Grew up in Ohio and still live here, Stevie Franchise was my favorite player growing up and ever since then he made me a Rockets fan. Now I gotta watch every game and I will always love the Rockets!
I grew up a sports fan in high school basketball crazy west central Indiana. My 1st love was my Otterbein Red Devils followed by anyone who played the Lafayette "Jeff" Broncos. Cubs, Bulls & Bears followed. Moved to Houston in summer of 74 & became a seasonnal Houston sports fan. The Rockets, Astros & Texans are my favorites in that order.
I was 12 When the Dream won the first Championship with the Rockets and have been bleeding Rockets Red ever since. Of course its in my nature to support Houston teams 110% but the Rockets are the best of what Houston sports has to offer. Also I would like to see fans sign a petition or something to bring Calvin Murphy back to broadcast alongside Bill next year. Clyde and Bull are pretty decent and getting much more improved but nothing beats the old school duo.
I was 10 yrs old, watched game 1 of the rockets vs spurs wcf match in 95, instantly fell in love with the game and the Rockets, Hakeem became my favorite player as well...still remember that game like it was yesterday.
I'm going to add some historical context here... I was a little kid, 6 or 7, and my dad was a junior partner in a law firm where one of the managing partners was in the Suns front office. I discovered the game via Connie Hawkins, Dick Van Arsdale, Moe Layton, Mel Counts and Clem Haskins. By age 11 I was total Suns fan-boy when a 42-40 team came out of the West, beating Rick Barry and the defending champs Golden State, to play the mighty Celtics in the '76 Finals. That triple-overtime game 5 in the 'Gah-den' is still in the top 3 NBA finals games of all time... Gar Heard hitting a turnaround 20-footer on the inbounds with 1 second on the clock... JoJo White, sitting gassed on the floor, having to gear up for five more minutes... that was as intense a sports moment as I have ever experienced before, or since. And I cried when the Celts came back west to finish it off in six. Last year's 7-gamer with LAL was a reminder of what I saw as a kid... a team not given a chance against Goliath, putting forth a gutsy, determined effort. It would be nice to see a team with a chance next year come out of Houston.
now HERE'S a Finals game sequence for the ages... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjfiud6e2M Paul Westphal as the star and leader of that team... the observant eye will catch a benchwarming Pat Riley in Suns warmups, among other goodies...
Actually started watching basketball because of the Lakers (I grew up on the west coast). It was the Shaq/Kobe days and they were winning left and right, and everyone loved them, so I joined in. Then I started casually following the Rockets during the Francis/Yao days, and then became obsessed ever since the T-Mac trade.
First love was definitely the Jordan Bulls...grew up watching them in their dynasty when I was around 8 or 9. Good times.
i'm glad you're a rockets fan...but this is weird to me. i'm a rockets fan because i'm from houston. i can't imagine rooting for another city's team against my city's team in a championship, especially.
was my first love in terms of NBA teams the Rockets were the first teams I loved my two favorite players growing up were: Hakeem Olajuwon first obviously and Magic Johnson was second
The Rockets were the first team I ever followed (obviously since I was born here) but the 2003-2004 Minnesota Timberwolves were the first team I ever loved and felt so passionate about. I still am a fan of the team.
I once had an awkward moment by wearing a Jordan jersey in high school just to see what it felt like. I've been a full-time fan since 92. Even on the holidays.
