Watch sport here when you're in Houston?

Answer 1

I'm a Chicago fan, but I'm about to give you the best advice in the world.

This is what you should do. Since the Astros and Rockets stink and the Texans are about to, go to the DVD store and get yourself the 1995 Houston Rockets championship video Double Clutch. Just relive the '95 Rockets because there is no sports story like that in the last thirty years. You need to see where Robert Horry came from. Kings/Lakers Game 4? That was NOTHING for the guy. Winning the whole dang '05 Finals for Duncan and Longoria's man by himself? NOTHING for the guy. The '95 Rockets. Not the Yankees not Michael Jordan's Bulls, nobody NOBODY knows what it is like to face real true clutch situations then that Houston Rocket team. Granted it's very hard when you're Jordan, Pippen and Rodman to go out there and win 70 games and three peat and do what everybody expects you do, and true, the Bulls of the early 90s and the late 90s would have THWOMPED the Rockets, but Michael Jordan has never been--

a) Down 3-2 in a series

b) Down 3-1 in a series

c) Down by 10 with four minutes left in a deciding game.

d) Clutch shots down by one, not with the game tied, and not with total understanding that you'll get the foul call because you're Michael Jesus Jordan.

e) Every newspaper in your own town unrelentingly painting you like you played Charles Barkley in high heels just because you don't have a huge reputable gang element in your town and thus no "street cred", the kind of garbage by the way that amounts to having respect for Kobe Bryant ONLY after he gets accused of rape. See? The Rockets were doing all this with people deliberately trying to dog them. Any one we know can perform well with people patting him on the back and encouraging him. The 1995 Rockets are nothing but a testiment to every single coach of adolescents or collegians or other pros in any any sport, any profession. If I was a boss I would reference the '95 Rockets whenever things were down. Not the Bulls. And I grew up in Chicago during the 90s. With Jordan there was always respect, always a line drawn. Every other NBA superstar was unfortunately exempt from this extra layer of cream. Hakeem Olajuwon was one of them.

f) And that extends to the other teams. See...many of the biggest egos in the NBA were willing to accept not winning a title JUST AS LONG as it was Michael and Pippen who beat them. This meant that whenever the Rockets played anyone who thought they were good...they encountered a fearless bumrush. Literally the enforcer of that team was a guy named Vernon Maxwell, and when HE took a leave of...well let's just get to the brief story of the '95 Houston Rockets!!!

1. They finished 47-35. Traded Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler, which was one of the strangest days in sports history, because everyone outside of Houston thought these guys were simply doing what the Cubs do -- cash in on a losing culture while people are under the delusion they're winners. Every team that plans on screwing the fans always goes and pulls a trade like this...for the rabid 6-year old fan out there...to make sure they pull in money while the ship sinks. Sosa 21 jerseys and Wrigley Field attract any moron into Cubs culture, and one could only guess the Rockets were doing the same.

2. Michael Jordan came back to the league. Everyone figured Phoenix or San Antonio would end up playing us and that Toni Kukoc wouldn't suck so bad at power forward he could take Barkley. We were absolutely drunk from delusion in those days. Hey any old point guard would replace Paxson after he retired and just shut down Tim Hardaway on NBC. Randy Brown, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Jo Jo English, Craig Hodges, B.J. Armstrong.

3. The Rockets had the following starting five to go into the sixth seed of the playoffs with -- Olajuwon, Chucky Brown, Robert Horry, Clyde Drexler, Kenny Smith. Okay...pretty good. But now they got to play a) Utah

4) They go down 10 with 4 minutes left

5) They WIN!

6) Then against Phoenix they go down 2-0. Remember that the '94 edition was in the same situation, but they lost their opening two at home (those games by the way were a freaking hoot, I'll admit. They were up like 20 in the 4th of EACH ONE AND LOST!!)

7) But like they did in 94, the Rockets fought back and in Game 3, went up 91-55 in the 3rd quarter.

8) They went up 10 at the end of the first half of Game 4 also...but lost. So now the Suns are up 3-1 and have 2 of 3 left in Phoenix.

9) Horry straight blocks this dude and then lays the ball in and Barkley misses free throws and yeah! OT Win!

10) Rockets kick the crap out of Phoenix in game 6 at home. 3-3. Back to Zona.

11) Elie hits a three in the corner with the game tied and nine seconds to go. The Rocket fans go nuts, but the Suns still have a chance. Danny Ainge gets it and they're like "oh no! don't let Ainge hit a three like he does!" So the Rockets foul him and send him to the line. Ainge makes the first one. Now with two seconds left and all the Suns anxious under the basket, he has to miss it so that someone can rebound and call timeout because they're still down 2. So what does Ainge do...he MAKES IT ON ACCIDENT!!! THE ROCKETS WIN!!!!! THE ROCKETS WIN!!!!!

12) Then they give the NBA MVP award out, and they give it to David Robinson. Meanwhile the Rockets get called nice guys and soft. Ain't that a b? So Olajuwon FUNKED HIM UP!!!! He went into San Antonio and averaged like 36 points a game on the guy. Horry won Game 1 with a great shot 96-95, and the Spurs couldn't even get into Game 2. It was the series that would result in Dennis Rodman finally saying f u to the Spurs and coming to the Bulls! (Thank you Houston!)

13) So the Spurs coach starts listening to Rodman's rants and telling him he needs to guard Olajuwon, and sure enough, boom. He starts defending Hakeem infinitely better then David Robinson. And they tie the series.

14) But the Spurs coach Bob Hill was another one of those hackish self-styled experts and was determined to make David Robinson one too. At the expense of the season, Bob Hill wanted to show that the MVP of the league could flourish at the position he was supposed to play, against the guy he was supposed to defend, even when PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that David Robinson couldn't defend him. In this ultimate real-life Karate Kid moment when Sensei Kreese foolishly and stubbornly sends his beaten champ to go get beaten some more, Bob Hill TAKES RODMAN OFF OLAJUWON!!!!

15) Boom. Rockets win the next two games. It ain't even close. And they're back in the Finals. Because they're gritty, tough, and will trade mid-season and swallow their pride if that's what it takes to make the fans of Houston happy. Enjoy and appreciate the Rockets franchise. You see how they almost took Kobe without TMac? Ah?

16) So in the 95 Finals, Rockets went and swept Orlando. (BOOM!!! IN YO FACE SHAQ AND HORACE!!!! In Chicago we were like screw Horace, and now he's going to ORLANDO because he wants the ball more?! WHAT?! That's like going to hell for more air conditioning) The story is so famous you just gotta see for yourself. They were down 20 in game 1, they were up 40 in game 2, down 10 late in Game 4, and they repeated. I'm telling you, it was absolutely incredible. Each of the teams they played had won over 55 games, each of them were strongest AT the Rockets best positions AND weakest.