I don't care what kind of special "Rockets only" fabric they used, the jerseys better not be $170. That will make for a lot of PISSED OFF fans and a considerable drop in sales. They had better be the same price or just a little more than every other jersey.
Look, I appreciate Tim being here and participating in the thread. But come on, to have a Toyota center unveiling, and NOT show the unis when all the media in town is FOCUSED on the Rockets is just plain bad management. I know Tim said they didn't have a uniform to show...but clearly they had the approved concepts, they could have done some REAL cool presentation with the graphical representation of the Uniforms. It just seems that their marketing department is never leading but always following. I go to 10+ games a year in Houston, and always sit in some very GOOD seats. I also go to more then a few games at the SBC center in San Antonio, and the Spurs are a better marketed group just from a businessman's perspective. The Rockets always seem like they are a day late and a dollar short on getting the word out about important information. For instance, the whole Uniform and Logo debacle, they could have really hyped it, and had some cool promos that hinted at the logo etc.......had contests for colors etc..... Instead, they kept running around trying to get obscure Tiawanese websites to pull down a picture that showed an early version of the new unis....... Should have used that to begin the generating of interest. Once the genie has left the bottle, no use trying the plausible denial routine, it won't work. Now, granted I don't really want anyone fired, just want the Rockets to be one of the better marketed teams. There is a reason that the games were not selling out the last few years, and it wasn't all because the team was not winning. Just my .02...now where did I put that prozac? DD
I remember this guy in 8th grade had an MJ black jersey. I remember exactly how it was because during the 96-96 season, the NBA Logo on the jersey was gold, and the stripes were thing gold pin stripes. I'll go google them.
The organization seems to be falling over itself to market to China while forgetting who fills the seats, who pays for the arena, and who follows the team no matter whether a certain 7 footer is on the roster or not. I'm curious if this fan council I've read about was even asked about the decision to leave the world Houston off of road jerseys? From the Houston Rockets to the Shanghaied Rockets in one bounce of the ping pong ball.
Why would they have ever had gold pins? I never remember seeing what you may be referring to. I understand about the 50th anniversary logo, but no team had gold pin stripes. Maybe he was wearing a limited edition one? This is a 1996-1997 Jordan game worn jersey ($35,000 no less):
yeah, normally I am a Rockets apologist but the release of the uniforms has been badly botched. I don't know that I would necessarily blame it on the marketing department though.
First off, I'd like to say thanks to Tim for being able to post here and listen to Rockets' Fans express their opinions and thoughts. And now for the real reason why I'm posting: Now this WHOLE paragraph is just utter bulls*t sorry to say. 1. If it wasn't the NBA's call for the name placement, and it was y'all's decision, why on earth would a group of people working for the HOUSTON rockets in HOUSTON for the HOUSTON people that paid for the arena in HOUSTON do such a dumba$$ thing like not putting HOUSTON on the jersey? This is inexcusable. VERY inexcusable. 2. "But the last logo didn't have Houston on it so what's with all the griping?". Well how would anyone know about any griping when, back in those days, CC.net wasn't around to bring thousands of Rockets' fans together? And with the thought of forking over millions for a new arena, you would think that it'd be a nice gesture (putting Houston on the jersey) for the many houston fans that have stuck by this team. 3. Building an identity? Please. Identity comes with winning..and after winning comes brand recognition. You don't market a product with some sort of logo and expect people to buy into the logo without knowing whether the product is good or not. If that's what y'all were thinking, y'all either think Houstonians (and the world population) are 1. Dumb as sh*t or 2. y'all don't know how to market products. 4. Boston Celtics, Lon Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls...these teams have identity because THEY WIN. You know why you don't hear a "peep" out of them? Because they're storied franchises. The city and team name goes hand in hand. And another reason why they don't complain is that they have a rarity--jerseys that have stood the test of time. And how was that done? Again, through winning. How many other Lakers, Bulls, or Celtics teams do you know? And how many professional teams DO actually have Rockets as their name? One that has won 2 world championships at that. Don't forget, the Knicks has "New York" on their jerseys.. 5. As for the main factor of 'consistency', please. Like some others that have posted before, that is rubbish. Using consistency is a scapegoat means of avoiding the question of why houston isn't on the jersey. You know what's consistent...especially in today's NBA? Jersey's come and go. Even the Lakers tweaked theirs after so many years. The only consistency about jerseys is that they get made over ever so often. If I get banned, exiled, or flamed for this post, so be it. I'm proud of the Rockets name too but I'm more proud of Houston. 3 sporting venues within what...5 years? How much did that cost? I think it's time that Houston, once again, gets some recognition. If team marketing thinks that Yao Ming donning a Rockets jersey would generate more money than Yao Ming donning a Houston jersey then y'all are sorely mistaken. As the saying goes, "The clothing does not make the man; the man makes the clothing". Flame away.......
Well, I see your points. When I think about the new Lakers jerseys (minus the horrid white), I wonder who designed, well, tweaked those. They look phenomenal. When I see what the Sonics did (going back to their old look), I am even more interested that everyone loves those (although I can't stand them; looks like something is wrapping them up). They went back to their old identity at really an odd time. I never heard anything bad about their previous ones (which included a really nice red one). In fact, I actually loved those. I suppose the Rockets are 'lazy' you could say, in changing uniforms. It doesn't make sense that this franchise had those awkward threads for 8 years. I don't know why the team wanted to venture away from the red. At least they could have tweaked them a little bit by changing or deleting the strange stripes (like in those replicas) or even make an alternate red jersey for that look. They just failed to do that, and then didn't do a spectacular job at unveiling the new ones, but WHO CARES. In fact, I'm glad there wasn't a big hype about it; this organization has gotten all the hype they need this year with a new coach, new arena, and Yao. It's just a jersey. But this new one isn't classic. It is following trends and looks pretty nice, but it will look stupid in 5-10 years. There's no way this current logo/uniform scheme will last longer than the last dark blue reign of terror unless there are some type of changes (either in the logo (*cough cough*), putting Houston on the jersey, adding lines, changing the silver to another color like black or gold, adding a side stripe, reworking the shoulder forks, or scrap the design and update the ole' mustard look). Here today, gone tomorrow. But I still LOVE the RED!
I also agree. Why are we so divided on the "Houston" vs "Rockets" issue???? I don't remembering seeing Houston on the Texans jerseys. I remember Houston shelling out $450 Million for the stadium. Hmmmmm, very interesting. The Rockets will always be Houston's team first, America's Team second, and China's third. I know we wanted to remember the Glory days of 94 & 95. We can still remember them. I have been a fan since 85. I know some of you have been fans longer. I loved Olajuwon. The new uniforms look better than 1994 & 1995 and much better than the last ones. We can remeber our past, but we need to stick by the Rockets Organization and embrace our bright future ahead!
that's what i'm getting at--why try to be 'consistent' and be 'timeless' when, in today's NBA marketing rooms, teams HAVE to change unis every 4-5 years just to sell merchandise? And if that's the case, why would something simple as putting HOUSTON on a jersey be difficult?
One thing about the Texans--technically speaking, they're an expansion franchise AND they're a football team. You don't have much room to put any kind of names other than the players' on the jersey. No one is making it into a divided issue...everyone likes the rockets jerseys. I, for one, like the home jersey very much. It's just that something almost as simple as sewing on another name had to be so difficult for the organization to understand.
Love the new unis, although the cut shown in those pictures is kind of confusing. Like many of you, i didn't really like the away jerseys as much, but topfive's tweaked version which is supposed to look more like the real unis anyways totally changed my mind.
steddinotayto, I agree...no flame here... But, on a marketing and product stance... Winning alone wont do it. But putting out a team that actually is interesting to watch, plus winning, is how you get people to remember history. That's why more fans across the world like to watch Dallas play over New Jersey. Or more like to watch Sacramento over Indiana. Fans today, even young fans, look back and say, "Wow! Those Lakers of the 80's really played a fun style. And they won!" Or, "Man! Those Bulls of the 90's were unbeatable, fun to watch, and they won!" "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game..." We've heard it before. And it applies to fan appeal, and legacy globally......and these are from fans that aren't even loyal to those teams, but from other cities. Non-Houston and Non-Rocket fans will not remember the legacy of the 94 season as much as the 95 season. This is all due to the way they played, who they beat, and how fun it was to watch. One team had more fan appeal than the other. This is a good litmus test on how marketable ones team is to the world, not just here at home. How many NON-HOUSTON Fans are watching? Is the product interesting enough for them to watch, even when their own team is knocked out of the playoffs? Will fans from Europe or Asia ever say, "Those Rockets are one of the favorite teams to watch!"? The last couple of years, the consensus from fans and writers (outside and inside Houston) was that the Rockets played the most ISO compared to all the other teams. It wasn't a very fun brand of bball to watch. A little on the stale side. The games in which we did play a "team style" received a lot more praise .
