Awesome historical analysis of the witch hunt mentality of some posters towards Houston Rocket players. Originally Posted by AntiSonic You've touched upon a very disturbing trend. There are a lot of posters that are quick to disown and denounce true ROCKETS HEROES, yet if anyone refuses to bow at the altar of Saint [insert Rocket player], they label them a troll, hater, fake fan, etc. (despite said player having really achieved nothing for the Rockets outside of dunking on Shawn Bradley a few years ago). I wish I could say this behavior is exclusive to newbies, but clutchfans has a history of these kind of posters. Clyde Drexler - He smiles after his final game. This is spun as him not caring that the Rockets were unable to defeat Utah (despite being without Barkley, and on the road). His 1995 championship and hometown hero status is revoked. Hakeem Olajuwon - He asks for one last generous contract to make up for all the years he was underpaid when he was the best center in the known universe. Despite Hakeem being responsible for most, if not all, of the Rockets success from the previous two decades, this is considered unacceptable and he is labeled a greedy cancer. The rationale for not giving the Dream his due is "he wouldn't help our young, up-and-coming team (more on these guys next)." The Rockets go on to have one of the worst seasons in franchise history after disgracefully sending him to Toronto. Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley - When Dream was ousted in favor of building around these guys, it didn't take long for Houston's "what have you done for me lately" fans to turn on them. Despite giving their all for this team, they were crucified for not turning the reigns over to Baby Yao Ming, or getting out of the first round of the playoffs. Fast forward four years later and the Rockets still haven't been able to do that. Steve Francis turns down more money and a chance to play with his best friend to return to the Rockets, but before he even steps foot on the court, fans insist that he "know his role" and submit to Yao and McGrady, his replacements that have failed to advance further in the playoffs than he did. Steve says all the right things and insists that he's not here to be a ballhog, but when Rick Adelman curiously refuses to let him step on the court, Francis is again criticized for questioning the logic in benching the former cornerstone of the team. Steve finally gets a chance to shine in a win at Phoenix, and his detractors are briefly silenced. He succumbs to injury a few days later and like cockroaches, they come back out of the woodwork. Charles Barkley - He refuses to drink the [insert Rocket player] Kool-Aid, so any previous Rockets accolades such as getting the team past the dreaded Sonics (seriously, Barkley is to the Rockets as the United States was to England in WWII), and giving his all on the court, are thrown out the window (how fitting) in favor of the current flavor of the month. In fairness, Barkley was the enemy when he played for Phoenix, but Seattle hasn't been a power for so long that people are forgetting just how much it meant to finally be able to get past them. Robert Horry - He levels Steve Nash and people are quick to declare him "dead to them" as if one hard, but overblown foul can erase his Houston heroics. Sam Cassell - The latest example. He acknowledges the rich history of the Boston Celtics without lessening Houston's in anyway, yet RAID fabricates a story about how he trashed the team, and others join in the dogpile without even stopping to question its validity. Pathetic. I'm sure there are more, but this post is venturing into MacBethian levels of rambling. I can't wait to see these cheap sluts turn on their beloved [Insert Rocket player]
Once you start labeling players with names like Saint McLady then complain about being labeled yourself, it shows that you have a personal attention problem.
I like most of it. Not a fan of the Francis stuff.. he was criticized for sucking. He had a good game amidst a bunch of sucking. edit: yeah no Saint McLady BS please
Yeah, I like dislike the McLady reference too. but the rest of the post was "SWEET" the McLady stuff is just "CRAZY".
You just presented the case of living in the past. Other people look forward to the future. That doesn't mean that they don't appreciate what Robert Horry or Sam Cassell meant to the Rockets. However, in case you haven't noticed those players have spent the majority of their career with other teams. Why don't we just have a big lovefest and accept every player in the NBA as one of our own? Past Rocket players who deservedly need to be criticized are still not criticized as harshly as non-Rocket players. Bottomline is, each one of those players you mentioned has character flaws. Some people tend to point them out, others choose to deny them. Some of the nastiest players in the NBA are hated when they play for another team, but they are beloved if they help your team win. It's human nature. You can overlook Robert Horry's cheap shots while with Rockets, but you don't accept them while he plays for another team. It's part of cheering for your team. It's a bit of a double standard, but it's fully understandable. Pointing out that Sam Cassell is a ballhog doesn't devalue what he did with the Rockets.
Except McGrady has wilted like a flower time and again when all the marbles are on the line. The Rockets Heroes brought it every night, and even if they went down, it was guns blazing. If you honestly can't see a diference between McGrady and Rockets Heroes, perhaps you have the attention problem?
- was always 100% percent behind coach Rick the Ruler's decisions - Playoffs? yes, was first to point out to newbs that there are 82 games in an NBA season - posting evidence for everything. Bulls losing to the Rockets in the MJ era, video evidence Sam Cassell never slandered the city of Houston -reply to your posts -recycle paper to save the trees
I like what Barkley and Kenny Smith did when they played for the Rockets, but they both were pure haters last night and today. They're spewing all this anti-Rockets garbage after a freaking 17 game winning streak. That's what you call hate. Charles definitely looked like a dumbass last night, but that's nothing new as far as his "analysis" is concerned.
No one is arguing that McGrady is as much a Rockets "hero" as those who helped us win back to back titles. Doesn't change the fact that he's a Rocket and you should support him regardless. If you don't and label dumbass **** like McLady, then you suck as a Rockets "fan". Which you do.
And some idiots trying to pass them off as Rockets fans think it's ok for people to bash current Rockets players. I call those people "not-Rockets fans" or, for brevity's sake, "r****ds".
Don't hate because I can multi-task my love for all Houston sports. Of course, I don't even know what you're referring to.
Kwame, did you watch the playoffs last year between the Mavs and Warriors?? Charles consistently dissed the Warriors so they did the whole Oakland segment asking people about Charles. This was pure genius for a TV marketing campaign. Charles single handedly got the entire Bay Area all riled up and an EXCITED about the Warriors. To be fair: Charles picked the Rockets to beat the Mavs a couple years ago, however we got beat by 40 points in game 7 (Remember this?) Last year Charles picked the Rockets over the Jazz (we lost game 7 at home) also has fessed up about being wrong (see donkey) and gives props to the same Rocket team even if he hates rooting for them. (note the Rafer, Scola, Yao, Landry props) its good TV and obviously by the number of charles and kenny threads, its gonna keep their ratings high.
But.. AntiSonic is RIGHT. Look, Charles Barkley was a great Rocket. So was Clyde. Hakeem NEVER, ever should have played in another uniform. Horry was hitting big shots LONG before his days in LA. Sam I Am did for the Rockets in 95 exactly what Landry is doing for the Rockets now (albeit at a different position). And he WANTED TO COME BACK to Houston. And while I was all for trading Francis and Mobley for T-Mac (remember, he was possibly the best player in the league at the time), Franchise has been nothing but perfect since he's been here. As soon as he recovers from injury, he needs to be in the rotation if deserving.
Every other time there's been a team with a 17 game winning streak (hell, even a 10 game winning streak) the media is all over the nuts - c.f. Portland earlier this year, last year's Mavs and Suns (whose jocks everyone was riding to win it all). Houston tied for the 7th longest streak in history, and all the TV media pundits are calling us 'pretenders' or such. It's hypocrisy i tell you.
