Zaromas
Prospect
Hi.
I’m not going to list my pedigree as far as how long I’ve been, or how hardcore a Kings fan I am, other than I’ve been on this board for a while. (Am I the only old-timer on this board wondering what J@UCSD is thinking right about now?)
What I am going to do is try to appeal to everyone’s sense of loyalty to this team.
While I have never been the gung-ho Webber fan that many of you are, I must say the shock of this trade is immeasurable, and a bit more heartbreaking than I’d have thought was possible for me.
But what I’m going to do, and what I’ve seen some others on this board are trying to do, is keep an open mind. Without it, without some form of stable approach, I become an emotional issue. I spent as much time as all of you reading the 38+ pages of the “official” thread, and was dragged through all of your emotional outbursts, resignations, pessimisms, and hundreds of other forms of what I could only interpret as a complete lack of faith in our team.
Yes, I understand the loss. Yes, I understand that most of you don’t consider it “our team” any more because of the loss of Chris’ monumental personality, leadership, and ability. Yes, I understand that in all accounts the trade seems, well, in a word, just WRONG.
I also understand that SOMETHING had to change. Everyone on this board has either offered some diatribe to that effect, or deep within their hearts KNEW it, but couldn’t bring themselves to say it. It’s horribly condescending of me to mention this, but in fact this is not a perfect world. We’ve known for a long time that our ideas for dream trades were impossible, and we’ve all either seen on here, or on ESPN, or heard on the radio how nearly impossible it would be to get a fair trade for either Peja or Chris. But now that its done, everyone’s screaming foul (no pun intended) at the trade that DID happen, KNOWING beforehand there was no such thing as a good trade that all involved parties would be satisfied with.
We know Philly’s satisfied, but as was illustrated so many times in so many places, SOMEONE in a Webber or Stojakovic deal would get hurt. Well it’s done, and we got hurt. The next thing we have to do is decide how bad we let it hurt US. The FANS.
It needs to be an option for a LOYAL Kings fan to do what a select few on this board have done.
(For the record here are those people:
G_M
SacTownKid
DocHolliday
Optimus Rhyme
piksi
Variant
Vlad
These were the ones who were saying everything I feel about the issue)
Here is my humble take.
A loyal fan grieves and moves on. It might take some longer, based on your feelings for Chris, but it needs to be done. Our team needs you behind them, not one man, no matter what he meant to the team.
A loyal fan finds it within his/herself to support the ones that are left, because they did nothing to earn your abandonment. Peja still needs you. Mike still needs you. Brad still needs you. Bobby still needs you. Darius still needs you. Mo still needs you. Cat still needs you. Kevin still needs you. Even Tag still needs you despite your intense desire to throttle him with those freakin shorts. And we, the less vulnerable to emotional Armageddon, still need you. What breaks my heart as much as seeing Chris go has been seeing our beloved VF21 go into nuclear meltdown.
A loyal fan can be as loyal to the man who has gotten us this far as Chris did. We know absolutely nothing about what the future brings after tonight. NOTHING. We have only supposition upon supposition, stats-wrangling, and emotional holocaust. The only thing we know as fact is that Petrie has broken our hearts. Twice. (We love you Doug). You are allowed to hate him for that if you choose. But then you separate yourself from the Kings fans and place yourselves with the player’s fans. REGARDLESS, this is the man who brought us out of the bowels of the NBA. Without him, Webber would not be here. Nor would Vlade (we love you Vlade) or Mike, or Bobby, or Brad…. We’ve all spent the last 6 years praising Geoff Petrie. He’s been GM of the year twice. He knows how to put a team together. But now that he’s seen that the team has lost its ability to win a championship for the greatest fans in the world, for US, and makes changes WE have been screaming for, he gets crucified??? YES IT HURTS, but who are we to question him??? All you can do is ASSume that we are bound for the bowels of the NBA again.
Not me.
MY heartbreak began long before Geoff traded Doug away. Even before Vlade went South. My heartbreak began in Game 7 a couple of years ago. I am ready for these changes, no matter how bad they hurt. I will accept them with an open mind, because I’ve seen us fail when everything was supposed to be perfect. As have all of you.
Give this a chance, that’s all I ask. Grieve for Vlade and Doug and Chris. Yes. We all do, and as Kings Fans there are more than enough shoulders to go around to cry on.
Grieve for them.
But don’t stop loving our Kings.
I’m not going to list my pedigree as far as how long I’ve been, or how hardcore a Kings fan I am, other than I’ve been on this board for a while. (Am I the only old-timer on this board wondering what J@UCSD is thinking right about now?)
What I am going to do is try to appeal to everyone’s sense of loyalty to this team.
While I have never been the gung-ho Webber fan that many of you are, I must say the shock of this trade is immeasurable, and a bit more heartbreaking than I’d have thought was possible for me.
But what I’m going to do, and what I’ve seen some others on this board are trying to do, is keep an open mind. Without it, without some form of stable approach, I become an emotional issue. I spent as much time as all of you reading the 38+ pages of the “official” thread, and was dragged through all of your emotional outbursts, resignations, pessimisms, and hundreds of other forms of what I could only interpret as a complete lack of faith in our team.
Yes, I understand the loss. Yes, I understand that most of you don’t consider it “our team” any more because of the loss of Chris’ monumental personality, leadership, and ability. Yes, I understand that in all accounts the trade seems, well, in a word, just WRONG.
I also understand that SOMETHING had to change. Everyone on this board has either offered some diatribe to that effect, or deep within their hearts KNEW it, but couldn’t bring themselves to say it. It’s horribly condescending of me to mention this, but in fact this is not a perfect world. We’ve known for a long time that our ideas for dream trades were impossible, and we’ve all either seen on here, or on ESPN, or heard on the radio how nearly impossible it would be to get a fair trade for either Peja or Chris. But now that its done, everyone’s screaming foul (no pun intended) at the trade that DID happen, KNOWING beforehand there was no such thing as a good trade that all involved parties would be satisfied with.
We know Philly’s satisfied, but as was illustrated so many times in so many places, SOMEONE in a Webber or Stojakovic deal would get hurt. Well it’s done, and we got hurt. The next thing we have to do is decide how bad we let it hurt US. The FANS.
It needs to be an option for a LOYAL Kings fan to do what a select few on this board have done.
(For the record here are those people:
G_M
SacTownKid
DocHolliday
Optimus Rhyme
piksi
Variant
Vlad
These were the ones who were saying everything I feel about the issue)
Here is my humble take.
A loyal fan grieves and moves on. It might take some longer, based on your feelings for Chris, but it needs to be done. Our team needs you behind them, not one man, no matter what he meant to the team.
A loyal fan finds it within his/herself to support the ones that are left, because they did nothing to earn your abandonment. Peja still needs you. Mike still needs you. Brad still needs you. Bobby still needs you. Darius still needs you. Mo still needs you. Cat still needs you. Kevin still needs you. Even Tag still needs you despite your intense desire to throttle him with those freakin shorts. And we, the less vulnerable to emotional Armageddon, still need you. What breaks my heart as much as seeing Chris go has been seeing our beloved VF21 go into nuclear meltdown.
A loyal fan can be as loyal to the man who has gotten us this far as Chris did. We know absolutely nothing about what the future brings after tonight. NOTHING. We have only supposition upon supposition, stats-wrangling, and emotional holocaust. The only thing we know as fact is that Petrie has broken our hearts. Twice. (We love you Doug). You are allowed to hate him for that if you choose. But then you separate yourself from the Kings fans and place yourselves with the player’s fans. REGARDLESS, this is the man who brought us out of the bowels of the NBA. Without him, Webber would not be here. Nor would Vlade (we love you Vlade) or Mike, or Bobby, or Brad…. We’ve all spent the last 6 years praising Geoff Petrie. He’s been GM of the year twice. He knows how to put a team together. But now that he’s seen that the team has lost its ability to win a championship for the greatest fans in the world, for US, and makes changes WE have been screaming for, he gets crucified??? YES IT HURTS, but who are we to question him??? All you can do is ASSume that we are bound for the bowels of the NBA again.
Not me.
MY heartbreak began long before Geoff traded Doug away. Even before Vlade went South. My heartbreak began in Game 7 a couple of years ago. I am ready for these changes, no matter how bad they hurt. I will accept them with an open mind, because I’ve seen us fail when everything was supposed to be perfect. As have all of you.
Give this a chance, that’s all I ask. Grieve for Vlade and Doug and Chris. Yes. We all do, and as Kings Fans there are more than enough shoulders to go around to cry on.
Grieve for them.
But don’t stop loving our Kings.
