Ho-hum...

[VF21]

A new blog entry has been added:

[drupal=66]Ho-hum...[/drupal]

Regardless of what Sam Amick says, or apparently what MSE is trying to get people to believe, there just isn't the same feeling for the upcoming Kings-Warriors game as there is for the Kings-Lakers contests.

True, the Golden State Warriors are closer but they aren't even from a city. They're from the "Golden State," which is pretty silly considering the Kings, Lakers, Clippers AND Warriors all call California home.

Give them an identity. Call them the Oakland Warriors, if you will, or even the Bay Area Battlers but regardless of what you call them, there still isn't the feeling - at least to me - of a genetic level of hatred for them or their fans.

To their credit, the Warriors did knock off the Mavericks last year. That, in and of itself, gives them a pat on the back from this anti-Mavs fan. But I'm still not genetically excited about tonight's game. It is, to me, no different than 77 other games.

The game discussion thread is here.

The PBP thread is here.

Let's get ready for some Kings basketball!!

 

[Löwenherz]

Funny story about Warriors fans: I tried to congratulate a handful of them I personally know immediately after the team's amazing and historic playoff series win over Dallas last seaon ... and got nothing but animosity in return.

One said I was just being a bandwagoner and the Warriors didn't need any Kings fans cheering for them.

Another actually accused me of attempting to take the limelight away from the Warriors by making it a "NorCal" thing rather than strictly a Bay Area thing.

And a third wrote a blog about the win being "vindication" for all the years they had to put up with annoying Kings fans treating them like second-class citizens.

So I'm wondering, is there an underground rivalry of which I wasn't aware? Did we really turn up our noses at Warriors fans during our all-too-brief glory years?

For me, I never put much thought into the Warriors until the above mentioned incidents, and now my feelings can be described at best as an odd mix of annoyance and confusion.

Scary ... is that how Lakers fans feel about us?

 

[VF21]

Is there an underground rivalry? No, I think it's more like a big brother-little brother animosity. Did we really turn up our noses at them? Oh yeah - always, as far as I can remember.

BUT I've been to a Kings-Warriors game in "the Bay Area" and the lack of anything resembling team pride or enthusiasm back then on the part of the Warriors fans is probably what I remember most. They were more interested in hating us than rooting for their own team.

 

[fnordius]

So I'm wondering, is there an underground rivalry of which I wasn't aware?

I don't think so. Maybe they're pissed at us for taking Chris Webber and Mitch Richmond and making far better use of them than they ever did. But to me, they're another NorCal team, and if the Kings had never come to California, I might be a Warriors fan. I mean... it could have happened, who knows?

In any case, I bear them no ill will at all, so if there's a rivalry, I regard it as one sided.

 

[upinsmoke]

Okay here is the thing when we were kicking *** their arena was like 75% kings fans when the two teams met and i know there will be warriors fans in our stands but nothing compared. Just to add one more thing they only got to the second round last year so whats the big deal carlos boozer is just going to hand them their *** again LOL.

 

[arwen undomiel]

Is there an underground rivalry? No, I think it's more like a big brother-little brother animosity. Did we really turn up our noses at them? Oh yeah - always, as far as I can remember.

BUT I've been to a Kings-Warriors game in "the Bay Area" and the lack of anything resembling team pride or enthusiasm back then on the part of the Warriors fans is probably what I remember most. They were more interested in hating us than rooting for their own team.

Living in Fairfield, I get more Warriors TV games than Kings games. Anytime the two teams play, the GSW broadcasters talk about "the rivalry". I find myself snickering a bit at the idea - to me a rivalry is usually between two fairly evenly matched teams with history against each other fighting it out. The Kings and Warriors have never really been even. When the Kings were at their strongest, GSW was a sub-.500 team. Now, the table is turned. There didn't seem to be a point recently when these teams were evenly matched, nor have they ever really contended with one another for a playoff berth.

I think it's more a case of the Warriors media trying to cast themselves as the underdog (even though they're clearly a better team than the Kings right now) looking to take down their nearest neighbor.. If GSW continues to improve, I'm sure the Golden State-Lakers rivalry will be manufactured sooner or later.

 

[CruzDude]

I go to the LA area a lot and wear my Kings shirt whenever possible. Seems odd but a lot of gas station workers are Kings fans all the way down I-5 to San Diego, even in LA. But that rivalry ended in 2004-05. The Lakers, even then, never viewed it as a rivalry. The broadcasters did and the media kinda did down there, but the fans never have looked at the Kings as anything different in the 99-03 period than they did through the 1990's. At least from what I see and hear when I'm down there.

And I agree about the Warriors non-rilvary. The two teams, Kings-Warriors, have not been on the same page winning wise since both were pretty bad in the early-mid 90's before Warriors had "Run TMC". When Kings were good, they beat warriors I think 15 of 16 times. Lately, until this last win, the Warriors had won 6 of 7 from Kings.

So lets all Booo the Lakers up here 'cause they surely won't down there in the cold cavern called Staples Center.

 

[upinsmoke]

I agree no rivalry, rivals start in the playoffs not in the regular season unless some event happens like a fight or something.

warriors are not impressive to me you see what happens when the 3 is not falling. Jerry Sloan will send them packing again no big deal.

 

[Löwenherz]

but the (Lakers) fans never have looked at the Kings as anything different in the 99-03 period than they did through the 1990's.

The very fact that Lakers fans would attempt that ridiculous charade reveals what lies beneth. You mean to say their view of the Kings when the teams were the top two contenders for the NBA Championship was exactly the same as when the Kings were the Siberia of the NBA?

That's ludicrious. If the Kings were located in say Des Moines, and were the number one challenger to the Lakers crown, LA fans would naturally have a sense of animosity and spite toward a quality opponent.

That's called a "Temporal Rivalry" which sprouts up for no other reason than equal top-notch competition. I.E, the Yankees and Royals rivalry during the 70s. Really, do you think L.A. fans would even know where San Antonio was if the Spurs sucked?

But what we share with the Lakers, and the Warriors for that matter (which makes this relevent to the thread) is a "Natural Rivalry" based on geography, culture and frequent fan contact. Raiders/Niners anyone? the Sonics currently have a Natural Rivalry with the Blazers, but I don't imagine a Portland/Oklahoma matchup will be all that intense.

The point is BOTH were in place for the Kings/Lakers in 99-03. But for them to consider us rivals it would be akin to addmitting the Kings were equals, and Lakers fans will never consider any team an equal other than maybe the Celtics.

But they're nice enough to still call us The Queens.

 

[Kingster]

Funny story about Warriors fans: I tried to congratulate a handful of them I personally know immediately after the team's amazing and historic playoff series win over Dallas last seaon ... and got nothing but animosity in return.

One said I was just being a bandwagoner and the Warriors didn't need any Kings fans cheering for them.

Another actually accused me of attempting to take the limelight away from the Warriors by making it a "NorCal" thing rather than strictly a Bay Area thing.

And a third wrote a blog about the win being "vindication" for all the years they had to put up with annoying Kings fans treating them like second-class citizens.

So I'm wondering, is there an underground rivalry of which I wasn't aware? Did we really turn up our noses at Warriors fans during our all-too-brief glory years?

For me, I never put much thought into the Warriors until the above mentioned incidents, and now my feelings can be described at best as an odd mix of annoyance and confusion.

Scary ... is that how Lakers fans feel about us?

Wow. That is par for the course. Look, when people who live around SF call it The City, you know that arrogance and presumption aren't that far behind. I'm sure everybody who'se visited or lived there has a story that evidences just that. I can't stand the place.