Joel Osteen recalls Rockets '95 championship
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- On the day the Houston Rockets celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the team's back-to-back NBA championships, we went for a walk down memory lane in the building where they won the first championship.
Once the Summit and Compaq Arena, that building is now Lakewood Church. Pastor Joel Osteen had Rockets season tickets as a young man. And he remembers those days well.
"Some of my best memories are Hakeem playing against Larry Bird, and Ralph Sampson too at that time...the Twin Towers," Osteen says. "Those games were incredibly exciting."
His first date with his wife Victoria was at a Rockets game.
"I had given away my season tickets and I didn't realize it. So I had to buy tickets from the scalpers out front," Osteen said.
If you remember the games here, you remember when someone from the stands would try to make a shot to win a car at halftime. That night it was a guy from his section. He won, and the celebration got a little wet.
"So all of his friends are around me and they jump up and throw their hands in the air, and they all had cups of beer with no lids. So that beer went up in the air and you know how things happen in slow motion. I'm thinking Oh Lord don't let this beer come down on Victoria...I didn't even know her. But it totally came down all over Victoria."
Osteen says this anniversary is a great time to relive the team's finest moments.
"I believe it's good to remember the victories, remember the great things that happened in your life, even sports-wise," he tells us. "...to go back and say this was good for the city."
He says the spirit of those Rockets is still in the building.
"This building is where we crowned champions with the Rockets in basketball. In the same way, we tell people we're crowning champions in life," he shares. "God can help you overcome addictions and bad habits and help you reach your dreams. We feel like it's still a place of crowning champions."
He says he has a good feeling about this year's team, and predicts they'll go far.
