IMO this is a pretty silly argument. Houston is a football city, because it has always and will always be, just like how Texas has always and will always be a football state. It has nothing to do with time, but bone deep devotion and this for for very legitimate and EASY TO UNDERSTAND reasons: 1. It is tradition. It's what we live and eat. My dad watched football with his coworkers when he first got to this country. I grew up watching football with him and his coworkers. My kids will grow up watching football with me. We have football parties where we watch football, drink beer, and eat BBQ. We grow up with huge football rivalries. That's tradition and Texans and Houstonians... our blood is filled with more football than baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, whatever. 2. There are only 16 games in a year and 4 games in the playoffs, compared to the stupidly insane 82 regular season games plus up to 28 more in the playoffs. That is WAY more than the average casual fan is even willing to follow. Baseball is even worse. In short, it is easy to keep up and therefore get sucked into the NFL than NBA or MLB. I have been telling my friends that both leagues need to significantly cut back on the amount of games, but that will never happen because of $$$. 3. It is fast and violent. It's as close to the Colosseum that we can legally get where basically two small armies have free reign to bash into each as hard as they physically can. It's entertaining as hell both live and on TV, unlike baseball. That said, I find basketball pretty exciting to watch as well. 4. We have amazing football programs all over the state including Houston now. UT, while they sucked the past few years, have churned out so many great football players. Same with Baylor. Heck, even AM is pretty good. For basketball, we really only have Baylor and on occasion, UT. Hell, baseball also beats out basketball. There are tons more reason, but I am too lazy to type them out. You're comment about wins and deserving better fans is pretty funny as well. Real fans are at their core irrational and loyal. That's why people continue to watch the Texans. Fans are fans, because the love their teams. It has nothing to do with wins. We aren't stupid. We all know the offense has been terrible. We all know we lack a competent QB. We also know that we are just one QB away from being true contenders with our AMAZING defense.
You completely missed the point. Everyone knows it's tradition and how much people in Texas love football. There's no reason for it to be the case that "it always will be." Houston is lucky that we have three awesome teams. The Texans are the worst managed and have the least history of all three of them. The idea that more Houstonians should care about the Rockets and Astros is not "funny" at all. The Rockets and Astros deserve more and better fans period. The disparity between Texans fans and the rest shouldn't be this wide. Being a Texans fan is fine. There's no reason this city's other teams should have the lack of support that they do though.
Seems like you are the one that is missing the point. Do you not know the meaning of tradition? Let me help you out with that one. "The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way." Those fans in the stand are fans, because their father and their father's father were fans of football and guess what? Their kids and their kids' kids will also be fans. It's basically a religion at this point in time. This is why "it always will be." It's like saying kale should supplant BBQ, because it's better. It is funny, because you don't seem to understand that it is not about what a person or team deserves, never has been. That's like the most ridiculous concept ever. Hell, even life is never about what you deserve... ever. That the Rockets and 'Stros are a better managed team means jack diddly squat.
No, I understand my own point just fine. You are building a gigantic straw man and aruguing with yourself by ignoring everything I'm saying and going on about nonsense. Likely because for some reason you feel scorned that I think other sports should be on respectable footing vs football in Houston. Let me try this one more time for you: The Rockets and Astros deserve more support from the city of Houston. Mentalities like yours are the reason why teams from other major cities like NY, LA, Boston, Chicago, SF, and I hate to say it, but even Dallas will always have better press coverage, acclaim, and support than the Rockets and Astros. You keep saying things are "funny" but what is really funny is scoffing at the idea that the other sports teams in this city can't garner "traditional" support. It should be a tradition for kids to grow up Rockets fans in Houston. It should be a tradition for kids to grow up Astros fans in Houston. I know for a fact that you can go to quite a number of middle schools here and find a decent amount of kids who were born in Houston but are Warriors fans. I am so certain that if you went to the Bay Area you could not find a single kid who is a Rockets fan. Mentalities like yours are exactly the reason why. Great traditions we as a city have built.
I am not building a strawman's argument, but presenting cold hard truth, especially given you are the one chasing rainbows and unicorns. I have repeatedly pointed out the lack of sensibility in your post. Why should they "deserve" better fans? Because they are better? They are better managed? That has nothing to do with getting better fans, because at the end of the day, fans don't give crap about that. Winning and losing, better management or not, that makes no difference at all. Literally zero influence. Case in point, we were one of the worst managed teams under CD, but all of us were still fans. We sucked badly enough to get the number 1 pick in Yao and we were all still fans. I am scoffing about your idea, because it is so unrealistic that I can't help but laugh. It is never about deserve, it is about what you can do to earn. Making lower bowl seats accessible for fans and allowing fans move to the lower bowl seats after the first quarter for one would be one of those things the Rockets can do to EARN better fans. The Rockets have **** fans, because they have **** methods of trying to attract better fans.
No way. If the Texans played at home half the year, the stands would be packed half the year. Let me ask you this. Why are Bulls/Knicks/Celtics/Warriors/Lakers/Mavericks/Raptors games always more packed than Rockets? Why are Dodgers/Yankees/Red Sox/Rangers/Giants/Cubs/Blue Jays games always more packed than the Astros. The Texans are the only Houston team with comparable attendance to cities that are as big as Houston. It should not be that way. Houston fans need to realize we have a great thing going and step it up.
Damn straight, everytime I think about the old Oilers, or now the Texans and even the Astros it's been more disappointing than good memories (for playoff runs at least), and while the Houston Rockets did have some disappointing runs over the years since Hakeem... Harden and the Rockets got us the closest to a chip in 18 years during that one WCF run. This season though it's an even better team and I think we (as fans) have a legit chance to experience something special, the present and future are bright finally!! It also feels great to know we can at least count on on the Rockets and Harden to rep Houston. Hopefully soon the Astros/Texans put something together... although if they don't I'll still watch them, but it's just an easier time watching a fun team like Harden and co when everything is clicking, and knowing that as a fan you made it through the tough years without giving up on your team makes it that much sweeter! Go Rockets! And Harden for MVP please
It was a shock hire. At that stage, analytics were mostly back office jobs in the NBA, not front office roles like GM. Even today, how many analytics GM are there/have there been? Hinkie, Morey, Hollinger?
