Apparently the majority of you here react rapidly to any sports media opinions or statements. So who's opinion affects you the most about the rockets?
ESPN (Disney) and TNT (Turner) operate as a business. There are very successful, very smart, shrewd people that pull the strings for those companies that do a ton of research in order to come up with the conclusion that "If we mention X on air, make X a story, with X headline, and exclude Y.... We will generate Z more views due to demographics, and other statistics that results in higher viewership, page views, etc." It took how many championships, and two decades for ESPN/Turner to be FORCED to spend two seconds talking about the Spurs and not write them off time and time again. We as Rockets fans on this site hate the Spurs, and wish their team nothing but ill will understandably, but if you step back and see how back through the years their team has been buried by the major networks, I think you will see that Houston actually didn't have it as bad as we might have thought. There is nothing that hurt the NBA as a business more than when the Spurs won a title, and forced big market teams out of the playoffs. Its a business. Do I "care" about their opinion..... some of the contributors get my ear (maybe Zach Lowe, JVG, Simmons, etc.), but for the most part as a Houston fan, you just have to come to the realization that the machine that is Disney, and Turner, has no hard feelings towards your city... its just that a business is a business.
Winning is all about respect. Respect from other players, other fans, and everyone in general. If no one cared about the competition then no one would be that invested in winning or caring about it. It'd be a passing thought. You are telling me Tinman if every soul said "Hakeem's titles are tainted because Jordan was retired and rusty." it wouldn't bother you one bit?
No one's. All opinions are biased in one direction or another, and no one really knows what's going to happen. I just watch the games.
Jeff Van Gundy. He may seem biased toward us but he actually just speaks the truth. A rare phenomenon in the media.
I actually like it when the media is down on the Rockets. I would rather fly under the radar, and be the underdogs. It apparently also suits the Rockets. They have done better when that's the case. In the Portland series last year many in the media were picking the Rockets and we lost. Any well thought out commentary is worth listening to but should always be taken with a grain of salt. What I object to most is something like when the Rockets won the championship and was then dissed by Sports Illustrated.
That's why you go to a source you trust. For example, I think kenny smith is more credible than stephen a smith because kenny played in the league and in college. I go to clutch cause i believe his opinions are based on facts and he's credible cause he watched every game.
JVG, Mike Fratello, Steven A. Smith to an extent(sometimes he's respectful), and for some reason every time Charlie has Matt Bullard on I have to listen.
