To honor the infectious mood growing around Kingsland, I'm starting this game thread off with a tale from Kings lore. Storytime, kids.
Don't you miss the old Arco? No, not the nice new old Arco (yes, that was once new and everyone was like "ooh these seats!!" -- just like we are about Golden1).... I mean the ORIGINAL Arco... bet there are some here that don't even know about that.
Back in 85, the NBA would give you a team even if you didn't have an Arena. That's what happened in in Sac. So in late 1984... with less than a year until opening night in October 1985, owner Greg Lukenbill and his group of developers donated a large, half-finished warehouse in a parking lot that could be re-fitted to cram 10,333 fans, a court, and a scoreboard. The lower section even had seats. The upper section did not. But it did have plywood bleachers! Remember, the team was brought to town by land developers, in fact most of Sacramento's "old money" are developer families. So, they did what they know how to do: they built. Fast.
When I say plywood bleachers I literally mean that. Plywood under your feat, then a riser, then another flat piece of plywood under your butt, then another vertical plywood riser that was rose up to where the people in the row above you put their feet. No seats. You're sitting on a plywood box. It was awesome. One reason it was awesome was because if you stomped your feet, well, if everyone stomped their feet --and the questionable characters in the upper deck were quite easily "triggered", as the kids say today, into stomping their feet) -- the entire place echoed with a haunting thunder. It almost sounded like 10,000 people stomping on plywood boxes in a metal warehouse. Because that's exactly what it was.
You could see the look of incredulity and frustration on the faces of opposing players who had to endure this. Nowhere in the league did they have to put up with these conditions. Announcers called this a "college atmosphere" but frankly colleges that had 10,000 seat arenas had far nicer facilities than we did. The sheer volume of the noise likely qualified as an OSHA workplace violation. The home team loved it and knew it was an unfair advantage, and they rode that Arco Thunder into a 7th seed playoff birth with THIRTY SEVEN wins. You could not buy a ticket to those playoff games. People were simply not selling them.
These stories are important, lads. They remind us where we came from. They keep us humble. They remind us what this is all about: loving your team because they're yours. It's fun to dissect management's moves, trades, rotations... but all that is really just passing the time until you can get into the Arena and scream and stomp your team to a win... or at least a good fight.
This team fights. On that, Vlade has delivered. Unquestionably. This season is already a win for that alone. Let's be grateful for how far we've come, that the days of management undercutting the team are over, that the Kings are here to stay, that we have players that fight, and let's enjoy the ride.
GO KINGS!!!!!!!!!
Don't you miss the old Arco? No, not the nice new old Arco (yes, that was once new and everyone was like "ooh these seats!!" -- just like we are about Golden1).... I mean the ORIGINAL Arco... bet there are some here that don't even know about that.
Back in 85, the NBA would give you a team even if you didn't have an Arena. That's what happened in in Sac. So in late 1984... with less than a year until opening night in October 1985, owner Greg Lukenbill and his group of developers donated a large, half-finished warehouse in a parking lot that could be re-fitted to cram 10,333 fans, a court, and a scoreboard. The lower section even had seats. The upper section did not. But it did have plywood bleachers! Remember, the team was brought to town by land developers, in fact most of Sacramento's "old money" are developer families. So, they did what they know how to do: they built. Fast.
When I say plywood bleachers I literally mean that. Plywood under your feat, then a riser, then another flat piece of plywood under your butt, then another vertical plywood riser that was rose up to where the people in the row above you put their feet. No seats. You're sitting on a plywood box. It was awesome. One reason it was awesome was because if you stomped your feet, well, if everyone stomped their feet --and the questionable characters in the upper deck were quite easily "triggered", as the kids say today, into stomping their feet) -- the entire place echoed with a haunting thunder. It almost sounded like 10,000 people stomping on plywood boxes in a metal warehouse. Because that's exactly what it was.
You could see the look of incredulity and frustration on the faces of opposing players who had to endure this. Nowhere in the league did they have to put up with these conditions. Announcers called this a "college atmosphere" but frankly colleges that had 10,000 seat arenas had far nicer facilities than we did. The sheer volume of the noise likely qualified as an OSHA workplace violation. The home team loved it and knew it was an unfair advantage, and they rode that Arco Thunder into a 7th seed playoff birth with THIRTY SEVEN wins. You could not buy a ticket to those playoff games. People were simply not selling them.
These stories are important, lads. They remind us where we came from. They keep us humble. They remind us what this is all about: loving your team because they're yours. It's fun to dissect management's moves, trades, rotations... but all that is really just passing the time until you can get into the Arena and scream and stomp your team to a win... or at least a good fight.
This team fights. On that, Vlade has delivered. Unquestionably. This season is already a win for that alone. Let's be grateful for how far we've come, that the days of management undercutting the team are over, that the Kings are here to stay, that we have players that fight, and let's enjoy the ride.
GO KINGS!!!!!!!!!
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