Don't Drink the Kool-Aide
|
Blog by Pierre Noujaim
KHTK weekend sports anchor
It’s long been said that Sacramento possesses the greatest fan base in the NBA. Ever since the team came to town in 1985, fans have packed the house to see their beloved Kings play. There were more hard seasons than good ones, yet the overwhelming support of the fans showed a love and passion like no where else in the NBA. So why are all the fans today so terrible?
I’ve constantly been hearing that people are “fed up” with the Kings and the organization. My question is, fed up with what? With the fact that last season was the first losing season since the 1997-98 campaign? Is it with the fact that the team is in a rebuilding mode? At the very first sign of losing and rebuilding, Kings fans are prepared to jump ship. Sacramento is a great town for the Kings and the fans have arguably been the most loyal and passionate fans in the league for years. However, they’re also without a doubt the most unintelligent, hypersensitive group of people around.
Everyone wants to whine and complain about the way things are and I can’t blame fans for being frustrated with the current roster and what’s transpired over the last year, but get with it Kings fans. You can’t possibly tell me that this year’s team is any worse than the teams that were here from 1985-1998. Fans came by the thousands to come see the Kings KNOWING they were going to be terrible and now what do I see? I see a bunch of bandwagoning frauds who want to sell their tickets and walk around with their noses in the air thinking they’re above going to games.
When the team became competitive in the lockout year, all of a sudden, going to Kings games was the “cool” thing to do. Everyone in Sacramento that had, at best, a casual interest in the Kings all of a sudden wanted to become part of the “hip” scene in town. When ticket prices were raised, people were willing to pay because the team was flourishing. The real fans were priced out and were replaced by Richie Rich and his mistress in the front row. I understand people saying that they don’t want to pay for a ticket today because the team is poor and that’s understandable when you apply it to the business world. It’s simple, if it’s a bad product why pay the money for it? However, this isn’t something you can buy and throw away later. People in Sacramento have forgotten what it means to be a fan. As a fan, you’re supposed to stick with your team through thick and thin and not conveniently be a fan when the team is winning.
 Kings fans are so spoiled and so unrealistic, it makes me sick. These are the same people that booed Chris Webber when he had a tough game (like he was intentionally trying to miss shots), the same fans that didn’t want to pay a measly quarter percent sales tax for a new arena, the same fans that think they’re entitled to a new arena without making any type of sacrifice, and the same fans that think the roster can be easily fixed by trading everyone and expecting to get better quality in return. I have to admit, I do wonder at times what it’s like to live in Fantasy Land. Maybe I’ll get lucky enough to get invited by a Kings “fan” one day because that’s the only place I seem to be able to find them. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
