The Rockets are offering $1 beers for fans that arrive early to Game 5 vs. the Thunder

The Houston Rockets announced they are offering $1 food and drinks for fans who arrive early (5:30 p.m. early) to the potentially deciding Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets are up 3-1 over the Thunder, and a win on Tuesday would advance the team to the second round.

Houston’s promotion is likely an attempt to fill the stands early. The Toyota Center has seen late arriving crowds due to traffic, and the lively downtown crowds probably contribute to the delay in arrival for fans traveling late from the suburbs.

The Rockets’ offer applies to hot dogs and nachos, as well as soft drinks from 6:30 p.m. ET to tip-off at 8:10 p.m. ET. It also applies to beers, which is a great promotional value for the fans — because who the hell turns down anything for a dollar, let alone beer — but has a history of being an awful idea in hindsight.

People like cheap beer; that much hasn’t changed over time. In fact, Cleveland wasn’t the first team to host a cheap beer night. The Texas Rangers offered them for a nickel before.

“It was a just a way to get fans to the ballpark,” then-Rangers outfielder and later TV analyst Tom Grieve said, according to an MLB.com report. That sentiment likely in line with what the Rockets want to achieve.

But that was before the mayhem ensued. It began with fans launching remarks at the players and throwing objects from the stands.

And then, according to the MLB.com report, this happened:

Things came to a head in the ninth, after the Indians had tied the game at 5-5 and put the potential winning runner on second. A fan jumped over the outfield wall and flipped the cap off right fielder Jeff Burroughs’ head. The story goes that Burroughs, then in the midst of an MVP season, tried to kick the fan and stumbled to the ground. Martin, thinking the fan had tackled Burroughs, told his men to grab bats and rush to Burroughs’ defense. The Indians then left their dugout in the Rangers’ defense.

That’s when Ten-Cent Beer Night got out of control.

The Indians were then forced to forfeit the game, in part, because their fans were too drunk. (Here’s our 40-year anniversary piece on Ten-Cent Beer Night.)

Times have changed and people have evolved. The Rockets’ Toyota Center staff will probably be on high alert knowing their fan base is likely to be more rowdy and intoxicated than games past. They’ll also be dealing with more fans in attendance early in games than they’ve seen.

Hopefully, things don’t pan out the way they did in Cleveland more than 40 years ago.