Rockets Unveil First Alternate Jersey As Part Of '09-10 Campaign

Rockets Revive '94-95 "Ketchup And Mustard" Unis For First Alternate Jersey

The Rockets Thursday launched their '09-10 marketing campaign, "We Are Red Nation," which includes the first alternate uniform in team history and a series of billboards declaring what it means to be a fan of the franchise. The alternate uniforms will feature the "ketchup and mustard" color scheme worn during the team's NBA Championship seasons in '94 and '95. The red jerseys will feature yellow piping that extends to the shorts. The jerseys feature "Houston" on the front, and the font is the same as the one used on the current home and away uniforms. The team's "R" logo appears in several places on the jerseys: on the front collar, centered above the player name on the back of the jersey and on both side panels of the game shorts. The Rockets will debut the alternate uniforms for their November 6 home game against the Thunder. Meanwhile, the billboards feature statements from Rockets fans. One billboard reads "Wanted: Fans as Loud as Us," another reads "Sitting is for the Ride Home" and a third includes a call to "Join the Movement" (Rockets). In Houston, Richard Justice wrote of the '94-95 uniforms, "To some, they were the ugliest uniforms ever created. Remember ketchup and mustard? To others, though, they represent something special in their lives." Sports teams "don't often own a Sunbelt City the way the Rockets owned Houston during those seasons, and that's a time the Rockets are recalling as they run out an alternate uniform to go with the standard red-and-white uniform, which incidentally might be the best looking uniform in the NBA" (CHRON.com, 9/24).

STICKING AROUND: In Houston, Jonathan Feigen cites sources as saying that Rockets GM Daryl Morey "has signed a contract to remain with the team." Morey's initial contract with the club expired after last season, and one source said that the new deal will keep Morey with the Rockets "through the 2012-13 season" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/25).