Why Do the Rockets Have Such a Lame Season Hashtag?

Jorden

I’ll be honest I’ve done a less than stellar job following the Rockets these past 5 or so years. I’ve always been a bigger college basketball person, and I just haven’t felt any draw to the NBA like I did when I was younger (this is somehow Daryl Morey’s fault). Maybe it also has to do with the Rockets now being owned by UH Athletic’s sugar daddy, who has always annoyed me. But every season, without fail, I’ll get a little hype and start investigating the team and what the Rockets are looking like this year.

So imagine my disappointment, as a lapsed fan, when I see this tweet with all the season hashtags for the NBA:

What an absolutely heinous decision by whoever runs the Rockets’ marketing to come out this year with only #Rockets to go off of. I’m not really sure when these season-hashtags started (it feels like it really took off in the last couple years), but if everyone is doing them they seem kind of important. It’s like creating a season-long brand identity that fans can huddle around. It also seems like something they’d teach in an intro to marketing to class (maybe they should have an intro on how to buy a basketball team class for Tilman at UH).

Like the Timberwolves #RasiedByWolves moniker is a fantastic idea. I’m personally a little hype for the Timberwolves season now, which is a sentence I have not and probably will not ever say again. The Spurs also came out with a banger with #PorVida, which is just “For life” but it hits so hard and works with the team’s city identity. Even something like the Pistons’ #DetroitBasketball seems like they put some amount of work (even if 5 minutes at most) into their season hashtag.

Then the Rockets are over here with just #Rockets. Like the Rockets are generally a pretty cool name for a sports team. But not for a hashtag. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this team use #Liftoff before, and a recycled hashtag would have legitimately been better than just #Rockets. I’m pretty sure the Raptors have been using #WeTheNorth for like 5 seasons now. And you know what, it works.

This kind of goes to how I’ve viewed the team for a bit, and especially ever since Tilman Fertitta took over the team. The Rockets have been this lazy organization, willing more to be an easy way to make some money than an actual team. Do I want to see Jalen Green to succeed because he seems like a generally nice guy who cares about the city of Houston? Of course I do, especially because we’ve been missing a Rockets city-star since Harden left (I will never take back all my Harden slander). Did I get kind of hype for the signing of Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks? Absolutely, after I looked them up.

I know I shouldn’t place season expectations on a hashtag, but it goes to the core of how I’ve been viewing the Rockets. Especially since we have a team a couple miles south going all in #ForTheCity (also another easy hashtag that’s caught on). Hopefully the Rockets and Tilman wasted all their marketing money on signing money. Even though I think they could have paid me $50 and I’d give them like seven. (#UpAndAway, #BlastingOff, #ToInfinity, #TeamRockets, #LightSpeed, #RocketsWereMadeToFly, #FlyingHype. These are not great but it took me a minute and a half).

Maybe as a lapsed fan I don’t have a ton of room to talk about this hashtag being lame. Maybe what I should do is tune into games and not complain about hashtags. But literally its the Rockets and the Pelicans with the lamest hashtags. And the Pelicans are too busy getting Zion’s porn stars game tickets.

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