I've been a Rockets fan for a while now. Over the past 10 years, I saw how pathetic the home crowd for Rockets had been. Empty seats, dead arena, yawning 60 years old dudes are very common sights in the CC and now TC. We've seen players, coaches and fans on the internet complaining about how no body cares about the Rockets in Houston. However, something has changed this year. When the Rockets play at home, I can now see how electric the TC is. When they play on the road, we hear crazy fans follow them and eventually took over the opposing arena. I mean, the support for the team has all of sudden changed from being lethargic to being overwhelming. The change seems to be overnight. I mean, what the hell happened? Is this the Houston Rockets we are talking about?
One funny quote from NBA.com http://www.nba.com/aroundtheassociation/index.html Yao Ming has always held his own against Shaquille O'Neal, but never before has he outplayed the former best big man in basketball so dramatically. Yao shot 11-for-19 from the floor and 12-for-13 from the line for 34 points - the most he's scored in nine games against the Daddy ...... see something special? That's right, they are calling Shaq "former" best big man.... in fact, the word former was acturally typed in Italic font..... what does that tell me? I am confused...enlighten me please.
A. Rowdies B. Rockets fans are the most bandwagonish of all major Houston sports franchises. Including the Texans. Only god knows why though...
The Rockets front office finally realizing the importance of home court advantage and taking measures to correct the situation. 1) Offer for free magnets and subsequent calls to those people asking them about ticket interests. 2) JVG and Tmac feeling the need for Rowdy fans and purchasing tickets. 3) Rockets front office holding promotions such as tonight's game, to offer to fly 500 season ticket holders to opoosing team's arena. All this will create a buzz and bring in more supporters. Rockets finally realizing that selling tickets to fat business slobs sulkng at the games, although it brings in $ales, is not in the best interest of the team.
I jumped on the bandwagon when Yao was drafted... as far as I was concerned, he was the most intriguing player I'v ever seen. There have been so many ups and downs for the Rox since then, mostly downs, but to see Yao finally become consistently dominant is very exciting. Just hope there is no disappointing end to this season, as has been the trend of recent years... even if we don't get a ring this year, the story of Yao and the Rox will go on... Also, I love defense, and the Rox have been a defense-first team since I can remember. Oh and I love Tracy... to the point where I was very jealous of his wife when he got married, even though I'm a hetero male. But I'm over it now.
Here are some reasons... - Yao and Tracy are healthy again... - New additions to the team (Battier, Bonzi, Snyder, Novak, VSpan) - We've only had 2 home games, one of which was the home opener (expected to be sold out and loud) in which we routed the hated Mavericks. Fans saw that and said "looks like they're going to be pretty good this year, let's go see a game". Thus, the New York game had a sellout crowd. - Add the Red Rowdies to the mix and the atmosphere is multiplied. - The Rockets flew 500 season ticket holders to Miami. It wasn't just random Rockets fans that showed up at a road game. It was planned, and won't be like that at any other game(s) this season. All in all, things look good so far, but we really only have two home games to go by so far. And like I said, one of them was the home opener against the defending WC champions, so I think after 6 or 7 games at home (and a loss or two, possibly) we'll see if the city has truly embraced them. That said, I fully expect the place to be rockin' against the Spurs on Tuesday
Unlike certain other young players whose success and hype can come and go, Yao Ming is like an overwhelming positive river. He wasn't as fast out of the gate like his rival Amare (not to slight Amare since he had legitimate reasons for not being as good as Yao is today), but ultimately, patience, practice, and intense skill paid off to help Yao Ming become the player that he is today. We could learn a lot in life from Yao Ming. It's not the hyper hare that ultimately wins the race. It's the steady and positively confident turtle. Yao Ming is that metaphorical turtle in a positive river whose flow his opponents cannot stop. It is time Time for 2006-2007: The True Year of the Yao
Power Ranking week 2 on ESPN: Rockets 4 (14) JVG has been saying that T-Mac's greatest strength is his decision-making. Judging by T-Mac's 6.4 apg and Yao's early dominance, perhaps they're all in agreement. Link
