Like I've posted before takeaway any teams top 2 scorers(Cat and Franchise are more than half the offense for this team) and where are they??? San Antonio w/o Duncan and Robinson... nothing Lakers w/o Bryant and Shaq... no as leathal... Dallas w/o Finley and Nowitzki ... nothing special Only Sacramento has done well w/o their # 1 player... Houston Rockets are trying to win w/ Norris and Torres starting... Do we expect them to pick up that much slack... Don't forget we're already witout Taylor... So thats your top 3 scorers from last season and now Rice... So who do we look at Walt, Norris, Thomas and Torres to make up for our players injured... Its just not going to work... All we can do is endure this b/c theirs not much we can do... And a hell no to JR Rider!!!!! Isiah or who ever he is...
Good stuff, truefans. You're being way too kind to Houston. The Rockets couldn't sell out a 2nd-round playoff game in '94. The Astros had I think the 2nd-best record in baseball in the decade of the 90s, yet their attendance for the same time period was near the bottom. It's not like that everywhere. Houston may have an excuse this year, but they usually don't.
Couple quick points to close this out: 1) All professional sports franchises have problems selling tickets when the team is not doing well (sans Cubs, Yankees, Kings). The Lakers sold tix, but no one attends in the mid 90s, pre Kobe and Shaq! The cost has increased so enormously that your average fan cannot and attend. Consequently, we cannot use game attendance as a measure. Better measurement is Nielsen ratings, because this is where the flag ship stations determine their dollars. 2) Jeff, the resolution I speak of is not necessarily the means to the coaching staff's end. Rather, this board is our own fantasy world where problems are presented and we as members of clutchcity play Coach, Player, GM, Commissioner and Fan. We technically are living our own league and honestly do not believe that the issues raised here and the resolution to those issues are really implemented. Rather, the resolution is self-fulfilling to our own board psycology, which is pretty passionate...
It gets lonely being a loyal fan of the Rockets. I don't know anybody at work, friends , or im my life at all who I can carry on a conversation about the Rockets for more than 2 minutes - they could care less. To each his own. Some of my friends are fans of stock car racing- you know=- Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon. To me stock car racing is worse than watching golf. I'm not snob. My point is that I really like Clutch City BBS because I have learned so much here. As for Houston Fans, I don't know why: 1) Lack of long term tradition?? 2) Too busy lifestyle?? I don't know why there is no consistent fan base. The Cubs have been playing playing so long they have legions of fans from all ages. I hope Houston will support the Rockets. I will through good and bad - even if they had moved. Even though we have lost 10 straight, I will be at the Cleveland game tonite hoping for a victory. I will be driving from Beaumont area.
About the Oilers: It's actually an interesting theory I remember hearing about this. The fall of the Luv Ya Blue era coincided with the Oil Bust that hit Houston very hard. All of those people going to the games (and the gritty underdog mentality with it) could no longer go because there were real problems to worry about. All those fans came back as the Oilers returned to the playoffs for 7 consecutive years in the late 80's / early 90's, yes. Remember, that team would always sell out a game and 2000 SRO tickets... but had a bad reputation because of the stupid-ass blackout rules that made no sense. As for blaming the fans for the Oilers departure... Bud Adams can bite me. He held this city hostage, and Bob Lanier stood up to him. After threatening to move to Jacksonville in, what, 1987, the Astrodome was reconfigured for his sorry ass (and we lost that cool scoreboard)... and then he pulled the same crap AGAIN. Don't you THINK the city would get sick of it? Of course, he called Houston's bluff and left... and ever since then, the city (and that idiot of a mayor Lee Brown) have run scared and paid out the nose for three new stadiums. TrueFan, you're a fool. I'm only 23, but I remember this crap when it went down and I was pretty bitter (I remember nearly every minute of the Oilers-Bills game, including the friggin' halftime interview with Bill Cowher where he talked about how the Oilers looked scary for his team the following week), obviously. That team was/is cursed, and Houston fans didn't really do anything to force the departure of the team. It became a grudge match between Lanier and Adams.
Couple points: 1) The Blackout rule was stupid and it was overblown. Okay, we only sold 58,000 seats by Thursday at 12:00 pm, but by game time, the place was sold out! 2) Bottomline: Professional sports team suck, fans do not show up! (sans Cubbies, Sac-town and the Knicks). Why do they still show in these cities, because the national exposure. What do most fans want to do when they go to Chi-town and NY? Go see a Cubbies game at Wrigley or a Knicks game at Madison. It is the allure! As far as Sac-Town goes, it is because there is nothing to do there and it is the only game in town! Would we be having this debate if we were still selling out 5 years in a row? probably not! 3) Adams sucks for many reasons, but the number one reason is the loss of the kick-butt scoreboard in the Dome!
Listen to sports talk radio, the one place where fans represent a broad spectrum of different sports lovers. The other day, I heard Charlie say that they had gone TWO FULL DAYS without a Rockets phone call or even and NBA call. I've even heard complaints that when Rockets guests are on, the shows struggle to get callers. This is DURING THE SEASON when the only other team playing in Houston is the minor league hockey team, the Aeros!!! Read the letters to the sports editor in the Sunday paper. Most are about the Astros or the Texans or some other sporting news. Rarely are there many Rockets letters
