houstonians as bad fans IN EVERY THREAD. Get a grip ZRB.
Don't take it too personally. Right now, ZRB is blinded because they both have an Olajuwon fixation. This love affair will last until the first time they are on opposite ends of a discussion and New Yorker resorts to his already established style of bogus logic & my opinion is better than yours and I'll change the facts to prove it. ZRB won't be able to find the letters t-r-o-l-l fast enough on his keyboard.
That's exactly what they did. What they didn't do is say name your price and how long you'd like to be paid, whether you actually play or not. Well, anything can happen to anyone. The NBA players who played in the WC would tell you you're wrong about Yao's "inability to defend." And if injuries or inability to defend make you a bust then, sadly, Hakeem is now a bust. By your logic. He is injured. He needs back surgery. And he won't be defending very well from the bench. I don't really disagree with you about Houston proper having fair weather fans. But when you come on a board populated by fans who've been following the Rockets since they were kids, and who watched every single play of last year's depressing season, whether on TV or live, talking about fair weather fans, you'd do well to disinclude us.
Not only are Houston Fans fair weathered, but they seem to be thin-skined too. Why can't you just accept that Houston fans are bandwagon fans. You admit it in some places, and make excuses. It's because of x,y,z. As a Rockets fan, I have a right to bash the fair-weathered fans who diss my team when the Rockets are doing everything possible to please them. Not all Houston fans are this way, just a big chunk of them. I know, I lived in the city once. I have been a Rockets fan through Lucus, Buck Johnson, World B Free, Wiggins and Lewis Loyd, Cedric Maxwell, Joe Barely Cares, Sleep Floyd, Chuck Nevitt, Purvis Short, Dirk Minniefield, Derrick Chievous, Pete Chilcut, Jim Peterson, Tim Mckormick, David Wood, and last but not least...Ralph Sampson...who I fear Yao could be the second coming of. When you've had to endure drug scandals, busted knees, mediocre talent, Charlie Thomas, Poor attitude, and slew of horrible guards and forwards...then you are not a fair-weathered fan and know why Houston is fair weathered. Do you know how popular the Rockets were before the 1994 finals? Can you say L.A. clippers? The 86-87 season, when Houston stumbled out of the gates after losing to the Celtics the year before...Houston fans lost interest in the Rockets and the papers focused on the vile Charlie Thomas and how much Hakeem wanted to run away to L.A. Bill Fitch was replaces with Don Chaney, who takes credit for the Rockets Championships. Houston Basketball was a miserable state before Les Alexander (who got villified as a carpet-bagger) saved the Rockets by giving Hakeem some teammates that could play. I knew that when they got Kenny Smith and Otis Thorpe that Houston would be more then fodder for L.A. I had no idea that Horry and Cassell would amount to anything, and certainly didn't dream they would come seconds away from playing in the Western Finals in 93. Now, I also know that only a fair-weathered fan would defend fair-weathered fans. It's fine to be a fair-weathered fan, we all root for the same team...but don't think i respect you because you have a 1000 posts on here...that doesn't make you anything but someone with a lot of spare time. I spent my spare time watching the likes of Buck Johnson throw up bricks and Rodney Macray making me cry that they didn't pick Clyde. So yeah, I have a bone to pick and a nasty attitude - big deal...you would to if you weren't a bandwagon fan.
Batman, I've never include everyone on this board, i've labeled Houston - the city - a fair weathered city. Any fan on here who has been a fan the last few years and watches the game clearly isn't in that category. I didn't come in here to brandish Houston, only to criticize it for not respecting it's teams. Then some of these guys took offense and got all defensive calling me a Troll. In any case, I'm ready to give this fruitless argument up. Houston is fair-weathered. Hey, maybe it's good in the long run...it forces owners to put a good product on the field or else they know they won't draw. But I can't imagine anyone thinking Houston compares to cities like Chicago or St Louis. That is just laughable.
You've got a corner on the market on that? I've been watching this team since I was 7 (1980). I have sceduled work shifts and even dates around the Rockets schedule. When my Dad is out of town on business he'll call me up and get a breakdown of how the Rockets are playing. The stuff you say you've endured is nothing different than have I or many other people on this BBS. Don Chaney was fired in 1992 and replaced with Rudy T. This was following a horrible performance at home against the Detroit Pistons (a game I was at). It was so bad that Charlie Thomas publicly apologized to the fans the next day. You've got a point here. It was terrible. Steve Patterson had something to do with putting the pieces together though. Yeah...I'm putting together my request to spend hundreds of dollars on tickets this year for a team that has missed the playoffs the last 4 years because I'm bandwagoning.
NewYorker, I'm actually glad you started posting. It saves me time from wasting my breath. Although, it's hard to get the people here to understand what you are talking about...there are two reasons for this.... ...One, some of them are just kids (only started watching the Rockets during the early 90's)...and two, they don't have much of a "history" to defend. So, they think that you are picking on them. You should really should be writing for the Houston Chronicle. At least you'd target the real audience; albeit a few hate mails too. The real fair-weather fans are the 30,40, and 50 year olds that aren't members of Clutchcity.net, and only go to games when the Rockets are winning. I'm sure there are some here too, but I don't think that a 12 year old kid here on these boards deserves to be attacked. You really need to be talking to the older gen. Those are the ones that get under my skin. Think about it. How many people do you actually know that are true BASKETBALL FANS!? Forget the Rockets, I'm just talking about the game of BASKETBALL! Not many. Most fans are just fans of EVENTS. They follow the crowd. Sigh... I remember the image of the Rockets before 1993. I mean, if the city of Houston didn't take the Rockets seriously, then how did they expect the rest of the nation to take them seriously? Only after all these years are the Rockets now considered a legitimate program. They are taken serious by the NY, Miami, LA, Chicago, and Philly press. This was not the case in the 70's, 80's or before 1995 (Notice I didn't say, 1994. Only Houston cared about that year. The rest of the US didn't care until they won the 2nd championship).
Are you trying to insinuate something about me? As far as this thread, I can't say much. Like DavidS said, I haven't followed the Rockets back when large stones were used as weights. Plus, I don't even live in Houston. I will say that I think many people would go to games, but they can't afford it. Or maybe they can't schedule it. I would go to every single game, but due to the cost and time away from my life, I am unable to. I would imagine there are others like this. A Rocket's game isn't exactly cheap, you know. Maybe just the fairweather fans only have the money and time? I don't know. I'm just giving my 2 cents. Not even much of an opinion, either. I don't know much, I just went on what I do or think.
You clearly aren't all that familar with your history. Charlie Thomas was the owner when the first championship club was put together. Les just walked in off the street in July 1993, dropped a fat check ($85M), and won a championship eleven months later. Alexander was a Florida carpetbagger. He was happy to take the fans' money, and made no effort to make a significant presence here. That has since been rectified, but at the time it was a fair claim.
Yeah, I'm one of those weird Rocket fans that respects and still roots for Hakeem Olajuwon. What is wrong with me?
You seem to be painting with a broad brush here. Every city has its share of fair-weather fans. I happen to be one of those 30 something fans and I have been a fan of the Rockets since I knew what basketball was. When I was younger ( before I had kids) I was at every game or in front of a TV for every game. I was there in '81 when the only below 500 team made it to the finals. I was there when the original twin towers were destroying all before them ( except for the Celtics..damn them.. ). My definition of a fair weather fan would be someone who only supports a team who is winning ( I.E. rooting for whoever is the champion now instead of rooting for the same team all the time). Well, I could care less if they were not taken seriously by the rest of the nation...I did and that is all that mattered to me. I respect your opinion but just because I cannot afford to take my family to every game does make ME a fair-weather fan. I support any and all Houston teams regardless of the sport or venue. Sometimes that means tickets, caps, shirts, or just discussing them with friends that like other teams. Support can mean alot of things, not just buying tickets. I don't disagree that there many bandwagon fans but there are alot of true fans as well. Houston does not corner the market. Win, lose, or draw....Houston will always be my team.
My parting comments and I will not post further in this thread. 1) The average NBA salary is over $2.0m with many players like Shaq and Garnett making $20+m/year as a base salery plus endorsements. 2) The least expensive NBA franchise one could buy easily costs an excess of $100m. Most are closer to $200m. The goal of these businesses is to turn a profit. Yes, even Donald Sterling has that goal. 3) As a country, we Americans are about 6% of the worlds population and consume roughly 33% of the worlds finite resources. 4) The VAST majority of people on this planet live on a barely sustainable existence. 5) "Fan" is the shortened version of the root word "fanatic". The dictionary defines "fanatic" as: unreasonably enthusiastic; overly zealous. Now, given the above information it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that sports is form of ENTERTAINMENT. I could give a flying leap the some unidentifiable clown on the internet wants to place a "fair weather" label on me because things like mortgages, reliable transportation, education and food on the table take a precedence over entertainment. Prior to moving to Austin, I lived in Houston from 1980 to 1996, went to U of H and worked for the team during the Phi Slamma Jamma days. The Rockets are my "home team" and I have only missed a handful of League Pass games in 3 years. But I will tell you in a New York minute and without any fear of reprisal that my quality of life does not depend one damn bit on what some highly paid athletes do. I find great enjoyment in watching a basketball game and watching a display of the good old American work ethic and I truly enjoy watching those who overcome difficulties to eventually succeed. However, this enjoyment akin to listening to good music or having a good meal or spending time with old and dear friend...my short life is to precious to waste living vicariously through the accomplishments of another person.
