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Sep 27, 2006, 02:28
Put Your Money on the Rockets
By Os Davis
FullSportPress.com
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This is my first column for FullSportPress and I’ll jump right in.
I’ll take the Houston Rockets to win it all this year. Has anyone noticed what a potential beast this roster has become? Does anyone realize that these guys were 21-10 last year in games which had Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming on the floor together? Does anyone know the numbers Yao ran up last year?
For the record, the numbers include 51.9% shooting to go with nightly averages of 22.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.65 blocks. The not-so-hot number here is 25, representing the number of games Yao missed in 2005-06 due to a broken foot. McGrady, admittedly, suffered an off-year last year, managing only 18.2 minutes per game while sitting 18 due to injuries.
If surrounding their two marquee players may pose problems for Houston, but look how the Rockets have fueled up elsewhere. Top of the list here is Shane Battier, an intelligent acquisition of an intelligent player who looked good in the world tourney. Speaking of the Worlds, Greece’s Vassilis Spanoulis finally becomes Rocket property this season. You remember Spanoulis: He was the dude who, to the tune of 22 points, helped Greece bounce Team USA from the bracket.
Ladies and Gentlemen, yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 2006-07 Houston Rockets: They’re going all the way. You can bet on it.
{And if you consistently follow my column, you’ll realize my predictions are consistently correct in all areas except sports, electoral politics and the weather.)
Fanatics
What is it about fandom? Why do so many stay loyal to teams that have so consistently turned in consistently lame play?
Simply put, after even one year without the championship, fans of most teams spend the off-season disappointed, questioning the decisions made by the team’s braintrust, of the play from the team’s players. With anguish and anger and frustration do they react, yet fans stand by loyally.
To live and die with the fate of the team: Why do we do it?
It must be feel okay to be a Dallas Mavericks fan right now, the future bright with the promise of a return to the finals. I know: My fourteen-year-old son Nik is one eat/drink/sleep/breathe basketball freak, particularly in the rarified air of Maverick Land. For years, the lad was a freak of nature: Fan of a so-so bunch of b-ballers in the heart of Football Nation.
Over there in Boston, brother Rich bleeds Celtic green. Since the 80s (shudder), he optimistically figures the team to improve and imagines another championship, like in the days of yore …it hasn’t quite worked out yet, and so he spends most seasons reminiscing like Bill “The Sports Guy” Simmons.
As for me, my heart has been broken, trodden on and finally micturated upon until this point, when I can hardly admit my NBA allegiance. No, no, it wasn’t Isiah Thomas and I’m not a Knicks fan (oh, those poor people).
No, it’s that other guy, that guy born to be a superstar with the Barry Bonds-like demeanor to match. The guy who accused an MVP-level player of laziness and far greater crimes, later chasing away the greatest coach in the game. The prettiest player in the league: Kobe Bryant.
And I hate what he’s done to my Lakers.
I stayed with them post-Magic, through years of Cedric Ceballos and Nick Van Exel and I loved it when they were a scrappy no-name low-seeded playoff team. The bookend championship teams around the lean years weren’t bad, either.
But these Lakers just aren’t fun anymore. I don’t mean in a taking-care-of-business taking-home-the-ring a la the Michael Jordan Bulls way. I mean in the way where you have to let the vain kid do what he wants, because otherwise he’ll take his ball and go home.
Grrrrrrrr …
Why stay a fan? Why?
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