How about this....went to my first game with my dad during the 1985 season when I was 10. I don’t think I had a clue what the nba was but it was super fun to yell and scream in the original Arco, trying to get the noise meter high enough to light up the Kings logo. Suffered through a lot of crap in the 80’s and 90’s going to about 10 games a year until I graduated from UC Davis and moved to SF in....1998. What luck. I remember barely getting the signal to listen to games on KHTK when there was enough cloud cover in the bay. Eventually they were such an exciting team that they started to get on national broadcasts (which was much more of a big deal back then) so I would see a handful of games on TV, try to catch a game at Oracle, and go to a couple more with my dad at Arco when I got home for visits. What a great team.
Fast forward to about 7 years ago, and I move to Seattle where I become just about the only person in the Pacific Northwest to celebrate the Kings NOT relocating from Sac. This team is in my blood man, but like everyone on this board, I’ve been tested. I went to the Kings Warriors preseason game at Key Arena last month, and after seeing that embarrassment of a performance, in front of an arena half filled with bandwagon warrior fans (including my wife....and one of my two kids) and the other half Seattlites that couldn’t give a flying F about the Kings (basically the Washington Generals for the evening’s entertainment), for the first time in my life looked at my wife and said “I’m not sure why I’m still a fan of this team. It’s just not worth it.”
After all these years, that meaningless preseason game may have been the bottom. And then, inexplicably, the squad pulls it together. Magic starts to happen. The excitement is back. I look forward in anticipation to the games again. I am REWATCHING games again. I really can’t believe how this team has come together.
It’s thanksgiving ya’ll. This team may very well hit a hard patch again this year and really test our patience....but damn I’ve fallen back in love with the Kings. Be grateful!