Rockets Fan Experience: Rockets @ Wizards - November 21, 2008 (Photos and Video)

So I went to the Rockets @ Wizards game in Washington DC for the third straight year, and this year it was better than ever. Great win and clutch performance by T-Mac, made it very exciting to talk smack to all the Wizards fans around us and get hyped in the 4th quarter. Had tickets about 10 rows diagonally behind the Rockets bench which were really nice.

Here's a pic of the Verizon Center court that I took last year for those of you who are curious what it looks like:



There were a lot of interesting things that happened this time. First of all, my friend and I got to shake Rafer's hand and give him this Rockets santa hat I was wearing. We also got Battier's attention and he waved at us and nodded his head. And finally, we got T-Mac to wave at us from the Rockets tour bus. Read on for details and pics and video.

Here's a photo of the Rockets during pre-game shootaround:



Tip-off, Yao vs JaVale McGee:



So basically after the game ended, we were in the Verizon Center lobby/concourse making noise and getting hyped that the Rockets won. I was talking with some of my other friends that were there too, when this lady came up to my friend I went with who was also wearing a Rockets santa hat and was standing next to me. All of a sudden I heard Joey Dorsey so I turned around and asked about it. The lady said she was Joey's aunt and had asked my friend for his Rockets santa hat, she must have liked it. My friend didn't know who Joey Dorsey was (yes I know, he's not a HUGE fan like some of us here) so at first when she asked him he just laughed it off and didn't give her the hat. When I intervened and talked to her about it, I also asked if we could go with her to meet Joey. She agreed and we both ended up following her, Joey's grandmother, and his mom to meet Joey and hopefully some other Rockets players. We ended up going down to the area where the away team players leave the building, but security wouldn't let us go into the locker room area with Joey's aunt and family. They told us to go back as soon as we got down to the area from the elevator. However, the elevator had already closed so we had to wait until it came back down. Luckily, this took like 5-10 minutes so we were able to remain in the area for a good amount of time. This is where we saw Rafer, here's the video and a pic:



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So my friend and I thought about how we could get his attention or somehow get to him. We realized that if we had something to give him, like the Rockets santa hat I was wearing, we had a better chance of security letting us get his attention and him actually looking. My friend yelled out his name real loud and he looked over. My friend had the Rockets hat in his hand and told Rafer it was for him (see video):

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This worked exactly as planned and we got past the two security guards in front of us and walked over to him. We gave him the hat, he shook our hands and said "merry christmas." Rafer seems like a nice guy, he immediately put the hat on and continued talking to the other guy he was talking with after security pulled us away. Here's a pic of him wearing my hat:



Also, here's a pic of my friend and wearing our a Rockets santa hats (haha my eyes are like halfway closed in the pic and I look stoned). We bought like 10 of them this week so we could have em for the game and for any friends that went to the game too. We have extras left, so if you would like one, I can sell it to you for like $10, great gift for the holiday season, e-mail or PM me.



As for getting T-Mac to wave at us, it happened when we were standing outside where the players leave. We were at the exit where the Wizards players drive out and I had the chance to shake hands with Etan Thomas and Wizards coach Eddie Jordan. Also saw Caron Butler and Antwan Jamison pull out. We were able to catch the Rockets team bus leaving, and it was stopped right in front of us as it waited to turn onto the main street. During this time we were making a lot of noise outside the bus trying to get the players' attention. The windows of the bus were tinted real dark, so we could only faintly see the players. However, some of the players, including T-Mac turned on the overhead lights above their seats so we could see them better. T-Mac's window was directly in front of me on the bus, and he turned on his light and waved to my friend and I who were wearing red Rockets McGrady jerseys. Here's a short little clip of the tour bus pulling up by us:

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That's about it for now, my friend took a lot of really nice in-game photos with his Nikon D-SLR camera so I will post a link to those once he has them uploaded online.

Here are some other random videos I took during the game:

Rockets going to locker room at halftime

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Rockets leaving the court after the game

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T-Mac shooting free throws in his new stance this year

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Thanks for the nice comments, took a while to type up all this and get this thread up heh but since you guys enjoyed it I guess it was worth it.

Yeah it's great talking smack with the Wizards fans, I also went last year and the year before that. I was a bit concerned during the game this year though since we were down nearly the whole game. Thank God T-Mac decided to turn it on in the fourth and we sealed it in the last five minutes.