I know we’re in the middle of a World Championship with China playing in a few hours. But let’s take a break for a few minutes to give props to Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy for springing for 30 season tickets in a contest to find the rowdiest fans in Houston so Toyota Center can get jumping next season.

I watched the Houston news tonight, and it was pretty hilarious to see all these fans ‘auditioning’ by going crazy. It was great to see many of the winners screaming out afterwards, “We love Jeff Van Gundy!” The last time I remember seeing Van Gundy getting that kind of appreciation was after he defended Yao last year for picking up lots of questionable fouls, resulting in a $100k fine from the NBA for insinuating there was some kind of conspiracy. Rocket fans loved how he stood up for his Big Man like that.

JVG seemed to have a good time with it all on Saturday, smiling and laughing as rarely seen before. I met him last month, and he’s actually a pretty upbeat guy…in the off-season.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 27th, 2006 at 12:07 am and is filed under Rockets' off-season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.