To me... This is the year. Really. I think this is the year the Rocks make the turn back to contender and away from scrubs. I think this might be the first time I felt this giddy in a long while. Well, I actually can't remember. But I feel giddy. So, I started to think driving into the city today about all the great things I haven't seen from the Rockets in what seems like EONS (hoping that EONS is actually a time measuring unit). I came up with alot of situations that actually made me sad because I just actually miss certain things. But it also made me hopeful. The Rockets are the only team I actually lose sleep over when they lose. It totally crushes me when they lose ONE playoff game and when they get eliminated, I seriously take about 3 days off from work because I don't want to hear the news, watch TV or takes anyones crap! So, as the new season approaches, I am not here to analyze. I just noticed that I miss: 1) Hakeem-I don't know. But when I sit back and think about this guy and the way he played...man, I just get goosebumps. Knowing that the playoffs would be his stage to shine, that was worth me cutting classes back in college. Which leads me to... 2) The playoffs-not that we haven't been there. But I miss THE PLAYOFFS. Meaningful games played at the highest level. We are talking round 2 and beyond. We are talking stress. We are talking going to work with NO VOICE after cheering your ass off for 3 hours of intense, hair pulling, white knuckling basketball. 3) Stomach aches-What I use to get watching intense playoff games. Every possession critical to the game. The X's and O's that go into every play. What ifs and second guessing during the game. Deafening chants of defense from the Rocket crowd and having my chalupa get cold because I couldn't move for long periods of time. And now with TIVO, no commercials! YEA! 4) Buzzer beaters/A Kiss of Death-Knowing that if you hit you live to fight. Miss and you go home. And when the Rockets did it, it was SUPER SWEET. Just typing it I am thinking about Mario's shot. Goosebumps and watering of the eyes. Close your eyes and remember that miracle. And don't forget Eddie at the buzzer YES!!!! OH MOTHER!!!!! 5) Rivalries--And this doesn't mean Jazz/Rockets anymore. Thats played out. I am talking new millenium shiznet. I want to HATE a team like I hated the Jazz. I want to HATE a team like I hated Boston. I want to HATE players like I hated Malone. I want to HATE players like I hated Danny Ainge. HATE...for lack of a better word...is GOOOOOOOD! And Kobe doesn't count. He hasn't thrown a ball at one of my players yet. Last but not least, I miss being a champion so much. I remember in 1994, I was a Junior in college and what did the Rocks do for my birthday? Win Houston's FIRST major championship. Led by the great Dream, I remember crying so much. The tears of joy because I had so much of Houston still in my heart. Had only been 4 years since I moved at that time. I remember the next day buying my cap and Olajuwon shirt. I walked around NYC with a certain swagger knowing that my team had beat up on the Knicks and crushed their dreams of being champions! What a great feeling to experience it again in 1995. That was the greatest ride I ever had as a sports fan. The moves made by Olajuwon. The great CLUTCH CITY was born because game after game after game after game after game after game after game after game our team escaped, dominated and humiliated 4-60 win teams on the way to another title. It would of been so sweet to bury the Bulls once and for all ending the "Jordan vacation" excuse that the haters always come up with. But guess what? Its ALL GOOD. I have the banners hanging in the rafters. Thats all that matters. I am hopeful this year. I don't know if we are going to win it all. But for some weird reason, I got to love all the moves we made. On paper, seems like we got a good team and can make some noise. Health, baby. Health. It always comes down to that. I am pumped this year. I ordered the NBA package for the first time in a long time. I just miss so much of what I enjoyed a 10-15 years ago. Lets be honest. We all knew that as long as Dream was in his prime, we would be in the thick of things. Then, he got SO F'ING GOOD, that it was more than what we ever could with for from one player and one team. A run for the ages if you ask me. I hope that we are in for another 4-5 year stretch. I believe in my coach. I believe we have a great core in place when healthy that nobody in the league can claim they have equal to. And I think we got some nice players to make some serious noise.
I have no problem hating SA/Dallass...Tony Pecker, Ginobody, Duncan't, Nitwitz, etc... I miss Rudy! oh, and clutch city was coined in 1994.
Heck, I ordered NBALP one year too early. All the buzz last year about DA, Stro, and Skip, in addition to the superconfident TMac and Yao, got me excited. I feel like my hard earned money went in flame to an unworthy cause. Damn, still bitter about that. Hopefull this year is a completely different story.
I miss the Summit. I can remember that place rocking like a mofo night in night out from the mid eighties until the late 90's.
I do miss a lot of what your missing. even more so after the 05 playoffs. the sick feelings i got my heart beating like it was going to pop out of my chest. fingers tense and sweat at every shot. the elation of a playoff victory and the depression over a loss. i would have to say though that this year is probably the most talented team we have had since the 97 season and is cause for excitement. we are though very young and inexperienced (like wasnt 3 years ago we were the oldest team in the league?) the thing i miss the most is national respect, i know the rockets never get the proper recognition but it sucks that right now they are being spit on by a lot of fans around the country.
Yeah that's it for me. "Never underestimate the heart of a champion". I still remember Rudy shouting those words out like it was yesterday. And never was I prouder to be A Rocket fan than at that moment. Those teams will always have a special place in my heart.
I miss Rudy. I remember how Rudy ran the open practice the year we got Yao. He came out and grabbed a microphone and thanked everyone for coming that day. Rudy's a great guy.
Believe It Again! Will come true once again in H-Town. I will also be hanging on every game, the Rockets are the only team I really care about. I can't for the TNT crew and others to shut their mouths when Rockets win it all this NBA season, it will be awesome.
What HP said, and a great post, Almu. I'm trying to control my preseason excitement, but I can't help it. I'm PUMPED! I'm praying for a healthy McGrady, and a healthy Yao. Given that, we will have a season unlike any we've seen in a long time. Ready to ROCK.
People have GOT to remember to hate Portland!! Come on, that'll be easy, we can kick their a$$es all eyar long, and enjoy doing it because they screwed us over so badly during the draft. How ironically sweet to be able to dole out payback for their sins against us and still end up being the much better team. But maybe we ought to thank them.. after all, if not for them, we would have BR on this team now (which would be great), but we would ALSO still have Swift, we would have lost Luther, we wouldn't have got Snyder, Battier, maybe not even JL3 and V-Span, and almost assuredly not Bonzi. That one little screw-job they pulled on us led to a dramatically different team. Personally, I think the team we have now is far better than anything we could have wound up with had we been able to get Roy. Even still, I want the Rox to kick their stinkin behinds every chance we get!!
mavs, spurs and suns are our rivalries now! of course we actually have to win a game against them to be considered a rivalry.
Nice post. Got me teared up. Oddly enough I do miss HATING another team. Boy I used to hate punkass Portland and their thugs. It's still fun watching us beat them down. I'll always hate the Mavericks because I hate Dallas. I can't wait for the season to start.
Good stuff right there. Clutch City was coined in 1994 but enforced in 1995 by the fly-slamma-jamma miracle run. Even in 1993 when we lost in the playoffs you could sense there was something building. The whole Hakeem hamstring debacle was behind us and he seemed to have a new found energy on the floor. To me the best part of those two years was in the playoffs. We would be down by like 20 points with five minutes to go after blowing a 20 point lead of our own. Then Dream would go to work and get us going.....somebody would hit an open three and the next thing ya' know we are only down by 3 points and have the other team on their heels. As much as it gave me ulcers to watch I couldn't pull myself away. Those guys never got down in the face of adversity. They always found a way to pull themselves up and come out swinging. The 1994 series against Phoenix was good but the 1995 series against them with the kiss of death was the best. I was having a conversation about the second championship run with some friends the other day. We were talking about what makes a team timeless. To me that 1995 team was timeless. The first championship will always be the best because it was the first but that second year was epic. Sixth seed? beat four fifty win teams? Dream destroying the MVP in front of his home crowd on national TV? the kiss of death shot? the comeback in game one of the finals with the tip in by Dream off the Clyde missed layup? oh man there are plenty of others so feel happy to add to them.....I think I just had an orgasm.......rack'em!
