As a Houston sports fan, I know the feeling of being hated by nearly every fan outside of the Houston area and being told there is no team good enough to cheer for.
I obviously do not agree with such critics, but as an avid basketball fan, there has been surprisingly little to cheer about this season as I watch my Rockets turn from a team that just last year was competing at the Western Conference Championship to being a dumpster fire.
Like, literally, a dumpster fire.
There's no feeling worse than watching a team you've been so proud of turn into an incongruous slush of disaster.
In a way, we all can relate to this appalling feeling in one way or another.
It's late into the school year, and high schoolers are preparing to take AP exams AND finals just weeks after. College students are days away from their own exams.
As many of my fellow students, I have not even thought about-never mind studied-for my exams. Seriously, it's the end of the grading period, and senioritis is creeping up on everyone, not just the seniors in high school.
Taylor Swift here is the very embodiment of Rockets fans and students worldwide, pumped for a good run, then falling just a BIT short.
OK, maybe a lot.
We all started this semester with high hopes, great partners for group projects, and a dash of motivation.
For many of us, those hopes were slashed, the motivation wore off, and our great partners like James Harden and Dwight Howard just seemed to lose their desire in helping us be successful.
What I've come to realize is that there is still hope, even in the face of insurmountable odds. If we work hard enough, maybe there's a way to salvage the situation.
So what if the Rockets are 1-3 against statistically the best team in the NBA? We were 1-3 against the Clippers last year in the playoffs, and we pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the 2015 playoffs!
If we found a way to regain our (or at least my) lost motivation, we can and will make a run that might just save us all!
After all, Shia LaBeouf said it best.
The Rockets have struggled the entire year. We lost a brilliant head coach and struggled to even keep our wins over our losses.
As students, we can all relate to these struggles, as many of us have taken L's we are constantly trying to recover from and struggles we never anticipated walking into our classes at the beginning of the year.
I'm certain the Rockets are a fairly accurate representation of myself after writing this article, and as disappointed as I am with the Rockets' and my own lack of incentive this year, I believe I (along with anyone else struggling right now) can turn this predicament around, right when it matters most.
We can all relate to the struggles the Rockets have had this entire season. Laughs have been shared, tears have been shed, but all in all we will not let these setbacks hold us back from our true potential.