In addition to a blowout victory by the Royals over the Giants to extend the World Series to Game 7, last night also marked the start of the NBA regular season. My favorite team, the Houston Rockets, kicked off the season by beating the LA Lakers 108 - 90. It seems like a perfect time to show off a card featuring my favorite basketball player of all time, Hakeem Olajuwon. This is a Matchups insert from this year's Hoops offering from Panini, highlighting Olajuwon's battles with another famous big man, Shaquille O'Neal. This is the Green parallel and happens to be a Christmas Card, numbered # 12 / 25.
The back of the card discusses the 1995 NBA Finals, when the Rockets swept the Magic in four games to win their second consecutive championship. O'Neal would go on to win rings of his own with the Lakers and Heat, while the Rockets would not reach the Finals again.
Last year I was able to attend my first NBA game in Utah when the Rockets came up to play the Jazz. My Blogger profile picture is actually a cropped photo from that day. I am not sure if I will be able to make it down there for another game this season. There are two games on the schedule that bring them up to Utah. One is this evening and I definitely won't be able to make that one because I am several hours away and I have class tonight. Maybe in my younger years it would be a great adventure, but I have too many responsibilities and obligations for all that right now. The other game is in March. I have no idea what I will be doing in March. It also might be nice to try to catch a game in Portland, but logistically that is more difficult because we don't really have family there.
Nice.
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