San Antonio Spurs fans join the jubilant crowd tying up downtown traffic after the Spurs won the NBA Championship in 2003.
TOM REEL/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Driver Kelsey Mahan tries to inch her way through the crowd after getting stuck on Commerce Street as fans celebrate the San Antonio Spurs winning the NBA Championship after beating the Miami Heat on June 15, 2014.
Lisa Krantz/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
It’s been seven years since San Antonio Spurs fans have taken to downtown streets to celebrate a playoff victory.
The “Let’s Go Honking” rallying cry was last widely used during a Spurs playoff run in 2019. It was referenced on social media in 2023, when the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama, and again in 2024 when he won Rookie of the Year honors. Mentions of “going honking” were posted last month after the Spurs clinched a playoff spot.
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Some fans went honking downtown in December, when the Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup semifinals. That throwback to the two-decade run of Spurs playoff appearances was fun, fans say, but it didn’t have the same energy as celebrating a playoff win.
With the playoff drought over and as the Spurs begin their postseason run against the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday night, fans say they’re ready to hit the streets and be loud.
“In San Antonio, a chorus of honking horns is always a good sign,” one Spurs fan wrote on social media.
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This week’s San Antonio Explained takes a closer look at the Spurs fan tradition of honking in celebration of the team and how “Let’s Go Honking” became a local rallying cry.
What is the ‘honking’ tradition?
For over two decades, Spurs fans have converged on city streets to drive up and down a few of its larger thoroughfares, honking and cheering for their team immediately after a playoff win.
Most of the honking has happened downtown, usually on Commerce Street, but fans have been known to unite on other city streets, namely Southwest Military Drive.
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Honking is a way “to be loud,” without causing harm, one fan said.
Participants of the local podcast “All Things San Antonio” called the honking tradition “noise rioting.” They said it is a less destructive way of celebrating compared to what sports fans in other cities sometimes do after their team wins a championship.
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How did it start?
Many Spurs fans say the tradition started during the championship run in 1999, the first time Spurs fans were able to cheer on their team as it played for an NBA title.
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Fans started honking in celebration as they waited in traffic while leaving the game, recalled Nino Brown, who worked Alamodome security in 1999.
“A car would cut in front of you, and you’d still honk but you were happy because the Spurs won. And then others started honking, too,” Brown told the San Antonio Express-News in 2024.
Vehicles leaving the Alamodome after Spurs games usually traveled through downtown, often on Commerce Street. The honking from those drivers led to other fans coming downtown to join the impromptu celebration, locals recall.
Some longtime South Side residents say the tradition of victory honking started on Southwest Military Drive, where cruising on the weekends was a popular pastime before officials started cracking down on the practice. They say the South Side cruising led to the “honking down Commerce” tradition, as the two crowds combined.
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Others say the city’s makeup 25 years ago influenced the tradition because many of the more popular sports bars were located in or near downtown. Post-game traffic from those bars merged with people honking, fueling the celebratory custom.
During the advent of social media, the honking tradition took on the hashtag #letsgohonking and eventually became a rallying cry for Spurs fans ready to celebrate any happy occasion for their team. “Let’s Go Honking” is emblazoned on a popular T-shirt that retailer SA Flavor sells as part of its “puro San Antonio” inventory, further cementing the saying’s place in local pop culture.
When do fans honk?
The tradition of honking after a Spurs playoff victory grew organically as the team continued its 22-season run of NBA playoff appearances.
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As the team won championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007, the honking tradition seemed to happen earlier each of those years, fans recall. The custom wasn’t reserved only for the NBA Finals.
By the Spurs’ 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals appearances, fans became so enthusiastic that downtown businesses had to appeal to frustrated guests unfamiliar with fans’ honking. And VIA posted signs near downtown bus stops, alerting of some bus routes running behind schedule because of traffic caused by honking Spurs fans.
“If guests get upset, we apologize and explain the situation,” Gabe Garza, front office manager at the Westin Riverwalk, told an NBA.com reporter in 2017, when the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference Finals. “But we can’t tell them it’s going to get any quieter. We have to hope they’ll understand.”
Early postseason victory honking continued through 2019, when the Spurs lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
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Will fans honk during Round 1?
“Of course! Are you kidding?! We’re ready for it,” said Yolanda Garza, a Spurs fan “since birth” who participates in South Side honking celebrations as an observer “cheering from the sides.”
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Such sideline cheering is what some fans predict will happen on Tuesday, when Game 2 takes place at the Frost Bank Center while Fiesta events are happening throughout downtown. Fans cheering a Spurs victory by going honking down Commerce Street will face Fiesta crowds.
Some fans are posting “etiquette” questions on social media in preparation for the honking tradition’s expected revival.
“It’s been so long that I forgot but want to participate, lol. Do we honk for all playoff wins or just WCF and Finals,” one fan wrote on Reddit.
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Responses varied, but most agreed that fans are ready to “go honking,” so San Antonio should expect the rowdy celebrations early in the playoffs.
“When it’s time, you will know,” one fan wrote. “You can already feel the vibe growing.”