Sorry so late but I started a new job and couldn't give my observations til now. First off, there were a lot of Rocket/Yao Fans at MSG. One group even had Yao signs. The were a lot of media in attendence. In the first half, every time the Rockets scored, there were a lot of cheers. However, when Yao touched the ball, the entire crowd would yell YAOOOOO or YOOO! I guess they were mimicking the commercial. For the most part the Knick fans were disgusted with their play in the first half making fun of their own players. Gotta love the Knick fans to bash their own team when they suck. The second half was a different story. Knicks turned it up a notch and the home crowd got into it big time. There was definitely a playoff atmosphere happening at MSG not to mention there were a lot of celebrities in attendence like LL Cool J at courtside. Side note... Calvin's Red Suit was BRIGHTER in person than on TV. Good lord he looked like a damn Strawberry! Red Socks and all! Overall, the Knick fans were impressed with Steve Francis and Yao Ming at the Garden. Despite the Knicks win, people are pretty down on them constantly blasting them. I don't think people expected the Knicks to win and neither did I.
I was there too. I had binoculars so I was scanning the crowd. I saw LL Cool J, Spike Lee and Angela Basset at courtside. Later on, I heard David stern, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings were they also. I totally underestimated Yao's height. Using tape measure won't do justice. He looked HUGE in person. I was surprised about how many fans had on a Yao jersey. I must have seen at least 15 and mostly all non-asian. I saw this kid with a Francis jersey also. When Yao made a bounce pass down the lane, these knick fans beside me were yelling, "that is the greatest pass ever" seems to me a lot of knick fans were kinda of rooting for Yao but wanting knicks to win. Can't wait for the Rockets/nets next month.
gotta tell ya ROCKET RICH NYC, I read all your MSG posts each year, but dude, that post is what is happening at Compaq Center every night. WE KNOW ABOUT YAO!!!! Houston knows....talk about the game or the people you see...but dude...we sit with the Yao Ming Fan Club every night here...and we see it,,,,and we do it. Hey...Houston to RR NYC...do you "GET IT" do you see the "Wow, they are crazy about Yao" is expected to be understood by NYC already... your NYC "I saw people scream about Yao" perspective is .... ummm. is cool in a Houston laughing at NYC kinda way
btw, RRNY Calvin wore that red suit the last home game.... This is yet another sign that the NYC scene is way behind the Houston scene.
You Rockets fans think you're so cool because you actually have an exciting team to watch. For us New Yorkers it was our one chance to see the Rockets play. As good as you guys have it, I bet you guys don't have a Moochie Norris Cheering section. I swear to god, we had a bunch of people yelling for moochie all night!
Hey I was in that section of people screaming for Moochie at the Garden. Must have been family members because all I could hear them doing was screaming for him to get in the game. There were a lot of Asians at the game but, I think that is to be expected. Heypartner...what's up your @!? There were a lot of New York doubters even before this game. Shoot, some of my co-workers were still doubting until after this game. Remember one thing heypartner, I'm originally FROM Houston...so I DO GET IT! Yes I have been to the Compaq center already this year and saw the YAO Ming Fan Club. I also plan on being in Houston for RETRO Night next month. So I GET IT! However, NY is the media capital of the world and this game was great for the Rockets because it changed a lot of people's mind about the future of our favorite team. So why don't you GET IT and GET OVER YOURSELF. You seem to have a thing about NY. As a Houstonian living in NY laughing at another Houstonian.
RRNY I'm just giving you (and New York) the business. Like I say, I look forward to the NY Knicks game every year waiting for your post game stories. You have a lot of great posts (stories) to live up to, and New York has a lot to constantly prove, too. And yeah, I get annoyed by New York telling Houston about our basketball team, and really could care less if NY "gets it" finally or not. Let's all be glad Yao Ming is not a Knick, but the hype would be unbearable. Yao needs a nice humble city like Houston to live in and play in. GO ROCKETS GO HOUSTON and remember, Texas is the greatest country in the world.
HP, you need to come out of the Rockets greenhouse and live in the chilly hostile places such as NY and LA (uh, bad figurative weather analogy for LA) and see how it feels to be a hardcore Rockets fan out here. . . especially during the last few years when the Lakers were doing great while the Rox sucked big time.
ROCKET RICH NYC - good recap, I like to know what other cities think of Yao Ming. Alot of people here in LA, even the asians, doubted what Yao Ming could do on the court. They were saying he sucks, he just big and thats why he's in the NBA, etc. but then the LA game happened(were he exploded for 20pts) and everyone started to like him, and now they just go crazy about him. His jersey is everywhere, kids at the park, on the courts, in school, at the mall the footlocker has his jersey hanging on their window, at the superstore they got a life size picture of him for apple computers, and his comericals come on at least once everyday I watch TV. Now I truely believe he's going to be bigger than MJ, heck he's as popular as Kobe and Shaq over here already. Just amazing how quickly so many people all over the country love the guy.
Easy - you are so right man, even when the Rockets won the championship in 94 and 95, I when everywhere in LA to just find a shirt with Houston Rockets on it and couldn't find one. Not because they were sold out but the stores said it wasn't popular and they didn't want to carry it. I even when out to just find a poster to hang on my wall and instead had to cut out pictures from magazines to put up. Rockets got no respect, I mean back then even orlando stuff was everywhere and they didn't even win. Now when I drive around and I see those street corner slangers they got Ming jerseys for sell. Kinda makes me proud.
