How Long Have You Been, and What Made You Into a Rocket Fan?

1986. Western Conferenc Semi-Finals against Lakers. Lewis Lloyd, Rodney McCray, Ralph, Akeem (spelled that way back then), Mitchell Wiggins, Greg Ehlo (yes he was on our team), Granville Waiters, Robert Reid, upsetting the Lakers in 6 with Ralph's shot. (I got laid that night) We then went on to Boston to play the Celts, and Ralph's famous fight with McHale in Game (2?). (I got laid that night by a different girl).

Been a fan ever since.

YoungTurk

 

I was a Rodney McCray fan in high school and college and when he went to the Rockets, I began following them as well. Now, Rodney is long gone, but I will never leave!!

 

For me, the first time I started watching nba basketball was iduring the 93/94 season and that was the first year i got to see NBA playoff basketball. And i remember being really excited watching Hakeem doing all the great things he does near the basket and guys like maxwell, horry and cassell draining it from the outside. And i was inspired by the rockets since then... and i keep on rooting even through the though times the teams were facing...

 

I hated watching basketball on tv...that is...until...

Mario Elie's "Kiss of Death". I saw it, I was hooked.

 

As soon as I heard about an asian kid named Yao that the Rockets were thinking about drafting as the #1 pick.

As an asian guy I felt an unbelievable amount of pride watching the Rox use their #1 pick on the Tall Chinese Guy. I've been hooked ever since and its been amazing to watch this team transform in front of my eyes from ISO ball to what can only be described as smart, championship style basketball.

Go Yao Go Tmac Go WBPS!

J

 

The defining moment of this Rocket fan....'86 Western Conference Semi-Finals Game 6. I was 14 at the time, and just happened to turn that game on. I knew that Hakeem and Ralph were the main men, but didn't know too many other players. So, when Hakeem and Ralph get ejected, I thought for sure the game was over. I remember at that time, Gene Peterson was doing the TV broadcasts and he was going nuts over Granville Waiters and his contributions in that OT. We win the game, and I'm hooked ever since.

 

The 14-game run of the 1994/1995 season! Through the "Kiss of Death" and the "Contract of Death" with MoT.

 

when barkley kissed the hairy donkey's butt!!

CLASSIC....

 

Allow me to share my history with you. I was born in Houston in 1950, grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas the first half of my life. After attending high school in Washinton State, I returned to Texas finishing college at Baylor. I liked high school and college hoops, but never listened to or watched NBA until the summer of 1974, while woking in Bakersfield CA. It was there that I became enthralled with Kareem taking MIlwaukee to the 7th game in the Finals against Boston. I moved to Seattle area and became a Sonics fan. I moved back to Texas, choosing to live in Houston and first became interested in the Rockets in the 1977 season, hoping the Rockets, who made the Conference Finals, that year would be the team to stop Bill Waton`s Blazers. They didn`t. My fanmanship would quicken watching the ever-so tough Moses Malone, who along with Rudy and Calvin helped them make it to the Finals in 1981. While I was now a fan, when Mr. Olajuwan came along in the 84-85 season I was more than a fan. I was hopelssly hooked, couldn`t get enough and have been that way ever since. I don`t know if

 

Allow me to share my history with you. I was born in Houston in 1950, grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas the first half of my life. After attending high school in Washinton State, I returned to Texas finishing college at Baylor. I liked high school and college hoops, but never listened to, or watched NBA until the summer of 1974, while working in Bakersfield CA. It was there that I became enthralled with Kareem taking MIlwaukee to the 7th game in the Finals against Boston. I moved to Seattle area and became a Sonics fan. My posting name is taken from Downtown Freddie Brown. I would move back to Texas, choosing to live in Houston and first became interested in the Rockets in 1977. I was cheering and hoping they would, after making the Conference Finals, be the team to stop Bill Waton`s Blazers. They didn`t. My fanmanship would quicken watching the ever-so tough Moses Malone, who along with Rudy(?) and Calvin helped them make it to the Finals in 1980-1981 season. While I was now a fan, when Mr. Olajuwon came along in the 84-85 season I became more than a fan. I was hopelssly hooked, couldn`t get enough, and have been that way ever since...and that is still true having now lived in the San Antonio area for the last 17 years!! Incidentally, I don`t know if I will ever be so enraputerd by a player in any sport like I was Hakeem. I may give Tracy a shot at it, though... Thanks for prompting me to relive and rehearse my love for and enjoyment of the Rockets...

 

The Rockets arrived from San Diego in the same year that I came to Houston. They weren't a "hot" ticket back then, so I got lots of opportunities for free tickets via The Houston Post where I had gone to work. (Of course, that was in the days before the Post cut out anything that smacked of "payola," i.e. ethical violations for reporters.)

I had occasionally watched a Celtics game on TV before coming to Houston, but I did not get the basketball bug until I started to follow the likes of Calvin Murphy, Rudy T, John Lucas, Moses Malone, Mike "the Shark" Newlin, Allen Leavell etc. Murph was always a hero because he was such a clutch player at a stature that allowed me to actually stand eyeball to eyeball with him.

So, I guess you could say that I was a fan from the Rockets start in Houston.

 

aw man, i love this... lets see
i wasnt interested in basketball until i was in about the 4th grade. i watched the rockets once in a while when i was in like 2rd or 3rd grade, but after i moved to florida i had friends that played. so i was a magic fan, for obvious reasons...since i lived in orlando and that is where i picked up the sport. i became a big bulls/mj fan because of my cousin, since he was a HUGE fan. when i moved back to houston in 1997, i occasionally see how the rockets were doing but didnt pay close attention. i started watching more during the days of dickerson/old hakeem... and i cant remember who else. hmm near the end of high school during our "playoffless" yrs with stevie is when i started becoming a big fan (which is really odd because we were just horrible back then. stevie and his headaches and whatnot...). so my humble rockets beginnings where i became a BIG fan is when we were losing like none other...

 

I started watching NBA in 1994 and became fan of Drexler. That year Rox played finals against NY. I rooted for Rockets. When Clyde came to Houston, rockets became my Faforite...
I'm from Slovenia. In 1997 there were no NBA broadcastings in Slovenia. So I listened some games over internet radio - thanks to Clutch. I remember the Stockton Three in WC finals. It was 5AM sth. I couldn't sleep after. Almost deleted CF.net (or maybe .com back then) from favorites.

 

I lived in Houston from 77-81. I was very lucky to see Moses Malone, Calvin Murphy, and Rudy T play together.

 

I lived in Houston from 1974-1980.
First game was right before i left to Miami in March 1980, John Drew and the Atlanta Hawks vs Moses Malone and the Rockets at the Summit.
i was 10, I was already a fan but the game meant alot to me.

We hit the road to Miami two days later.
Til This day always have and will be a fan.
I've been back to visit acouple times and saw acouple of Rox, Astros and Oilers game.
Still need to see the Texans.
But i see them all here in Miami Rox, Astros and Texans.Everytime they all come to Play, Im there.

 

good one.

 

Started watching the Rockets when they were the San Diego Rockets in 1967. My wife worked for KGB radio station and we got great free tickets to the Rockets, Chargers and Padres games!! Man, was that cool. I even remember when Pat Riley was their first round draft choice one year. Big E was the man back then. It's funny, most people think the name Rockets was associated somehow with NASA....not so.

Anyway, I've been a die hard Rockets fan ever since. I may be the senior guy around here but I'm still standing

Can't wait for the season to start.

D R

 

I got interested as a kid during the Championship era, really loved Hakeem and watching the games.
After that, I fell off completely, and got more into the Astros.
I then didn't care much for any sports until all the talk of Yao came around. It wasn't long before I was intrigued with Yao, and now I love the Rockets! Tmac and Yao, too good to be true.
I used to enjoy fishing all the time, but I've been distracted from it.......

 

I started following the rockets way back in 1990 when my parents bought me some basketball shoes and allowed me to choose a poster of any nba star. I chose Akeem Olajuwon (I figured he was a muslim like myself) and because of that, I started following him as well as the Rockets.

Being from Australia, noone had even heard from Olajuwon or the rockets until they made the 94 NBA finals, it was then that people started jumping on the Olajuwon/Houston bandwagon. It was hugely satisfying winning the champoinships we did after noone had heard about us!!!

 

I moved to houston in 1980. During the first playoff run I recall very little except that the Celtics were bad...and root for our new hometown team. I had moved from DC, was not a Bullets fan...in fact outside of the Dr. J basketball ads in the back of my x-men comix I didn't really know much about the NBA.

The Phi Slamma Jamma days were hard to ignore, and I recall watching those games. When Houston drafted Akeem, I thought thats how it always happened, that hometown guys stayed around. My buddy Thomas Kay's dad took us to one of the Lakers games, I think game 3, and we won. That was cool. I learned in the next round to hate Larry Bird. I liked the Rockets, but I still didnt know much about the NBA.

On Jan 3, 1990, I bought my first Rockets ticket. I was a freshman in college, home for break, and a bunch of us wanted to go somewhere and drink. We ended up sneaking to the 5th or sixth row...I dont think anyone was there.. I remember most about the game is that they stopped play to announce that Manuel Noreiga has been apprehended and people got really excited for some reason. Still, it was about drinking and hanging out.

But in 1993, I managed to break my hand, have my appendix yanked out, and get mono....ALL IN ONE SEMESTER. I was laid up in bed so much in the fraternity house and basically popping painkillers or penicillin or whatever I was on at the time, pulling the occasional tube...and GAMBLING like crazy. For some crazy reason, I was on a hot streak. The Knicks always covered at home. The Mavs sucked but always covered. The Hawks usually won but never covered. The trends were insane. And I didnt bet on the Rockets coz they were my home team. That semester, I learned more about the NBA that anything I learned in class. The Clippers series, which which should have swept but Danny Manning and Harper played outta their mind, got me really excited about the team. But the clincher...the games that made me a Rockets fan for life, were the 7 games between the Sonics and the Rox. My buddy Luis and I would go to this Nashville sports bar called the Sportsmans Grille about 2 hours before the games and get the two best seats at the bar and just go nuts. We had the bartenders excited about it...so much that the next year when the Rockets were on their 15-0 run the bartender admitted that he had become a Rockets fan so he was getting as many games on satellite as he could. We had tons of people at that bar rooting for the Rox the night they lost to Atl and ended the streak.

Now I live in NY and only get to see the Rockets 2x a year live. It pisses me off that people weren't filling the stands this year. Beforehand, in the dribblemania years...I understood. So boring. But MCGRADY?? No excuse.