The streak is over!
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
I have been a kings fan since they moved here in 85. I used to go to games a few times a year and listen to the radio for every game. I remember when we traded Mitch for Chris and all the chat about it on 1140. I would sit in my car forever till my wife would tell me to come in for dinner. Once they started putting all the games on cable i bet I only missed one or two games a season. This site is the first site I open every day. I dont post much but i am here. In 2018 I almost died and was in the hospital for the month of Sept. Once i got out the first thing i did was get on kingsfans to see what was new. This year has been awesome. this team has been awesome. I thank Monte and Wes for putting together such a good team. I thank Coach Brown for being a great coach and I thank the players for listening but most of all I thank Vivek for buying the team and keeping them in Sacramento. Best of luck to all of you Kings and Kings fans on this playoff run. No matter what happens I am confident we are a team that will make the playoff many times go Kings and light the Beam
I started following the Kings in 1980! When they were still the Kansas City Kings! So it's been a fan from afar, from Missouri, Kentucky, and now Texas. As many have mentioned, Kings fans have had to endure a lot. Even in the bright spot of the Webber era, we had to endure the 2002 finals. As one fan mentioned, if you can endure those finals, you can face anything! I remind my grandson, who was born in 2007, that this will be the first time in his lifetime to experience the Kings in the playoffs. And even my wife is excited! It's great that Keegan broke his record in the same game. So congrats to all those who made this possible, especially the players and the fans.
I didn't see the game yesterday, as I just got back from my 15 hour shift haha But I just want congratulate us all for finally making the play-offs. I just wanted to share how much this means to me, who has no connection with Sacramento, lives over 5000 miles from SAC town, but started to follow the Kings back in 04 as a kid because of a one damn ball game shown on tv. I got away from the Kings a little bit in highschool, because they were not showing the games, but did re-love them at my time in university (Kings were a big part of my sleepless nights watching illegal streams haha) all the way to today. It's just a damn great feeling. And what a ride it has been. Win, lose in the 1st round... don't care, we were not supposed to be here. Love you all!
They're still laughing....At how freaking STUPID "they" all look right now...
Just got to keep proving everyone wrong.
I was a freshman in college the last time the Kings made the playoffs. I watched that series against the Spurs in the common area of my dorm at California State University, Chico. There was a girl in the room next door to me who I had a bit of a crush on. She transferred out a year later. We remained close friends. A few years after that, we were dating in spite of the distance. I was in grad school at the time. A couple years after that, I graduated with Distinction and we were married. We just celebrated our tenth anniversary last August. It has been quite the playoff drought that so much has changed in the lives of so many Kings fans during that span.
I was married, divorced, and co-produced a 14 year old during the drought. But one of the highlights for me was that I moved to Portland at the start of the 2005 season. The Kings were still viewed as good despite what was becoming obvious to most of us at the time, so they were one of the few teams I was not offered free tickets to see to fill the arena and generate good will in the wake of the Jailblazers era (one of my first Blazers games was against LeBron's Cavaliers, was given free club seats with food and beer for that). I've watched two complete rebuilds here, and in February 2022 it looked like Portland was jumping us again on starting their third.
So doing it here last night, and also the respect/love the majority of the Blazers fans had for those of us rocking Kings gear, was truly special.
So doing it here last night, and also the respect/love the majority of the Blazers fans had for those of us rocking Kings gear, was truly special.
As my screen name suggests, I've been a KINGS fan since they moved to SAC in 1985. I was 14 at the time and a freshman in HS.
While the inaugural 85/86 team did make the postseason as an 8th seed, they only had ONE home game and were swept out of the playoffs. The fervor for that playoff series wasn't quite what was yet to come a decade later (more on that later).
Anyway, the KINGS own the TWO longest streaks w/o a winning season in NBA history. Sans the 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 seasons when the KINGS were still in Kansas City --- I'm a fan that has lived through the bulk of both streaks.
They had losing seasons from 1983-1998 then again from 2006-2022.
What a relief to finally see this 2nd streak end. But boy is that a long time watching bad basketball.
The inaugural season in 1985-1986 was super crazy in terms of fan support. But it was more of a "blind" support. Nobody really cared how bad the team was and most were just giddy to have a PRO team. Many fans didn't even understand the game of basketball all that well back then, as SAC had always been a baseball town and the NBA was still WAY behind the NFL and MLB with regard to fan support.
It was also around that time when "Jordan mania" began to take hold and the NBA really started to climb in popularity. Regardless, that 1st playoff appearance didn't have the same level excitement or intrigue that happened in 1996.
In 1996, we KINGS fans had suffered through a decade of mostly putrid basketball. But we'd also become students of the game and had been watching other teams and cities get postseason attention for far too long.
When the KINGS led by Mitch Richmond and Šarūnas Marčiulionis came back home from Seattle tied 1-1 with the #1 seed Sonics -- nobody was prepared for the reception. Most long time KINGS fans will tell you that GM3 of the 1996 First round was the LOUDEST the old ARCO Arena ever was.
The fans were standing, waving towels and at a fever pitch during player "warm ups". I'm not kidding. And that fever pitch cheering didn't relent until the game was over. My wife and I were there that night. I've never seen anything like it before or since. Although, there were a couple instances during the 1999 series against Utah that came close. Same goes for the 2002 series against LAL.
But neither eclipsed that initial 1996 game against Seattle when fans were in it 30 minutes before the game even started.
The reason I detail all the above is because I'm hoping this upcoming HOME series against whomever the KINGS play will rival the 1996 game 3.
The circumstances are nearly identical. It's been well over a decade since the team was relevant and there is a very large faction of KINGS fans that have never experienced this before. As a lifelong KINGS fan that's nostalgic over the 1998-2004 era, I'm surely hoping KINGS fans will rock the Golden One Center in a way that's never happened before. Not just for GM1, but for however many games were are lucky enough to host.
It's almost playoff time, folks. Do whatever you gotta do to get a ticket to the game(s) and bring your 'A' game with you.
It's time to crank up the volume and sustain it for 3 hours each and every game. Leave nothing in the tank. Cause who knows when this might happen again?!
Lastly, if we end facing the Warriors -- no KINGS fan better allow a ticket to fall into the hands of Warrior fan. We better outnumber them 17-1.
While the inaugural 85/86 team did make the postseason as an 8th seed, they only had ONE home game and were swept out of the playoffs. The fervor for that playoff series wasn't quite what was yet to come a decade later (more on that later).
Anyway, the KINGS own the TWO longest streaks w/o a winning season in NBA history. Sans the 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 seasons when the KINGS were still in Kansas City --- I'm a fan that has lived through the bulk of both streaks.
They had losing seasons from 1983-1998 then again from 2006-2022.
What a relief to finally see this 2nd streak end. But boy is that a long time watching bad basketball.
The inaugural season in 1985-1986 was super crazy in terms of fan support. But it was more of a "blind" support. Nobody really cared how bad the team was and most were just giddy to have a PRO team. Many fans didn't even understand the game of basketball all that well back then, as SAC had always been a baseball town and the NBA was still WAY behind the NFL and MLB with regard to fan support.
It was also around that time when "Jordan mania" began to take hold and the NBA really started to climb in popularity. Regardless, that 1st playoff appearance didn't have the same level excitement or intrigue that happened in 1996.
In 1996, we KINGS fans had suffered through a decade of mostly putrid basketball. But we'd also become students of the game and had been watching other teams and cities get postseason attention for far too long.
When the KINGS led by Mitch Richmond and Šarūnas Marčiulionis came back home from Seattle tied 1-1 with the #1 seed Sonics -- nobody was prepared for the reception. Most long time KINGS fans will tell you that GM3 of the 1996 First round was the LOUDEST the old ARCO Arena ever was.
The fans were standing, waving towels and at a fever pitch during player "warm ups". I'm not kidding. And that fever pitch cheering didn't relent until the game was over. My wife and I were there that night. I've never seen anything like it before or since. Although, there were a couple instances during the 1999 series against Utah that came close. Same goes for the 2002 series against LAL.
But neither eclipsed that initial 1996 game against Seattle when fans were in it 30 minutes before the game even started.
The reason I detail all the above is because I'm hoping this upcoming HOME series against whomever the KINGS play will rival the 1996 game 3.
The circumstances are nearly identical. It's been well over a decade since the team was relevant and there is a very large faction of KINGS fans that have never experienced this before. As a lifelong KINGS fan that's nostalgic over the 1998-2004 era, I'm surely hoping KINGS fans will rock the Golden One Center in a way that's never happened before. Not just for GM1, but for however many games were are lucky enough to host.
It's almost playoff time, folks. Do whatever you gotta do to get a ticket to the game(s) and bring your 'A' game with you.
It's time to crank up the volume and sustain it for 3 hours each and every game. Leave nothing in the tank. Cause who knows when this might happen again?!
Lastly, if we end facing the Warriors -- no KINGS fan better allow a ticket to fall into the hands of Warrior fan. We better outnumber them 17-1.
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@KingsFanSince85 Kings are likely to own the drought record for the remainder of our lives but I've always maintained there are teams I'd rather root for less than the Kings. One is the Hornets, who now hold the honor. 2016 - so they are 10 years away from a tie. Can't see it happening because Hornets and Timberwolves always seem to have one promising season and then shoot themselves in the foot.
It's so crazy. I still haven't been to G1C. At this point it doesn't look like Game 1 will be an option for me either so hopefully it's a long enough run my boy and I can come down.
It's so crazy. I still haven't been to G1C. At this point it doesn't look like Game 1 will be an option for me either so hopefully it's a long enough run my boy and I can come down.
It's a fantastic arena. What impressed me the most, however, the last time I was able to make it out for a game (early 2020, right before the pandemic, actually), was how freaking awesome the surrounding area was beginning to look, and feel. The vibe was fantastic.).
Game 1 will most likely not be an option for me either, unfortunately, as it's going to basically happen the very next weekend after we get back from our upcoming trip to Hawaii (we leave on Sunday, and fly back on the 9th). I may just want to take that next weekend to wind down, take it easy, and just enjoy the opening weekend of NBA postseason basketball from the comfort of my own casa.
Just like you, however, I am hopeful for a long enough run so I can make it out for a game (or two, or more). Heck, maybe we all plan a huge KingsFans.com reunion for the championship clinching game in June...
Game 1 will most likely not be an option for me either, unfortunately, as it's going to basically happen the very next weekend after we get back from our upcoming trip to Hawaii (we leave on Sunday, and fly back on the 9th). I may just want to take that next weekend to wind down, take it easy, and just enjoy the opening weekend of NBA postseason basketball from the comfort of my own casa.
Just like you, however, I am hopeful for a long enough run so I can make it out for a game (or two, or more). Heck, maybe we all plan a huge KingsFans.com reunion for the championship clinching game in June...
Those were definitely cool to see. This might seem like a small deal to some, but my favorite aspect of the new arena was actually the LED ribbon that wraps around between the upper and lower bowls of the arena. It's crazy how something that is so simple just lights up the entire arena, and the court. Out of everything I saw when I've been to the three games I've seen in that arena, the LED ribbon, by far, has been my favorite.
Great segment and well worth the watch. We are about to become the darling of the NBA, with a lovable fanbase, a cool nickname, and a hard-earned comeback story - which was powered - with no exaggeration - by the fans. The comeback story of the Sacramento Kings is a story of passionate fans who REFUSED to give up on their team when all odds were against them. That's what makes this team so special. There's no story like this in the NBA.
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I may have mentioned this in the past, or not (I don't quite remember, and I don't want to search through 1,272 messages just to find out)...At some point during our previous postseason run, I decided to keep track of regular season + postseason records. So I created a simple Excel workbook.
Sheet 1: Regular Season + Postseason records
Sheet 2: Detailed Postseason records (round by round. I even, on that sheet, indicated who we played in that specific round).
I remember this being one of the things I used to really look forward to updating after every game, even after a loss, back then. Because the team was still pretty freaking good.
Well, then came the downward spiral...I still maintained the workbook, but will admit that, at certain times, deleted it because I figured that it wasn't worth the time, nor the effort. And, more importantly, it wasn't healthy to look at just how bad of a team we had become over the years.
Every year, after game 82 (or earlier during the most recent lockout year and both "covid" years), the depression sunk in deeper and deeper, because I knew that I wouldn't be looking at numbers for that specific season under the "postseason" columns.
I'm not quite sure many on this forum will fully understand how damn good it felt to update my workbook earlier today to look like this:
Sheet 1:
Sheet 2:
Sheet 1: Regular Season + Postseason records
Sheet 2: Detailed Postseason records (round by round. I even, on that sheet, indicated who we played in that specific round).
I remember this being one of the things I used to really look forward to updating after every game, even after a loss, back then. Because the team was still pretty freaking good.
Well, then came the downward spiral...I still maintained the workbook, but will admit that, at certain times, deleted it because I figured that it wasn't worth the time, nor the effort. And, more importantly, it wasn't healthy to look at just how bad of a team we had become over the years.
Every year, after game 82 (or earlier during the most recent lockout year and both "covid" years), the depression sunk in deeper and deeper, because I knew that I wouldn't be looking at numbers for that specific season under the "postseason" columns.
I'm not quite sure many on this forum will fully understand how damn good it felt to update my workbook earlier today to look like this:
Sheet 1:
Sheet 2:
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I was pretty young during the Kings glory years. I grew up in Sydney but had family in Truckee who I really liked and who sent me a Jason Williams tshirt when I was a teenager becoming interested in basketball.
I lost interest in basketball a little bit and stopped following the Kings until the potential relocation saga when sentimentality demanded I support the Kings again. I don't know why I kept watching and posting here through all the misery but I did. (If only I could change my silly username!!).
Anyway. Over the course of this season I got funding for the first time as an independent researcher and I got married. And because I can work at home sometimes now, I watch more Kings games than I should, and it's been fun.
I lost interest in basketball a little bit and stopped following the Kings until the potential relocation saga when sentimentality demanded I support the Kings again. I don't know why I kept watching and posting here through all the misery but I did. (If only I could change my silly username!!).
Anyway. Over the course of this season I got funding for the first time as an independent researcher and I got married. And because I can work at home sometimes now, I watch more Kings games than I should, and it's been fun.
Thanks for sharing! It's been a long wait for all of us -- a lot of dark times, a lot of hope and disappointment. It all sort of blends together right now into a general feeling of gratitude. Gratitude that we still have a team. Gratitude that we kept this conversation going for 16 years even when the rest of the sports world had long since dismissed our team as a joke (always with the same obnoxious punchline). And gratitude that we kept hope alive long enough that we all get to enjoy watching this group rise from the ashes and demand respect. I can't say it's always been enjoyable but it's been a wild ride nonetheless. And it feels great to have finally arrived somewhere.
Weird, I have no memory whatsoever of them playing the Jazz in 02 and 03. I do remember that 99 series against the Jazz where we went to Vlade hook shots down the stretch and he came within a hair of pulling it out for us.
Those Maverick series were by far my favorites to watch. Lotta BJax heroics in those ones. The TWolves series was a painful loss. Thought our team had them covered.
Spurs was a fun one because I didn't expect them to compete that series. Bonzi randomly turning into baby Shaq that series and the last second KMart basket were fun.
Those Maverick series were by far my favorites to watch. Lotta BJax heroics in those ones. The TWolves series was a painful loss. Thought our team had them covered.
Spurs was a fun one because I didn't expect them to compete that series. Bonzi randomly turning into baby Shaq that series and the last second KMart basket were fun.
I’ve lived in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and now Seattle since the Kings last made the playoffs. My parents moved out of the house I grew up in Loomis. I got married a year before the playoff drought started….two kids now in middle school. Two dogs, two cats, about 15 fish, a few shrimp and a couple clams have come into my life. Lost a lost hair. Gained a lot of weight. Lost a lost of weight. Other than the kings losing, I’ve loved my life which has led me many times to question my kings fandom and the amount of emotional anguish and time spent watching this team.
Was probably the only person living in Seattle to root against the Kings moving here. Got to see the return of the NBA to Seattle key arena with a Warriors Kings preseason game a few years ago with a MBIII rookie.
Was probably the only person living in Seattle to root against the Kings moving here. Got to see the return of the NBA to Seattle key arena with a Warriors Kings preseason game a few years ago with a MBIII rookie.