<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">HOUSTON -- Seeking to liven up the atmosphere at the Toyota Center, Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has purchased 50 season tickets, the majority of which will be given to fans judged to be the rowdiest at tryouts this weekend. The Rockets went 34-48 last season and won only 15 home games. Van Gundy has said he wants the arena to become a more intimidating place for opponents. On Saturday, the Rockets will hold open tryouts at the Toyota Center in search of "the loudest and rowdiest Rockets fans in Houston," the team said. Candidates will have 30 seconds to audition in front of a judging panel -- which will not include Van Gundy. The top 30 fans selected by the judges will receive season tickets near the court. The other 20 tickets will be distributed at each home game -- 10 at random outside the arena before the game and 10 during the game allowing fans to move from their seats into the "Red Rowdies" section.</div> Source
Awesome idea, but that's less than .3% of the arena. That's point-3, not 3. Hopefully it turns out nicely and some of the players can buy out a bigger section for the '06-'07 season. If you haven't been to Toyota Center, you don't know just how lame the crowd usually is. It's going to take more than 50 people being rowdy to get that crowd going. In fact, I'll bet that the fans around them constantly complain to security because "these guys won't stop yelling, and they won't sit down!". It happens all the time at TC. It's like you're not allowed to cheer unless it's the playoffs, and even then someone might get offended because you're too loud. By the way, has something similar to this not been posted before? I thought it was common knowledge months ago that Van Gundy was doing this. Just curious.
Well, 30 people in the front section could hopefully get the crowd up front going, then get the people in the upper bowl cheering too. The 10 stationed outside could jazz up the people's spirits. What I'd like to know more about is the tryout process.
