[RANT]Does Houston Not Care about Sports Outside of Football?

I don't think so. In places like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC are the best sports cities for a reason. It's not all about the Bears. Most of it is, but it's not even close to 90%. Blackhawks have a great deal of attention, as will the Bulls once the season gets underway. Cubs are rebuilding, but even being a 90 loss team, they get much more attention than a team like the Astros. Houston is much more centered around the Texans than the other two teams -- I'm not just talking about right now. It's been that way for a while.

 

Boston is and always will be Red Sox first. The Patriots were a joke for a long time. HUGE baseball market.

 

People here are quick to forget how good of a baseball town this was when the Astros were winning. We were always top 10 in attendance, MMP was the loudest stadium in baseball and the Astros were must see TV.

This is football country, period. The NFL is always top dog , especially during football season. If the Rockets are as good as we all expect them to be, they will dominate the conversation from February-June.

The fact is the Astros and Rockets have to win to get attention, the same way most non-football teams do. You find when the teams aren't good, they rarely have great fans.

 

There's a reason why the NFL is a billion dollar business...and if PD's took advise from a small sample of people like on this forum, they'd be out of a job.

Football drives ESPN, Fox Sports, SI, Deadspin, sports radio etc.

The Rockets are going to be damn good this season but hell, no one will start paying real close attention until the end of football season. And by "no one" I'm talking about the casual fan.

 

Houston is a fair-weather city (Notice I said fair-weather and not bandwagon). Most people have the "We don't care, they suck" mentality rather than a "I hate the Rockets *Rockets get good, start watching and talking about them like they are die hard*" mentality. I absolutely hate it.

 

Most towns are like this for Baseball and Basketball. Win or they don't care.

 

Yeah, until that first SB win, Pats were a distant 3rd in Boston, and the still fail to elicit the same passion (perhaps because they aren't actually in Boston or because they haven't been around as long?).

 

yep definitely its just you.

you would get hated, and insulted soo much if you posted Soccer=College Football anywhere in the US.

Soccer and the MLS is growing a lot in the US, but its not near football.

I can watch 3 complete games of the NFL in one day even if that doesnt include the texans, but I couldnt watch 3 NBA games in one day (its only like the rockets game, and then I do something else).

 

hate the astros, don't care too much for the texans, bleed rockets red.

 

Become popular, and people will want to talk about you.

 

This is not true, I actually remember when the stros were in the playoffs in 05 against the braves and I remember some people who had no interest at all and wanted to watch the Texans even though they were on their way to 2-14 that year.

I think women are the worst when it comes to sports though, they probably account for 70% of bandwagon fans. They have no interest in the team until they start hearing about them and then they go to the games yelling and hollering.

 

I certainly feel the OP's pain on this and have posted on other similar threads. I do understand why the Texans are the talk of the town right now though, basketball season has not started yet. I also do realize why they dominate the air waves even when the rockets are playing. HOWEVER (in Stephen A Smith voice), there is no excuse for the lack of rocket talk during basketball season. The ratio should be 70% Texans 30% rockets at a minimum. From the past years, even when Tmac and Yao were here, the rockets maybe generated 10% calls and 90% was Texans. I would hear stupid Vandameer talk Texans for 3 straight hours and give a 50 second update about the rockets and how they pulled off an impressive victory last night, and....now back to the Texans! F*** 610. Now I know Vandameer now works for the Texans but this was going on when he was just the normal morning radio host and only covered the games.

I do like Barry Warner because for some reason, every time I listen he gives the rockets some talk. 790 is dominated by football but you know it's not by choice. They try to encourage rockets and Astros talk but it just doesn't happen. But even though 610 is a Texans station, they need to represent all sports teams.

Adam Clanton is pretty good about rocket talk also, he just can't do it now because everything is dominated by the Texans understandably. But once the rockets start playing especially with Dwight Howard being a big story here, they better at least generate 30% of the talk. They better not go on about how they Texans need to get rid of Schaub for 3 straight hours and have a 2 minute segment on the Rockets.

The other part of my rant is the name Texans. God, why couldn't we just go back to being the oilers and wear the blue jerseys again. Hey I root for these guys and watch every game but I'm don't live and die with them. To me it's like they always been a wanna be team that just came in to town so we can have football. You have a ****ty owner who just wants to be love up on SChaub and Kubiak, a coach that never wants to hold his players accountable and a QB that is mentally weak and can't move any faster than a turtle in the pocket. Seriously, that org. needs to get rid of at least 2 of those 3. They are kind of the anchor that keeps me from being a Texans Fan. I mean Foster, AJ, JJ, Cushing, those are bad ass players. I just can't friggin stand those 3. Bob McNair is a good ole boy who will hang on to Schaub until he retires. I hate the Texans good ole boy mentality.

The Rockets on the other hand, see a player that Is not getting it done and they ship him out for someone better. Ex: Kmart for Harden. They see a superstar even if they have baggage and go after him anyway. (Melo, Howard).

The Texans have a chance to talk with Peyton Manning and what do they do? "Oh..Schaub is our guy, we are sticking with him". OMG...seriously, I know it was a risk with Manning coming off an injury but at least entertain it! Good god that's why I can't stand this organization at times.

I also want to comment about fairweather fans. To me those are the true fans. THe bandwagon fans or those cheerleading women who just wake up when the team is the talk of the town don't get upset over losses, they say "They are our team and we support them no matter what! Goooo. Texans!!!! )) I'd rather watch a game with someone who gets pissed off and burns Schaub jersey after a loss, because that fan is a true fan of the team, that person wants what's good for the team and is not getting it. It's like the owner of a company not getting upset and firing an employee who constantly screws up time and time again.

OK, thank you for this thread and allowing me to once again air my grievances about those girls in Kirby.

 

it your finger, it go like dis.

 

The Rockets and Astros have to give us something to talk about. When the Rockets landed Howard it was talked about until the new wore off. The Astros there was not much to talk about except trades. I assume the Dynamo is still to new

On a side note I'm surprised there is not any UFC talk with the event coming to H-Town on the 19th. Houston is still a fight city with a rich fight History. From the days of Ali fighting in the Dome and Paul Boesch packing fans into the Sam Houston Coliseum.

 

The slobbering of the texans by all media in this city is what turned me off of football.

I haven't heard one mention of the rockets and the season is only weeks away. We have a freaking potential title contender.

 

This.

I think this is my biggest issue I have with the texans. Dont get me wrong, I still love my texans but sometimes the over exposure turns me off from football as well. They make one bad play and that's all the media ever talks about for the rest of the week! Then you get all fans riled up. You would think this were the Lakers the way people freak out and jump ship on this team when things don't go their way.

 

Yes, I do hate the Texans-centric stuff when it comes to sports radio. Especially since I do ride my bike everywhere and rely on podcasts for entertainment during the rides.

The problem with me in regards to Texans talk is that everything gets rehashed over and over and over... and over and over. And it becomes boring real quick. Because it's only 1 game a week, there's basically very little material to cover between games. And of course the offseason is the same issues over and over. At least with NBA or MLB, you get fresh new games to talk about every other day at least.

But yes, as everyone else has pointed out, football is ranked #1-100 on the list of most important sport in Houston. So there you go.