I saw the game of the century on television, Elvin Hayes and UH vs. Lew Alcindor and UCLA. Great game. UCLA came back and beat them months later by 31 points or so. I remember everything that was mentioned, no television channels. My cousin and I used to catch the bus over to hofeinz pavilion on the UH campus to watch the Rockets. Neither the Spectrum nor the Toyota Center was thought of yet, much less built. I've been following the Rockets since before they left San Diego. It was already known that they were moving to Houston, so I used to listen to the San Diego team on the radio. Those were the days.
Crash, Thanks for rekindling all of those old memories. I went to U of H (at CL) up until 1983 and left for the AF in '85. I followed all of my beloved Houston teams while traveling the world, but my best memory was taking my oldest son to the San Antonio vs Houston play-off game when Robinson had won the MVP and Hakeem destroyed him. We were in the cheap seats, but my son became a life long Rockets fan that night. He's stationed in England now and watches the games via the internet. Meanwhile, I have my youngest son and daughter who watch the games with me now. Although we live in Colorado, we're still Texans and still Rockets/Texans fans.
Enjoyed the read very much. I got hooked on basketball during Elvin Hayes' sophomore year. Numerous times, my dad took my brothers and me out to Delmar Fieldhouse to watch them. We also went to some Rocket games. I was at the first Rocket exhibition game against the Sixers and saw Lew Alcindor's (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) Houston debut. When I was a kid, there was one NBA game on TV each week; it was usually the Celtics (Bill Russell) or the Lakers (West, Baylor and later Chamberlain) or the Sixers (Chamberlain, Hal Greer) or the Warriors (Nate Thurmond, Rick Barry) or the Royals (Oscar Robertson.
I'm younger than you guys but some of my fondest childhood memories are sitting in my room hugging the radio from ages 10-13 while I listened to Gene Peterson and Jim Foley for the first/second round games in the early 90's playoffs. We didn't have cable until the 1994 season (plus weren't some games ppv if I remember right?) but memories of listening to those games still brings a smile to my face. I've lurked here since about 2002 when I finally went off to college and was able to explore the internet. Thanks Clutch for an amazing site and forum.
I wont bother wasting much time rehashing my story since it mirrors both crash and rimrocker's stories. but one correction to your story crash, it would have been Clutch and/or DoD that was running chat back when Eddie was selected....I helped on pbp back then, but wasnt actually a mod for a year or two afterwards. I miss those days, chat just isnt the same anymore...pbp isnt needed with all the streams available now.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they are two different guys. I remember going to Don Carter's bowling alleys in S. Florida when I was a kid lol. That Don Carter passed away... is the Mavs Don Carter alive?
thought it'd great to watch this here along with crash5179's story... <iframe src="http://player.theplatform.com/p/zT2_HC/iEazkwCwmKPM/embed/select/eem1TyNqc_69?autoPlay=true¶ms=zone%3Drockets" width="480" height="270" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>
