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San Antonio Spurs fans join the jubilant crowd tying up downtown traffic after the Spurs won the\u00a0NBA Championship in 2003.<\/p>\n
TOM REEL\/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS<\/p>\n
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\u00a0NBA Championship after beating the Miami Heat on June 15, 2014.<\/p>\n
Lisa Krantz\/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been seven years since San Antonio Spurs fans have taken to downtown streets to celebrate a playoff victory.<\/p>\n
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The \u201cLet\u2019s Go Honking\u201d rallying cry was last widely used during a Spurs playoff run in 2019.\u00a0It 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 \u201cgoing honking\u201d were posted last month<\/a> after the Spurs clinched a playoff spot.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Some fans went honking downtown in December<\/a>, when the Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup semifinals. That throwback to the two-decade run of Spurs\u00a0playoff appearances was fun, fans say, but it didn\u2019t have the same energy as celebrating a\u00a0playoff win.<\/p>\n With the playoff drought over and as the Spurs begin their postseason run against the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday night, fans say they\u2019re ready to hit the streets and be loud.<\/p>\n \u201cIn San Antonio, a chorus of honking horns is always a good sign,\u201d one Spurs fan wrote on social media.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: San Antonio Explained: Fiesta customs that have kept the party going<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n This week\u2019s San Antonio Explained takes a closer look at the Spurs fan tradition of honking in celebration of the team and how \u201cLet\u2019s Go Honking\u201d became a local rallying cry.<\/p>\n What is the \u2018honking\u2019 tradition?<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Honking is a way \u201cto be loud,\u201d without causing harm, one fan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Participants of the local podcast \u201cAll Things San Antonio<\/a>\u201d called the honking tradition \u201cnoise rioting.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: The ultimate guide to Spurs murals in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n How did it start?<\/p>\n 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\u00a0NBA title.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Fans started honking in celebration as they waited in traffic while leaving the\u00a0game, recalled Nino Brown<\/a>, who worked Alamodome security in 1999.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA car would cut in front of you, and you\u2019d still honk but you were happy because the Spurs won. And then others started honking, too,\u201d Brown told the San Antonio Express-News in 2024.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201chonking down Commerce\u201d tradition, as the two crowds combined.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Others say the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n During the advent of social media, the honking tradition took on the\u00a0hashtag #letsgohonking and eventually became a rallying cry for Spurs fans ready to celebrate any happy occasion for their team.\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s Go Honking<\/a>\u201d is emblazoned on a popular T-shirt that retailer SA Flavor sells as part of its \u201cpuro San Antonio\u201d inventory, further cementing the saying\u2019s place in local pop culture.<\/p>\n When do fans honk?<\/p>\n The tradition of honking after a Spurs playoff victory grew organically as the team continued its 22-season run of\u00a0NBA playoff appearances.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 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\u2019t reserved only for the\u00a0NBA Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the Spurs\u2019 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf guests get upset, we apologize and explain the situation,\u201d Gabe Garza, front office manager at the Westin Riverwalk, told an NBA.com reporter<\/a> in 2017, when the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference Finals. \u201cBut we can\u2019t tell them it\u2019s going to get any quieter. We have to hope they\u2019ll understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Early postseason victory honking continued through 2019, when the Spurs lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n