Well, I made the trek from Dallas to Houston to watch my favorite basketball player of all time, Hakeem Olajuwon, play in what could be his last game as a Rocket. The trip was definitely worth it. There's nothing really like attending a game in person; the TV can't even begin to compare as I'm finding out the more I actually attend games. As usual, I have some observations, very little of which has to do with the game itself. Early to Rise, Early to uh... bobble I got to the game at about 5:30 - 5:45 thinking I'd beat the mad rush to the game. I knew the will call window wouldn't open until 6:00pm, but I figured I'd just get up there early for kicks. When I got there at roughly 5:40ish, I saw roughly 500-1000 people already waiting to get in. Oh lovely. The things people do for these silly little dolls... Next time bring a better camera, Doc I was ready to take pictures galore with my 10 year old piece of poop camera (that really looks cool). Once I got there, I knew my camera was woefully inadequate to zoom in the action from my section 125 seats. I took one picture of Dan Langhi shooting a J before I went back to my seat. I'm still debating what the hell to do with the remaining 23 exposures. I'm seriously considering getting a real camera ... something like a Nikon N80. Hakeem better come back... I haven't finished taking my pictures. Don't allow idiots to sit near me Hopefully I'm not bashing anyone that comes to this board, but when your woman starts screamin' for "Mookie Morris" to shoot and comments on how interesting his hair is, please slap a muzzle on her. This lady's most in-depth analysis consisted of commentary on the half-time show and the cartwheeling abilities of the little kids performing. Oh, and "I like Mookie, he's so energetic". And what the hell is it with women that have to carry purses that could store the entire Library of Congress in them? She nearly broke my leg, uprooted the entire row in front of us, and knocked my fillings out trying to pull that mastadon carcass she called a purse out from under her seat. To compound my aggravation, behind me and to my left are more corporte buffoons that had interesting commentary such as "hey guys, we got the dolls, did we really come to watch the game?". The guy in front of me was reading a paper for 1 hour in which he failed to turn the page once. My God man, if you read that slowly, seek help. I began to notice that when I clapped, he would get startled and clap, too. There was one time I decided to clap for no reason whatsoever... he joined in. Dorkus Maximus. And his wife sitting on the same row as I was (behind him) kept leaning forward and blocking my view while talking about Ward, June, Wally, and the effin' Beev and where they were going on vacation. Fools to the left of me, fools to the right of me, here I am stuck in the middle with a bobble head... HeyPee makes his grand entrance Well there I am trying to watch the game and HeyPee starts screaming my name (no, not like that, you pervs). I take a look at the guy and he seemed harmless enough, so I get up and leave as if called by Jesus to do his bidding. Only this was more like being called by that Egon guy off of Ghost Busters. I soon met jamcracker as well. Really nice guy, but he seems like he doesn't get the chance to talk much at home and decides to unleash the Siren-like wails all at once in one massive resonating bellow after another at Rockets games. Very vocal. But like I said... nice guy and obviously a great fan. Anyway, HeyPee leads me around looking for better seats. We get kicked out of about 2 or 3 sections and HeyPee apologized profusely for a while before we decide to go to the upper level, Section 2-something. Keep in mind I was originally in section 125. No big deal. I've always wanted to sit in every seat at the Compaq Center, and I pretty much did thanks to HeyPee. I really didn't care for my seats anyway, so in all honesty, I'm glad I moved. So I sit there for a few minutes and chat with HeyPee and ask him who was at the pre-game gathering at Kenneally's. He starts rattling off names such as Clutch, Kagy, etc. and other he'd met during the course of the day. That's when I thought "...damn, I must sound stupid sitting here talking about people named Clutch, rockHEAD, mr_oily, etc." Anyway, Once we made it to the section 2-something area, I noticed something that jamcracker had said : Those section 2xx seats are better than most 1xx seats! Damn. If you want to watch entire plays unfold before your eyes, midcourt in the 2nd level is where you should be. If you want to maybe make it on tv, go down below. I finally saw Shandon Anderson on the wing during a fast break ready to slam a ball only to be ignored by Steve Francis. It really does happen and he really does get pissed. Don't waste your money on the lower-level seats unless they are at mid-court and at courtside level. You can hear more and be seen, but you can't really see everything that's going on. Where was everybody? I was kind of pissed that I really didn't get to meet anybody except HeyPee and jamcracker (no offense guys). I looked in the general direction of where rockHEAD and mr_oily were to be, but didn't notice anything unusual. And of course, with names like that, that's what you should look for : the unusual. During the game I watched as somebody with Ali on the back of their shirt walked by, but this person was hairy, fat, and had a closely-shaven head, so I said to myself "naaa... couldn't be". I also forgot about the halftime gathering by the stairs. Bummer. Who let out the shriek? Who was it from the upper level that let out that shriek when CC.net and SOR were announced in attendance? Man, you rock. That was loud. One of those "My God, I've been gored" shrieks. I think it came from the general section 237-238 area. I would've done something, too, but I thought I'd give grandma next to me a heart attack, and "Mookie Mama" on the other side may have clubbed me with her war-purse. Being there and watching Hakeem play was so great I had to drive back to Dallas so I could go to work, so I left the game with about 8 minutes left in the fourth. As I made my way out, I decided to buy a Rockets cap, magnet, and keychain... as I was making my purchase was when the chanting for Hakeem went up. They showed "Dream" on the monitor and I let out a "YES!" and just stood there and watched the monitor. This was almost a culmination of sorts. I watched Hakeem play at UH when I was a kid back in the early 80's. I cried when Phi Slamma Jamma lost the championship game. Hakeem dried those tears with the back-to-back championships. Then to hear his name ringing throughout the crowd as I walked out of the stadium, was sheer delight for me to put it mildly. I'm going to miss the big fella if he decides to leave or retire, but at least I won't miss the memories he brought to the town. That was fun, let's do it again... We have to do that again next year, but with everybody in the same general area. The thought of 250-300 people in which one half chants "ClutchCity" while the other half chants "dot Net" is rather... cool. We would own the stadium. We would control the chants. Not to mention I'll be able to say "Hey rockHEAD!" or "hey mr_oily!" without thinking "My God, I'm an idiot". Hopefully next year we'll do something on a weekend so I don't feel like I'm loopy at work after getting no sleep. I'm already itching to get my seats at all the Rockets games vs. the Mavs here in Dallas to root for the Rockets. Well, enough rambling... time to go to bed clutching my bobblehead... (get your minds out of the gutter, you pervs). ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills... [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited April 19, 2001).]
Nice recap you moron I tried to look for my fellow Rocket fans from this board but...... I looked where you were sitting at. Were you sitting next to some really really old people (or are you one of those really really old people )? I met Clutch (woo hoo) Kagy looks like a pretty mellow guy in person Heypee the Egon the legend Jeff, who I have met a number of times Damn I met one more person. Sorry I cant remember who. DarkHorse was that you? ------------------
hahahah... nice recap dude! i wish i was there to see the last game of the season. ------------------
Yeah, me and rH were lookin for you too. All we saw was old people too! ------------------ "Thats, Stirfry, NOT stayfry"
...funny stuff. He was plain as day guys, right where I placed his blue dot. You could tell he was not sitting next to the funnest of fans. Man, that is the very first time we've been stopped moving down. I had four sets of 4 seats each scoped out since the beginning of the 2nd Q, then wham, the dude didn't let me down. The other aisles did, but I had no seats marked in those sections, so we kept picking the wrong ones...oh well. Glad you liked the upper deck. It really does open your eyes to seeing everything. Too bad you didn't get to see any Steve or Cuttino hissy-fit hopping. You really begin to appreciate how much ground they can cover in one hop, and how amazing it is that Cuttino can whine to two refs, ex-Mayor Bob Lanier and Elyse and still make it over to the other side of the court to hear what Calvin has to say before the ball crosses half court, all the while seeing how Shandon tries to manage to guard Cuttino's man and his own on the fastbreak.
Nice recap Dr, you want a tissue for the tears crybaby ------------------ "Repression never did me any harm (I finally ceased to include "stop masturbating" as one of my guilt ridden New Year's resolutions, but that's a different topic)." Achebe - programmer by day, Mrs Palmers Husband by night
What an ego filled rant by Doc, it's all me, me, me! Seriously, that had to be cool. I wish I could have gone, sounded like fun. Had to be weird having guys like oily, heypee, Clutch, Ali and jamcracker walking up to you and talking to you. I would ask you what their real names were, but I'm assuming names like Clutch, and heypartner and DrofDunk are secret identities! Anyway, great recap, and all bow to the mighty bobblehead!!!! ------------------ See the three, be the three.
I only met heypee and jamcracker. I never met any of the admins or Senorita Ego, Ali or any of the other fools from chat. ------------------ Yugo grills, Yugo mills, Check out the oil my Yugo spills...
Funny how this has turned into a Bash cut-tino's lack of defense thread. ------------------ "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."- (Aldous Huxley)
It was great to finally meet DoD, after chatting with him all year. " ... Siren-like wails all at once in one massive resonating bellow after another at Rockets games. Very vocal. ..." The four regulars that sit around heyp and I are the best fans I know. I bellowed into their ears for 41 home games and they never even glared at me. heyp deserves some credit too, since he was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME. "Those section 2xx seats are better than most 1xx seats!" YES! I love being able to see the whole floor. I can follow the game so much easier in our section 210 seats than I can in the best 1xx seats. "... I finally saw Shandon Anderson on the wing during a fast break ..." I can't see that sort of stuff as well from the 1xx seats. Makes me respect commentators and coaches all the more. So much easier to see the court from centered 2xx seats than from the floor. Loooking from above versus through a tangle of limbs. But I never had more fun than sitting 5 rows behind Rudy for the 2nd half and 3 Pacer OTs. "I had to drive back to Dallas so I could go to work ..." Did anybody make a tougher drive than DoD? I know some kids drove to and from Austin on game day ... Did anybody drive further than to and from Dallas on game day? "That was fun, let's do it again..." And let's do it again for a weekend game. Instead of making Dallas fans drive 8 hours in one day... Maybe the Houston cc.netters can set up a hostel for out-of-towners... We should do it again. Next year, when we're shooting for the 4th seed, and 1st round home court advantage, we'll be beating cc.net gatherings off with a stick.
SamCassell drove from Corpus Christi and let's not forget poor, poor Darkhorse flying 10 hrs for nothing....
------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain -
And just in case you still weren't sure... No, it wasn't me... :\ ------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain -
