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

i remember watching my first rocket game when i was back in taiwan . it was 1995 and it was like 4:30 am and i watched the rox kick the poop out of shaq's magic in the finals (i don't remember which game it was).

fast forward to 1999 and somehow i ended up moving to houston. it was a new young team, led by stevie franchise and cuttino mobley. i loved the way they played, balls to the wall, fast and furious. and even though they sucked and didn't make it to the play-offs for the whole 4 years i was in houston (1999-2003), i fell in love with this team. it was one of those love / hate relationships that you just can't escape, they were my lovable losers.

then i moved to austin, and we finally made it to the play-offs during yao's second year. man was that exciting for me, my first play-off experience while being in texas (5 years) for my new favorite team.

the point: i've been a true rocket fan since 1999 when i landed in houston. and even though they were losers, i stuck by them loyally through-out the losing years of steve francis. now that they're contenders, i couldn't be happier. i love this team and even though now i've moved to china i still can't get enough of the rockets and i can't wait for the new season to begin. nba finals here we come!

 

This is a GREAT thread--it's brought back a lot of memories. For me it all revolves around Hakeem...I was born in Houston but my father is from Africa and hearing about this skinny Nigerian guy that would be playing for U of H really intrigued me--how could anyone watch Phi Slamma Jamma and not fall in love with the game?!?! It just gave me so much pride as a pre-teen to be a Houstonian and African and really changed the way other kids related to me, a kid with an African name--anyway, I digress...I thought I was gonna die (literally) when we lost to NC State and when Clyde left for Portland and the loss to G'town was tough too but getting to draft Hakeem to the Rox made it all better!! I was always amazed and in awe of Hakeem (and still am) and I've always loved the Rockets, especially under Rudy, you can be proud of a team that does things the right way with humble, hard-working stars like Dream, T-mac and Yao (never cared much for Barkley or Franchise, sorry!)--I wouldn't trade 1 Rox championship for all of Jordan's, Shaq's or Kobe's, y'know. What I'm really trying to say is--I LOVE THESE GUYS!!!

 

Im a rocketfan since 93 and I born and live in Mexico City, In 93 I started playing basketball (in August) and I have an uncle in Houston and I started to root for the rox, (but is strange because I have family in: Dallas, Ohio, Atlanta, Orlando, etc) and I went to a game here (in Mexico) in October was a preseason game: Houston Rockets vs New York Knicks, (strange because those two team meet in the finals that season I didnt know the players, the rockets lost, but I liked the team. And I started to root for the other houston teams.

Like in 1996 I found this site and I started to read it and I love it, but I dont become a member of the forum, because I didnt speak english (like 15%) now I speak 80% of english, In 1996 I knew more about the NBA and the Rockets, and thats it.

But is hard to be a rockets fan or a basketball here in Mexico, because the sports shows only talk about futbol (50 min of futbol, 10 min of other sports), so I cant see much NBA games here, I only watch 2 or 3 rockets games, and they dont the complete playoffs series, but I have the internet and I have this site to know about the rockets scores and trades.

Im really glad that I find this site because I cant talk with anybody about the rockets, and this is the best site on the internet!

 

I've been a Rocket fan since they were first in Houston. I was playing HS basketball back in the early 70's. My dad had taken my brother and me to watch Elvin Hayes and the Coogs at old Delmar Fieldhouse when I was in elementary and junior high.

I think the Rockets had camp at HBU in those earlierst days. I went out to watch some practices. In my mind's eye I can see John Egan and a guy from WVU, Will Robinson, going at it. Robinson was a late cut. Egan they kept and waived James Silas instead (and, no, CD was not the GM). Egan later coached the team.

I went to their first game at AstroHall (as I remember) against the Sixers. I saw Lew Alcindor's first game in Houston as a Buck. I saw the Rox at Hofheinz and the Summit. I haven't made it to the Toyota Center yet.

 

My father worked in Houston in the autumn of '93. I liked basketball so he send me some newspapers about the team to Hungary. That's why I became a Rockets fan.

...and after that the Rockets won two championships...

 

My father was sent to Houston for a year(95-96), the family followed.
Wasn't much into basketball(not very popular in France at the time).
I started watching Rockets-Astros-Oilers games on TV.
Mind season my father brought me to see a game at the Summit, Houston-Phoenix... I remember that game, where Barkley ran into Drexler intentionaly on a fast break. Clyde was carried out and was injured for several games, Barkley was booed for the rest of the game, but we soon learned after that that he would be trade to the Rocks!
Very stong memory...
Even after moving to Africa, I still followed the Rockets. I would wait impatiently every wensdays and saturdays to see which games they would play on ESPN(via satelite).
Now I'm still in Africa(Northern) and the first thing I did when I moved in was to get NBA+(french NBA channel) to see the most Rockets game I could!(few in fact!)
BTW does anybody how can watch games via the internet? Thx

ALA

 

It's hard not to be a Rockets fan when the tallest player on the team is from the same city as I am from.

Well actually I started to become a Rockets fan in the 1994-1995 season, when they had Hakeem, Clyde, and Horry etc on the same team. That year's playoff run -- yes I am talking about the 2nd Championship -- was simply spectacular and incredibly mesmorizing. It had been the first time in many years that my favorite NBA team went on to win the Final.

 

For me it was watching Ralph Sampson's shot late night on channel 11 (I think) after that I was hooked. It intesified during the first championship, I was going through some tough times and I found solace in the Rockets, however that series with the Knicks was so up and down I lived and died through each game (and it felt like it) but I finally snapped and realized that my problems were not that big of a deal, once they won the championship it was easier for me to move on (away from my problems). Through the Rockets I grew.

 

1978. Originally came from WNY where Murphy played his college ball at and after catching a game live, I became a Rox fan then. I caught the Detroit Pistons that day, who also had Bob Lanier at the time, who also came from the WNY area.

Used to be a Celtic then a Braves fan when I was a kid and was a huge Jerry West fan back in the day. That all changed with the move to Houston.

 

Hakeem got me into it. To this day he remains my favorite player of all time. I really started following it hardcore the year before the first championship.

 

the old Akeem Olajuwon McDonald's commercial made me a Rockets fan. I was 5 or 6 and it was for McNuggets and at the end, Olajuwon says "UNBEACHABLE!" or so it sounded like to me. I was in awe of him and became a diehard Rockets fan from then on.

 

Born and raised here. Felt like it was a national holiday when they left SD for here. Especially with Big E coming back home. Was at the first home game in Hofheinz Pavilion. I was a sophomore at UH and used to get in for $1.50 with my student ID. The roster also held names like Stu Lantz, Don Adams, and a young second year guy named Rudy.
Great days. A not so good team but the NBA was here and no one cared.

 

Exactly, I was a casual Rockets' fan until Hakeem was drafted.