That's the way the Rockets management wanted it. On my handy Yao/TMac "R You In?!!" poster that came free with the Houston Chronicle, it clearly states that all of the primo seats are sold out. "Selling Out" being the operative word. The corporate mofos and their clients are always going to stay home or get hammered in the clubs instead of getting rowdy in their awesome seats... it's just a fact of life at the Toyota Center. The Rockets organization could care less if they're in their seats or loud... they paid large dollars and that's all that matters. We can keep b****ing about it endlessly, but it's not going to change. 12,000 is about all you can expect in attendence at the Toyota Center against Memphis on a Tuesday night; let's just accept that and move on. Personally, the size of the crowd at a game doesn't affect my enjoyment at all, but then again I'm one of the sane individuals who could care less how many free t-shirts are thrown in my direction, as well.
T-Grey or whatever the hell his name....can't motivate a crowd. He just sucks. They need to find someone to just play more upbeat-hype music, add some comedy to the announcing, and have someone LIVE doing this. Not this recorded crap.
Sure but it will be more like... "Alright Houston (er 6th man) - Who needs to be on there feet? - let's prepare for an Astros liftoff!!!"
T-Gray has gotten better (though the old guys w/ their booming voices AND their basketball knowledge were much better) but anyone who is blaming him for the crickets-chirping atmosphere in TC is nuts. That blame falls to the Club seat owners who don't show up & the Rockets - who created the giant, low level club section & then sealed it off from the rest of the fans. I doubt the Rockets give a crap though, b/c that section is "sold out" Seems like half the luxury boxes are empty though - move the "clubbers" up there...
More taditional as in a white man? More traditional as in "white-sounding"? More traditional as in what?
Does anyone have a video of the old Rockets entrance? I miss the song, and also hearing Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon.
Two things that made me go mad last year (attended 8 games): 1) The fact that he didn't understand basketball, or at least screwed up enough of it. Ex - Rockets commit their 4th team foul (Denver had 3), and it was a shooting foul on a Nugget. [TGray] Nuggets are in the penalty, Carmelo Anthony at the line. The sad sad sad thing was, this wasn't a one time mistake. Happened in Nov, happened in March, and every game in between. 2) The lame, lame, lame, lame, lame "let's get pumped up" moments everyone else has mentioned. How he can say the same thing as any announcer but make it lifeless is past me. You can mute Van and Coop, but not this clown. That's unjust. Evan
"Dreeeeeeaaaaaam-SHAKE!" "SLAM-JAM CLYDE DREXLER!" "Robert Horry for THREEEEEEEEE!" "And now...at center....7' out of University of Houston....Hakeem the DREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAM Olajuwon!!!" Those were the days.
I had the "pleasure" of listening to the starting lineup announcement on 610 last night, and it was horrible. And his plea to the crowd made me want to scream, it sounded like I was at an And 1 mix tape game. His voice just doesn't work. It doesn't get the crowd into the game and it sounds so high schoolish. Mario, the former PA guy is vastly better than T-Grey ever could hope to be, and I agree that the old intro was much better than this one. As far as fan support goes, the rockets/NBA have seemed to successfully make every ticket cost an arm and a leg. Even those tickets furthest away from the court cost 10-15 dollars. I'm tempted to take my dad to the game on thursday but I'd like to know how well you can see from the upper level seats(14-20 dollar tickets). I can't get a good idea from the toyota center layout online how good of a view those seats provide, so if anyone has sat up there before and would like to share their experience with the sight lines, feel free.
I had the $20 tickets last night and I thought that it was pretty good for being in the upper level. I was in section 416 row 2. I wish we still had the guy before TGrey back. Why did we get rid of him?
More traditional as in a guy who has a background in being a PA. A guy that has a basic knowledge of basketball. A guy that may have gone to other arenas and listened to how games are called.... T-Gray is probably a great guy. I just would like to see the Rockets hire people with backgrounds in the task they are required to perform. That is what I meant by more traditional.
