Rockets Fans Around the Globe: Australia
by Tom Martin on Aug 6, 2009 11:00 AM CDT
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To celebrate the arrival of David Andersen, I give you the country of Australia, mate. Though Jamie neglects to mention Andersen in the post below, it still provides some interesting insight into how basketball ranks among other sports down under. Send in your submissions to the global quest for Rockets fans. We'd like as many as possible in order to see where all of you guys are coming from. Send all submissions to tommartin@thedreamshake.com or tweet them here.
Name: Jamie Barr
Username: Dream34
"G'day from Australia fellow Rockets fanatics!!
I first became a fan of the Rockets via the great Hakeem Olajuwon in '89 at the age of 6. I was lucky enough to see the NBA Allstar-Game that year (the only NBA game shown in Australia) and I was immediately fascinated by this amazing athlete. Ever since, I've been a Rocket for life (I had a little hiatus for basketball when the rockets traded Hakeem when his last contract was up for negotiation, I was so pissed off that I took 3 years off and am still pretty dirty about it today). Although, I still collect cards and memorabilia of Olajuwon (over 1000 different cards of him) and I was lucky enough to meet him in 94' when he came over for the Jam Session tour.
Popularity of Basketball in Australia is rated about 5th behind 4 types of football (AFL, RUGBY LEAGUE, SOCCER, RUGBY UNION) mainly because of the weak showing of our own national league which has pretty much collapsed over the last 4 years.
With teams folding and not much media coverage, it's dropping off the radar.
The NBA on the other hand is more popular then our NBL but we have such a tiny population of only 23 million people that TV stations haven't shown much interest. We have just got a free to air TV station that is sport only and they were showing the last part of the season but it was a delayed telecast (by 2 hours) but maybe next season we will get more then 2 games a week and it live! This will bump the popularity of the NBA tenfold in Australia as it hasn't been massive since the basketball/NBA boom of 93'-96.
You mostly see Lebron/Kobe and jerseys being worn and the Cavs, Celtics, Lakers (fakers) and Bulls are the most popular teams here. There is the odd Rockets fan but it's very rare and there are certainly not other fanatics!
Appreciate it, Jamie Keep it up, Rockets fans!
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Thats a lovely accent you have......New Jersey?
I play real sports...Not try to be the best at exercising.
Oh and in the pic , the other rocket Brad Newley is bottom right!!
Interesting photo Tom,
It looks like it was taken just after they were knocked-out of the Quarters by the USA…
What a bunch of sad pricks…lol
"It's who we are," Battier said. "I don't think we're going to get the love of the six foot blonde bombshell. That's what the Lakers are here for. It's alright, I like our demographic."
Dont despair
Australia punches well above it’s weight in all sports. Given the population it’s amazing.
We need to arrange Australia v Texas for a fair comparison. I’ll give it to Texas, but it would be interesting.
"So do you keep open 3pt FG percentage?"
"Yeah, we'd have everything you'd want, Bill."
"I hate you."
Bill Simmons/Daryl Morey Podcast 5/8/09
by Xiane on Aug 8, 2009 12:00 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Tough one
Action heroes:
Texas: Chuck Norris (alternatively: Peter Weller, because he’s RoboCop and Buckaroo Banzai and that’s pretty cool, and he’s also not a stupid internet meme)
Australia: Crocodile Dundee
Bad Movie Stars:
Texas: Patrick Swayze
Australia: Mel Gibson
Favorite Games:
Texas: Football (the real one), also “varmint huntin”
Australia: Knifey-Spooney
Most Beloved Citizen Hated By Everyone Else in the World:
Texas: Lance Armstrong (haha shocked ya there)
Australia: that dingo that ate that baby.
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
good one
I like the comparison but was actually thinking about a basketball mathcup since australia and Texas are close in population.
Texas has an impressive front court:
Bosh
Aldridge
Okafor
Perkins
C Anderson
I can only think of TJ Ford, Steven Jackson and Daniel Gibson in the backcourt.
So, um yeah, it’s early August…
"So do you keep open 3pt FG percentage?"
"Yeah, we'd have everything you'd want, Bill."
"I hate you."
Bill Simmons/Daryl Morey Podcast 5/8/09
by Xiane on Aug 9, 2009 1:40 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
well
I figured that any basketball matchup would favor Texas, since we have more than two players in an NBA lineup.
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
yeah you'se would own us
but patty mills is on cusp of the NBA, unfortunately he’s in portland, injured and will not get a chance,
"It's who we are," Battier said. "I don't think we're going to get the love of the six foot blonde bombshell. That's what the Lakers are here for. It's alright, I like our demographic."
Soccer is like the US
played more then any sport by kids, ranked 3rd.
Cricket- massive following but not that many people play it, it’s a summer only sport.
Personally I’m a soccer and basketball person, but i’ll watch any sport
"It's who we are," Battier said. "I don't think we're going to get the love of the six foot blonde bombshell. That's what the Lakers are here for. It's alright, I like our demographic."
Perhaps with the addition of David Andersen
the Rockets will gain more Australian fans, do you think? How many Australian players are in the NBA?
I do agree though, TV coverage has a lot to do with popularity of the sport. Stay in touch through this website and the Rocket’s own page.
Many times I have had to content myself with the summary videos of the games, with TV coverage in our country (Philippines) dominated by the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, etc . . .
Yeah I
don’t see why not, I mean Aussies love to back a underdog, and that’s what the Aussie playing in the NBA are. Even though Bogut was the number 1 pick, going to the bucks didn’t help ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc11PUnFgkQ&feature=fvst ) with coverage over here, but mainly his injuries is what hasn’t.
Hopefully Patty Mills can get a run and then we should get the media coverage.
Dave should drag in some more Aussie rockets fans for sure
There has been about 10 Aussie players in the NBA. Newley was drafted by the rockets 2 years ago, he’s now in Europe .
"It's who we are," Battier said. "I don't think we're going to get the love of the six foot blonde bombshell. That's what the Lakers are here for. It's alright, I like our demographic."
hmmm more fans?
i doubt rockets will gain more fans with david anderson, im australian and ive actually never seen a bucks fan and bogut was a first pick so i doubt david anderson will get that many fans , ive got my tmac and yao jerseys but most of the time i see celts / lakers fans, many of the basketball fans that ive talked to in australia dont even follow the australian basketball (nbl) and only follow the nba, i myself have only been to one nbl game, luckily for me the team i went for (sydney kings) were down by 2 with a few seconds to go and put the game in overtime and won against melbourne in overtime , otherwise i was told nbl games are very boring compared to other basketball leagues.
Rockets FTW
Holy crap!
Second row, third from the left, wearing #7 – it’s Rudy T’s Australian love child!
(Also, Brad Newley – bottom right, #8 – is looking very, very dejected)
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
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