2016/17 Panini Houston Rockets

I really hadn't followed the NBA for a long time. 'Time' as measured in decades certainly. Oh, I'd been to a few games here and there as I picked up tickets from friends or some coaches I knew. When the Rockets moved to Houston from San Diego and played on the U of Houston campus we were regulars at the games. After all, they were free for me.

But the last time I considered myself a fan was back when Houston alum Otis Birdsong was playing for the Kansas City Kings.

But last year a friend of my sons took a job with the Rockets media department and we started getting free tickets regularly. It's been a fun experience. I quit griping about the relentless in-game promotions and hype and decided to just enjoy it. And the fact that the Rockets are winning this year helps. So does having seats down low or in a suite. 

James Harden is an obvious MVP candidate and puts up triple doubles regularly but he is surrounded with a lot of offensive firepower.

Defense? The Rockets don't need no stinkin' defense. They rarely play it.

These next two cards are of the two players I've 'adopted' as my favorites. Sam Dekker runs hot and cold from the floor but he's fun to watch.

Eric 'Flash' Gordon is gonna be Sixth Man of the Year' if there is any justice. He made the All Star squad without really being a starter for Houston.

Trevor Ariza is in his second go-round in Houston. He played back in the Yao Ming era I believe. I thought he was a young guy until I looked him up and found that he's been with like six different teams.

I still find it weird that some players are known by one name. It's seems common in soccer but having a hoops guy that goes by Nene is odd. Heck I still blink at the mention of Ichiro.

This is a Rockets team set that they had laying around in the concession area behind the suites one night. It may have been a give-away item at one point. I went ahead and grabbed one because, well, I am a card collector, right?

This is the back of one of the cards. Panini doesn't appear to have put a lot of effort into this set. About as much effort as the Rockets put into defense.

Michael Beasley moved on to Minnesota this season. I enjoyed watching him last year. He hustled his ass off. He's one of the more tattoo'd guys I've seen.

I'm still don't consider myself a full NBA fan. The fact that the last two minutes of game clock time take a half hour to play still makes me nuts. And I can't be bothered to watch any games on TV. I'm not all that aware of where the Rockets are in the standing except that I know they are a lot better off than they were last year.

But if the tickets remain there for the taking and I continue to have fun with my sons going out there than I'll keep going.

Pardon My Rant

I'm a University of Houston alum. And I support the athletic department in several ways. I'm not the biggest contributor but my support is pretty significant, enough that I'm on the list of invitees for the department's big functions. I say this not to pat myself on the back but as background for this:

I'm sitting here two home games into the hoops season and I still haven't received my season basketball tickets. I've 'chatted' online with the ticket office, emailed them and talked by phone. The latest I've gotten from them is that they will be 'overnight'd' to me in time for Thursday night's game. We'll see. UH wants to return to the days when it was a fairly significant player in the college sports world. Conference championships, Cotton Bowls, Final Fours, that sort of thing. If that's going to happen we'll sure need a better ticket department.

We have a nice shiny new football stadium and complex, a major revamping of Hofheinz Pavilion including a basketball training and practice facility is underway. How can season ticket holders be shuffled off to the side if we hope to make it back to the big time?

Meanwhile here are some things I use to remind myself of better days for the program.

From CardStacks comes a Stacked Deck

I wish I could collect vintage Bill Russell cards. But they are so darn expensive. I have his '61 Fleer card and I blogged it and told my 'I sat next to Bill Russell' story in a post in 2012. He was such a ridiculously intense competitor. I draw a lot of parallels between Russell and another favorite of mine whose card shows up below, Frank Robinson. While neither could be classified as the 'best' in their respective sports, both are guys I'd want on my team if I had to win one game.

So, as with many 'legends' whose cards I love sorting through, I content myself with modern, more affordable versions. And Ryan of the Card Stacks blog gave my Bill Russell collection a huge boost when he sent me an envelope stuffed with these Russell cards and a few others that fit nicely into various PCs.

Some of these are Heritage designs like the one up top. The others are from various sets, most are new to me, a guy who hasn't bought any modern hoops cards. (Do they make modern hoops cards? If so, who has the licence these days?)

I have a Murad card from the original 1910 set. They would make an awesome set to chase but who has the dough?

Bowman should have used green instead of red on this one. But it's got a neat photo nonetheless.

This one, based on the 1965 baseball design, may be my favorite of the bunch. Russ putting up a shot over Willis Reed in Madison Square Garden... classic.

Russ grabs a rebound. He was always grabbing rebounds. And pissing off Wilt.

And then there is this card of my man, Connie Hawkins. Behind the back moves were a Hawkins staple. Smiling wasn't.

Ryan also included a couple of baseball cards, both Gypsy Queens and both of players I collect. Frank Robinson and Lance Berkman. Berkman goes into my Killer B's binder. 

Thanks, again Ryan. I really appreciate your generosity. I'm sure I can help you out on some of your PCs.

'The Big E'.... and the beauty of 1970/71 Topps Basketball

Somewhere on line I saw a post or article about the 1970/71 Topps basketball set. The guy didn't have much good to say about the set (in fact he called it the ugliest set ever I think) but it caught my attention. I googled some images and was oddly attracted to the cards. So much so that I went out and picked some up. I think I bought two small lots and maybe a few on COMC.

Here are a few of the ones I've picked up so far. These babies are so bad they are good. Without a license Topps couldn't show logos or team nicknames. Interesting that they alllllmost show the full 'San Diego' lettering on both the Elvin Hayes above and this John Block card.

Nowadays there are plenty of cards on which you can't see the player's face. I'm thinking particularly of baseball cards which use outfielders leaping towards the fence with their backs to the plate. Things like that. But I can't think of many that give a better view of an armpit than a guy's face.

Another trick Topps used was to have the players pose with their uniform tops turned backwards. Since the tops are cut with the neck opening higher in the back it makes for an odd look.

T-shirts and warm-ups have a place here as well. Just great stuff. 

I have about twenty of the 175 cards in the set. I have a couple of the stars including my man, Connie Hawkins along with a leader card or two and a Jerry West All Star card. I have given some thought to chasing the whole set. But the Pete Maravich rookie is part of it and that card is pretty expensive. Like my '59 Mickey Mantle it's a card I'd have to hunt with patience. I'm not sure I'm up to it right now.

Hoops for the Hell of it

I haven't been an NBA fan for many, many years but once upon a time I followed the pro hoopsters, at least to some extent. Unlike baseball, football and hockey I didn't have a team I could call 'mine'. That would have required too much of an investment of emotion. Rather, I just watched the Sunday afternoon games on ABC with Chris Schenkel doing play-by-play and enjoyed the skills of player I liked. I was a a fan of Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Gus Johnson, and Connie Hawkins. 'The Hawk' had extraordinary talent and carried around lots of issues as well. His life story is pretty interesting. But his flash and dash on the court was mesmerizing.

I only have two Hawkins cards, one vintage, the '72/'73 Topps and the modern Fleer card below. Under that is a YouTube video of Hawkins worth checking out.

Guy V. Lewis, Basketball Hall of Famer!!!!!!!

It was an emotional moment this afternoon when news broke here in Houston that Guy V. Lewis, the long-time and much loved basketball coach at the University of Houston had finally been elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame! I've posted about Guy before and how special he has been to me and my family.

Guy V with Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney circa 1967

It's been a long hard fight involving letters, petitions, postcard campaigns and media pleas and finally, after more than a decade of disappointment, Guy V. will receive what he has richly deserved for a long time. No more bitterness on my part, no more disgust at the Hall electing Bulgarian Women's team coaches, it's all good now.

Guy being honored at a Houston basketball game a few years back.

Thank the Lord that Guy is still around to hear the news. He is in very fragile health these days and those of us who wanted this day to come are very grateful that he and his family can savor the moment.

I took this pic of Guy and his wife in April of 2011 at an Alumni function held in his honor and attended by many of his former players.

Today is a great day indeed!!

Close Encounters of the Basketball Kind

I haven't followed the NBA in about thirty five years. My friends and I took in Rockets games pretty regularly in the short time they played at Hofheinz Pavillion on the University of Houston campus. Tickets were a buck for UH students so it was a very cheap night of entertainment. But generally the Rockets sucked and we had to get our jollies by riding them, or even better, the opposing team. 

There was never any doubt that the players heard us. We'd sit behind the visitors' bench or in the front row across the floor. Hell, the place was so laid back and empty we could have probably sat at the end of either teams' bench without much fuss. And since I worked in the building at times I'd sometimes come down the ramp and watch from behind the goal standards.

It was about 1972 when Dale Schlueter played in Hofheinz as a member of the 76ers. He was a big center with zero 'hops'. I mean zero. I doubt his shoes ever got more that two inches off the floor. And we flat wore him out over it. Add to our drunken voices the fact that there were maybe 1000 people in the place and you had a case of six or so college fools pretty much acting as the life of the party.

And so at one point Schlueter comes behind the empty press row right in front of us to retrieve a loose ball, looks straight at poor innocent me and says 'Up Yours!!' I kid you not. And shockingly he's giving me the finger while hiding it from the court with the ball. Sweet Mother of God. I've been flipped of by an NBA player during a game!!

That moment has been a recurring source of hilarity among my buddies at get-togethers and golf rounds ever since. I found this card (and a couple of others) for about a buck on eBay. Brought me a laugh for sure. 

Here's to you, Dale Schlueter. Long may you wave!!

Next time: Furry Players and another Close Encounter