I've said it once and I'll say it again..we come up with 150 reasons not to support this team. I see all these fans yapping about the product..how many of you "fans" are still piling into Minute Maid for that product? When was the last time you got your money's worth from THAT product. If you gonna be moaning and groaning about PRODUCT--THEN THAT PLACE SHOULD BE EMPTY ON A CONSISTENT BASIS!! But it isn't, is it? Jeff and Craig have been sucking the life and the money outta the Astros for YEARS and yet, people come up with money, time and EXCUSES for them on a consistent basis. Face it, we are not a good basketball town...the Rox is in a fair-weathered, bandwagonning town and that's about it. We are not FANS..we're fly by night spectators. We get OFFENDED by the truth..but that's what it is..THE TRUTH. Nobody's asking NOBODY to go to every friggin game..nobody's asking you to spend your money on the expensive seats (10.00 seats will suffice), nobody's asking you to go to ALL the home games..PUL-EEZ!! You're NOT GOOD FANS..everyone knows it so just stop making excuses for yourself.!! We're ranked in the lower, BOTTOM HALF in attendance..that speaks for itself. Give it up!! We're busted!!
Houston fans have always been the worst or near the worst in the country. I don't see what the big deal is about what this post is about. Its just the truth. Period. Not everyone is Chicago or Boston or NYC or Cleveland or St Louis or any other great sports cities. If that was the case, then all cities would average 3 million fans per year. Instead, only 4 or 5 do. No shock here.
went to the game yest, wasnt sold out, but when it came we (fans) tried somewhat to cheer the team on, and some posters are right we also need product, we were dying for them to hit one shot, and when they did they screwed up on the other end,,,,frustrating times it was fun to sit next to some fans who shared alot of views on the refs and trying to taunt the players,,,great time besides the L
i dont accept the excuse of a better product, becasue there are 11 teams ahead of us attendence wize yet they have worse records, plus houston is the 4th most poplulous city in the US!!!!
Excuses. I am sure Portland has a nice transportation system. Thats why they sell out all the time. And of course Minnesota is reknowned for their public system. And who can forget Phoenix. Top 10 in the world maybe? Wanna talk about income? So basically you saying Houston is poor and people can't go to games, right? Ok. Now I understand.
I wish I was in Houston to enjoy profession sports and other luxury things I don't have in ABQ, NM... I go to Houston every once in a while and this past Sunday I went to the Boston game...The fans do suck, but the product sucked even more...I agree the fans at Rox games aren't the best, but we have no problem for Texans or Astro games... It comes down to the product on the floor and the excitement generated, which up to this point, is zero...
Jan. 13, 2004, 9:15AM Houston Chronicle "Gleeful fans clog ticket phone lines" That is after signing Clemens. They started doing that after Andy P. The Texans sell out. It is the product and how boring they are....
The Texans have a good product? Oh, I forgot about the playoff appearance. And the Astros getting the calls now? What about the last 3 years where the attendance dropped? Filling up to 74 percent capacity with players like Bagwell, Biggio, Wagner and a killer offense that score by the tons at home. Not good enough? What about the fact that you claim its the product. Yet, we have your boy Francis who is supposedly "exciting" is on the team. What about "jack'em up" Cuttino? Isn't he pretty exciting? What about Yao who is all the rage last year. How is that doing for attendance at the Car Center? Why is Lebron selling out his building? Yao had the same hype if not more than he did last year WORLDWIDE. How was the attendance at the Computer Center? And this is where I get pissed about the fans in Houston. The Car Center was sold out the first day and then the NEXT GAME, they had an attendance of 13,051!!! A couple of games later, they get 11,135!! A couple of games later, they get 10,888!! And on the 16th home date, they got a pitiful, crappy, embarassing 9,956!!! I don't care if the product is horrible or not, there is no excuse for that. They have Francis. They have Yao. They have a winning record. AND A NEW BUILDING!!!! Before I go, let me address the "its the product" crap theory. The Rockets had: In 1990-1991, a 52-30 record with arguably the 1 or 2 best player on the planet and what was the average attendance? 14,957. The Summit can hold over 16,000 In 1992-1993, a 55-27 record with arguably the MVP and greatest player right along with Jordan who ever put on a pair of sneakers in the last 10 years before this year and? Average 13,517!!!!!! Thats embarrassing!!!! And to make you a great sports town, you sell out no matter what the product. You love the team anyways. You see Green Bay before Favre? Sell outs. You see St.Louis Cards when they sucked in the 90's? THREE MILLION AT THE BASEBALL STADIUM every year. You want product? How you like the Bulls product? The year after Mr. Jordan left, their attendance went down 1588 people per game. Adn that is coming off a strike. Two years later, their attendance was actually back selling out the building! How was that product back in 2000? How good is the product if they still average 20k out of 23k with the team having NO FUTURE compared to us? Face it. The fans suck. Stop making excuses. Not every city is a big sports town. And that is ok. But making weak excuses is not right. The Car Center should be overrun with fans with everything Les has done for the team in bring in Francis and Yao BEFORE your hated coach got here.
Originally posted by allan Ever heard of walking that right park a little further the parking is cheaper and while everyone is stuck in traffic you can walk right past them? Or here is a crazy idea how about using the public transit. People say it doesnt work, well it doesnt work if people dont use it and the more people use it the better it will get. Maybe dwntwn does suck when you are stuck INSIDE a car. Allan: Unfortunately, the public transportation is a bad idea for weekday games. Because 99.95% of the Rocket season ticketholders live a minimum of 15 miles away and the majority live about 20 miles+, the Metro does not work during rush hour because the HOV lanes are heading out of town not in town. But, in your microworld, you would not know this because you live within walking distance apparently. And, I am ashamed to admit it, I did only buy a house that was conveniently located to the Summit, as I still call it ,and got burned on this one, so i guess that was a bad financial and lifestyle decision that I must live with
Alum: I know your numbers add up for Houston, but you are leaving out some information and your other numbers do not add up. Recall, the Rockets averaged consecutive sellouts from 1993 to 1998! and currently only 2 team in the NBA averages complete sellouts for the season, Sac-Town and Dallas with La coming in close . Cleveland and Denver are not averaging sellouts, though their turnouts are dramatic and neither is LA or NY or Chicago or any other "Great Fan Town" I think averaging 16k for 5 straight seasons is pretty stoudt and I bet you there are teams in the league that would love to have that average. Now, as far as the current state. Yes, Houston fans are not as rabid, but we also do not burn and turnover cars during championship ralleys either....my point here is that we will never have the fan base that other cities and we cannot generalize whether fans suck or not. Each city has it own issues and reasons, but we have a pretty decent following that has been rolled over for 4 straight years without the playoffs or anything uplifting to push people to the arena--Yao did it last year many times, but his game is not near as compelling as Carmello or lebron either. Challenge: Find a team that has missed the playoffs for 4 striaght years that average sellouts or come within 80% of their maximum capacity. I put to you it does not exist...I know it did not in Cleveland, Denver, Clipperland...etc.....Bottomline: We sellout when we win consisently as 90% of the league! so I guess, except for 3-4 teams we all suck!
our fans do suck... it's embarrassing... If I were in Houston I couldn't afford the nice seats, but I would be in the nose bleeds every chance I could. Here in Austin there's about three or four guys that show up at the bar where I watch the Rockets. It's pretty cool when one of them shows cause here in Central Texas it's all Mavs and Spurs as far as the eye can see. You Houstonians don't know how lucky you are. I don't even get audio when watching the games... And NBA LP seems to almost always have the oponents TV feed... it's ok though. I remember when the Rockets didn't get any respect and Hakeem was there. It's just sad that Houston has to wait until they are winning to hop on the bandwaggon instead of showing up to the games and helping the team get there. Even on this board it really gets to be a drag reading all of the negative comments about the Rockets. Trade Yao... Trade Stevie... Trade, trade, trade... I'm at the point now where I want to trade the team out of Houston cause the fans seem to suck so bad. The Austin Rockets... That's what I want... Who's with me?!? "Was it over when the German's bombed Pear Harbor?!?" go buy some freekin' tickets and stay til the end of the freekin' game Houston.
Austin is a nice town to visit and everyone there wants the trappings of the big city, but refuse to move here... If you are such a great fan move here then......I am kidding But, you bring an interesting point...did our fans suck from 1993-1999? what changed? and why don't other cities sell out too?
This myth is actually one of the biggest perception/result problems we have in Houston. We are only the 4th largest city because Houston has grown out to include most of its suburbs. In most cities, the city itself stops at about the 610 loop and everything from there out is a suburb. We are only the 10th largest metropolitan area. Houston itself has a population of 2 million, but its metropolitan area is only 4.5 million. Boston and San Francisco have populations about the size of Austin, but add all their suburbs in and they have a metropolitan population of 6 & 7 million respectively. Because we think of ourselves as the 4th largest city, we don't understand why we can't get the same results as a Chicago, LA, or New York. But they have metro populations of 10, 16, and 21 million -- 2.5 to 5 times our size. And we're one of the most spread-out of all the metro areas with 4-5 million. We're almost all single family homes. Nice to live in, but it's a long way to go from Katy, Clear Lake, or the Woodlands to downtown after work for a game. We expect to get results as if we were the 4th largest city, but we get results from being the 10th largest or so. No wonder we always seem disappointed!!!
no, your wrong, i checked the Times 2003 almanac and they included city limit populations. Houston had 1.92 mill or something like that. They were still number four...
of course I'm kidding about moving the Rockets to Austin... mostly... hehe. I don't know why you guys aren't selling tickets. I'm so far removed from houston now that I'm completely out of touch with what's going on there. I've been back about three times in the last ten years. why? cause I live in austin damn it!!! I'm not expecting every game to sell out... I am surprised at the lack of enthusiasm though. I'm sure that will change next year when we dominate. I just can't understand why Houston doesn't share the same enthusiasm for the Rockets that I do... and I haven't lived there in 15 years!!! I will always be a Rockets fan. That's my team. If I could afford to I would be at every game. the most I can do with my pocketbook is show up at the Spurs Rockets games in SA and be the most obnoxious Rockets fan in town. I swear to god I was on TV last year... Rockets getting their butts kicked... one lone fan in the top of the stands cheering at the top of his lungs as Mobley makes a FT... HA! I almost lost my life for the Rockets that night!!! If San Antonio wouldn't have won I'm sure the dude next to me was going to take me out... When I run into a Rockets fan here in Central Texas I can't tell you how happy it makes me. There aren't many of us... tonight I had to listen to the UT Longhorns basketball game while trying to watch the rockets... it ain't easy. If I can do it here in austin you mother ****ers can get off of your asses and go see a ****ing game in Houston and stay until the last freekin click goes off the clock. I would if I were there... Every game. I've missed four this season now... I had a bad feeling about the last one and took the night off... The broken heart is minimized when filtered through the internet recaps. The point being... after this drunken tirade... is ****ing support the team. Are you a fan or a critic?!? I'm a fan...
funny stuff Brock...you make good points and very passionate, but like the previous caller said...our town is unlike many others regardless of the population numbers argument. our center is not center, it is spread out. Getting to games is a lot more difficult than in other towns regardless of our public transportation friends (hov lanes are going out of town in the evening). I have been to games in many cities and I always think of how easy some towns have it.....Contrary to most, our downtown is not there yet...sure we have some ballparks and some restaurants, but the population is not there...people only work there and then go home... Winning cures everything in every town. Just an FYI...Sac-town did not sell out in the late 80s.....and early 90s....no team is less prone to NBA attendance problems...there are teams more prone and quite frankly if you miss the playoffs 4 years in a row, 1000% chance you have attedance problems....whether in Sac-town or LA or NY....notice, those teams have not had this type of situation... I do not care what the population is--it does not matter: what matters in game attendance in this order is 1) winning=playoffs 2) ticket prices/economical conditions 3) arena location 4) population location 5) player attraction... What is ironic about Toyota center is that about 1-2k seats are reserved for corporate suite seating and half are empty.... All these things come into play.... People do follow the rockets, look at this site, listen to the radio...people are not sitting back...sure they complain, like all cities, but we are not wallflowers...how do you think we kept the Rockets in Houston! We voted for an arena despite our distaste of having to build one for the sake of keeping the rockets....that vote was not for an arena--it was to keep our team here.... People car and do show it despite not coming to every game.....I am season ticket holder and wish it were full every game because the intro is embarrassing, but I know the logistics combined with the product is not where it should be, so we suffer a bit....
yeah, I forgot about Houston traffic... The last time I drove in from San Antonio I was glad I brought a book... Washington was pretty packed last night. Over 16,000 was the attendence. I don't know what it would take... maybe get those tops off of the clutch girls and you're selling out... I am going to make it to a game this year. I hear great things about the new arena... I have fond memories of the ole summit though... Talk about a cool dive...
Why our fans sucks. Easy, cause we are last in the leauge in FG's attempted in a game. Means we don't run enough. Cause our coach has put a strangle hold on our guards. This equals to Boring basketball.
