I don't exactly remember how. My parents were never into sports, so I guess I was just lucky the Rockets won the 'ships in my formative years. I used to think Robert Horry was super-human. My 7 year old mind apparently couldn't comprehend the greatness of Hakeem, just that Robert Horry dunked during a game an the announcer said, "Robert Horry just FLEW through the air!" Those championships were so special. It sealed the deal as far as fandom goes. A couple months after my parents bought me my Horry jersey at the Rockets shop, he was traded. I remember staring at the TV while my parents said "oh, we're sorry, honey" and trying to fight back tears. I cried so hard that day. Watching the Rockets was fun, but not the same...until... ...1999 when we got Francis. That's when I simultaneously started playing basketball, got the internet, and found clutchcity.com. From Francis' rookie season until around 2005, I recorded every Rockets game on local broadcast TV. When it was on The Tube, I must have spent hours adjusting the rabbit ears. Whenever we lost, I recorded over the game with the next one. I have some pretty awesome games recorded, lots of huge Franchise dunks, Moochie buzzer-beaters, Walt Williams game-clinchers. Sometimes I watch the old tapes and it brings back memories. My dad would make me go to bed at 10, so a lot of times I'd have to lay in bed and press my alarm clock radio close to my head to listen to the games. Sometimes he'd catch me and I'd get chewed out. I always wished I had a dad who understood what it was like to be a sports fan. So...Robert Horry started it, but when SF3 came, that's when the nuttiness started. That combined with having internet resources...man. By the time I was 13, I was thinking about the Rockets 24-7. I always find it strange that I was superobsessed during the so-called "down" years. They weren't down to me...watching Moochie, Steve, Cat, MoTay, Cato, Air Bull, KT, the Wizard, etc. was pretty much the highlight of my early teenage years.
I was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1975. Moved to Houston, in 1976. Went to my first Astros game in 1979 with my dad. Went to my first Rockets game in 1981. My Dad had season tickets for the awful 14-68 1982-1983 season. I have been a homer ever since.
olajuwon, scottie brooks, vernon, winston garland, kenny, OT.. but specifically, nothing. just watching, absorbing, and becoming obsessed around the offseason of 1992?
was always a fan, went to games, cheered, but not like i have been for the last 5 years or so...i mean i have missed literally only a handful of games, ive had league pass the past 3 years since i dont live in houston atm, i think when yao and tmac got together i really started loving them, i was not a big steve francis fan so i got annoyed and always complained about them when he was our star, but when we got yao i also gained more interest overall hakeem was what got me interested in the rockets
Beyond that some of my favorite players have mostly been Rockets... Hakeem Olajuwon Ralph Sampson Sleepy Floyd Rodney McCray Rudy T (as coach) Calvin Murphy (announcer) Carl Herrera Kenny Smith Vernon Maxwell Mario Elie Clyde Drexler Sam Cassell Robert Horry (didn't like him with the Lakers, though) Eddie Johnson Cuttino Mobley Jim Jackson Steve Francis Yao Ming Tracy McGrady Shane Battier (originally hated the Memphis trade, but Shane proved himself in the first month he was with the Rockets, I'm glad they made that trade now). Luis Scola Ron Artest (I liked him ever since he was with the Bulls and Pacers, though...and I thought wouldn't have fit in with our team and we would meltdown mid-season, every thing opposite of what I thought happened, again)
futants, in a lot of ways I think we've lived our lives in parallel. Moved to Bellaire in '76 (I was nine) and my next door neighbor start taking me to see the Malone-era Rockets. Never looked back.
I was a Houston area high-school basketball player the year that the Rockets moved from San Diego. I had seen Elvin Hayes play a bunch for U of H, too.
i grew up in san antonio, but i loved the rockets because of hakeem olajuwon. i was a muslim at the time and i looked at him as my role model.
Really? You moved from Brownwood to Houston, became a rabid basketball fan, took up skateboarding and acid and eventually escaped to Austin, too? That is amazing...
moved to the houston area when i was almost 4 in 1975. i started paying attention to basketball in the early 80's when Phi Slama Jama was huge. followed Clyde and Dream's careers into the NBA, but being in Houston, the Rockets were always my team. 1986 playoff run against the legendary Magic Johnson's Lakers and Larry Bird's Celtics? game over. fan for life.
i moved here in 1988, my brother was a rockets fan already and i would always hang out with him in the house and watch tv, i started watchign basketball games with him and naturally just rooted for whatever team he rooted for, I was like 8 years old at this time and knew any Houston team to be "the good guys" this was when Don Chaney was head coach and we had guys like sleepy floyd, mike woodson, derick chevious..olajuwon, it just came from following them for all these years. I'll admit...my interested started to fade after the Barkley, Drexler, olajuwon era, and it picked back up after mcgrady got signed.
one year.. in my mid-teens.. i suddenly found myself developing an interest in sports.. mostly baseball.. even joined my HS team.. so, needless to say.. i was following the Astros before the Rockets.. then.. i believe in 1998.. it occured to me.. to tune into the NBA finals.. for no particular reason.. what was to be Jordan's last series.. against the Jazz.. long story short.. i enjoyed every game.. and the series.. and decided from that moment on to follow the home team Rockets.. that very off-season.. and i was actually quite excited at the rumors/news.. at the time.. of aquiring Scottie Pippen......
