WTF - No Pins???

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Revrag

Father, Husband, KingsFan
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#1
I know with the dismal performance in the second half last night this may seem like a small thing, but...

For the last 30 years the Kings have always handed out a free collectible pin at the door on opening night. Last night, no pin. Why? Yes we got glow sticks and free T-shirts but for those of us that have been collecting the pins for years the removal of this freebie is a real bummer.

Does anyone have any inside information on why the hat pins were eliminated from the opening night tradition? I've heard that they were instead included in the STH renewal packages. Seems like a bad move to me.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#3
I didn't even know they gave them out. Some Kings fan I am. :p

Poor move if there was any intentional buy season tickets to get one thing. Who would do that? They may not know people have been collecting them. I didn't/ Take to twitter and maybe you can get them to give some out to people who submit ticket stubs or some such, although logically if they gave them out months ago to STH's they may have only had a limited run and not made extras.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#5
Also, NO GAME PROGRAM. :mad:

I've reached out to the head of PR for the Kings and Carmichael Dave. I'm not gonna let this go. Two collections of mine were ruined last night because of those omissions. Left a little bad taste in my mouth because opening night has always been such a memorable experience, win or lose. All the theatrics, honoring the faller officers, having so many old players in the house, etc. was marred by the lack of two basic staples IMHO.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#6
I didn't even know they gave them out. Some Kings fan I am. :p

Poor move if there was any intentional buy season tickets to get one thing. Who would do that? They may not know people have been collecting them. I didn't/ Take to twitter and maybe you can get them to give some out to people who submit ticket stubs or some such, although logically if they gave them out months ago to STH's they may have only had a limited run and not made extras.
Opening night pins are a traditional going back as long as I can remember. It's not just for season ticket holders. They hand them out en masse as you come into the arena, along with your program. My guess is somebody's head is gonna roll. You don't forget that. The advertising in the programs alone is a tidy sum.

EDIT: If they did, in fact, make it a STH only thing I'm going to start a email/tweet campaign that will scorch their eyeballs. What a disservice to loyal fans who drive two hours every fall to support their team, spending good money for tickets, refreshments, etc. when it would be so very much easier just to stay home and watch on TV.
 
#7
Opening night pins are a traditional going back as long as I can remember. .
It's very odd they didn't do it. They've done it since the start. The great 20(?) year poster the Kings put out that has drawing of all the past great players and memories from the past even makes sure to work in most of the pins. If you've been to even a few openers, you know it's a thing. To some, it's a very big deal.

They've changed a lot of bodies from the past regime... but some holdover must have said, "Umm, I think people will be upset. We've done this for 29 seasons. And non-season ticket holders collect these." And somebody in at least middle management blew that off.
 
#8
Yeah Pamm and I noticed the no pin thing although we did get pins when the season package came in, but yeah if not a Season ticket holder you were SOL

when I asked Usher about the Program he said it was on our Smartphone if needed we could go to customer service to find the program?

Remember years ago we had multi page programs with full roster at game to date Stats for both teams?
Even last year programs were just basic rosters on one page folded over


cheap bastards!!!!

I could get the box score for current game at Kings. com

but other team roster on that page does not have numbers to go along with the names etc

so still hard to figure out other teams players sometimes
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#9
Yeah Pamm and I noticed the no pin thing although we did get pins when the season package came in, but yeah if not a Season ticket holder you were SOL

when I asked Usher about the Program he said it was on our Smartphone if needed we could go to customer service to find the program?

Remember years ago we had multi page programs with full roster at game to date Stats for both teams?
Even last year programs were just basic rosters on one page folded over


cheap bastards!!!!

I could get the box score for current game at Kings. com

but other team roster on that page does not have numbers to go along with the names etc

so still hard to figure out other teams players sometimes
All that is predicated on an assumption that everyone has a smart phone AND wants to bring it to the game. I know I'm not speaking for a majority here, but I do not own a smart phone. And, even if I did, when I come to a Kings game I'm there to watch the game. I don't want a tether to the outside world.

I am very disappointed. And I'm even more disappointed that they would change a traditional "gift" like the opening night pin and make it a premium for season ticket holders only. At this point, I'm seriously questioning whether I even want to attend any more games in person. It's not practical for me to be a season ticket holder since I live two hours away and apparently they don't want me if I don't hold a golden ticket. Bah humbug.
 
#10
All that is predicated on an assumption that everyone has a smart phone AND wants to bring it to the game. I know I'm not speaking for a majority here, but I do not own a smart phone. And, even if I did, when I come to a Kings game I'm there to watch the game. I don't want a tether to the outside world.

I am very disappointed. And I'm even more disappointed that they would change a traditional "gift" like the opening night pin and make it a premium for season ticket holders only. At this point, I'm seriously questioning whether I even want to attend any more games in person. It's not practical for me to be a season ticket holder since I live two hours away and apparently they don't want me if I don't hold a golden ticket. Bah humbug.
You're gonna be even more disappointed when the new arena will require you to have a smart phone just to use the loo. That's a problem with these tech guys ... they sometimes get so caught up in wanting to be revolutionary that they get too far away from what people want and are used to, especially for older folks.

Hope your complaints are heard by the organization and that they respond well.
 

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#11
Hmm, I actually think all this technology talk and tying it into the game is a faulty strategy. Do we want fans watching and cheering, or glued to their phones? I despise all these people I see every day addicted to their phones, ipads and whatnot. Increasingly when watching games on tv, more and more fans aren't even watching, just glued to their mobile device.

That's great if we want to turn the arena into a library.

Have everything connected to smart phones and people will be staring at their screens all game long and those of us like myself who turn their phones off at games, will apparently have things twice as hard for us.
 
#13
Hmm, I actually think all this technology talk and tying it into the game is a faulty strategy. Do we want fans watching and cheering, or glued to their phones? I despise all these people I see every day addicted to their phones, ipads and whatnot. Increasingly when watching games on tv, more and more fans aren't even watching, just glued to their mobile device.

That's great if we want to turn the arena into a library.

Have everything connected to smart phones and people will be staring at their screens all game long and those of us like myself who turn their phones off at games, will apparently have things twice as hard for us.
But what else would you expect from a tech owner? All the talk of the new arena being the smartest building kinda scares me. I'm one of those strange people who still value privacy (despite being a young 'un). I'm not convinced that my life gets better when people track my every movement and choice.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#14
You're gonna be even more disappointed when the new arena will require you to have a smart phone just to use the loo. That's a problem with these tech guys ... they sometimes get so caught up in wanting to be revolutionary that they get too far away from what people want and are used to, especially for older folks.

Hope your complaints are heard by the organization and that they respond well.
I just sent a lengthy email to Chris Granger. I hope he'll read it and listen to what I'm saying. I'm quite serious about non-STH being somehow demoted to less than full fan status. Add in the technology issues and I'm pretty sure I won't bother to go to any games at the new arena, but since I'll never be an STH they probably won't notice.

I'll admit it - this has set me off more than I thought it would. I have lived and breathed Kings since 1985. I have devoted many more hours than I care to count in promoting the Kings, doing things like play-by-play game analysis via DIAL-UP here, etc. I will always love the team but right now I'm not real happy with some of the front office decisions.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#15
Hmm, I actually think all this technology talk and tying it into the game is a faulty strategy. Do we want fans watching and cheering, or glued to their phones? I despise all these people I see every day addicted to their phones, ipads and whatnot. Increasingly when watching games on tv, more and more fans aren't even watching, just glued to their mobile device.

That's great if we want to turn the arena into a library.

Have everything connected to smart phones and people will be staring at their screens all game long and those of us like myself who turn their phones off at games, will apparently have things twice as hard for us.
I know I'm old and that technology is rapidly moving to control all aspects of life, but sports is supposed to be an escape, a break from reality, an opportunity to forget real life and enter a world of fan passion and the team. Watching Peja sink a three from way outside the arc was indescribable unless you saw it in person. If you're glued to your phone trying to follow all the stats you miss the joy of moments like that. Replays are okay, I guess, but I've never seen a replay that took my breath away.

I know I'm rambling but this is very frustrating. I think I know now how the last dinosaur must have felt.
 
#16
If Kings organization would FIRST and FOREMOST construct winning NBA team with as much effort and enthusiasm as they giddily promote their high tech future arena they'd really look SMART. I hope it's not a case of one is much easier to do than the other.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#17
well I watch from home with a pad on one arm with the boxscore open on it, and a laptop in the other for typing grades, so...

on the other hand I wouldn't do that while attending a game live. Tempting, but...no. :p
 
#18
If Kings organization would FIRST and FOREMOST construct winning NBA team with as much effort and enthusiasm as they giddily promote their high tech future arena they'd really look SMART. I hope it's not a case of one is much easier to do than the other.
2016: Kings rehire Keith Smart and trade Cousins for Marcus Smart. /lame joke
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#19
well I watch from home with a pad on one arm with the boxscore open on it, and a laptop in the other for typing grades, so...

on the other hand I wouldn't do that while attending a game live. Tempting, but...no. :p
Thank you for resisting the urge to comment on the "last dinosaur" part of my post.
 
#20
I understand the purpose of your sentiment, this has nothing to do with the subject at hand and this is overall a rather petty point, but I keep seeing the posted meme floating around and hope I can at least start the butterfly wings flapping in setting it straight.

That's not an Albert Einstein quote. It's a misquote of a line from the movie Powder erroneously attributed to Einstein to give it gravitas.

And it doesn't even get the FAKE Einstein quote right. The quote in the movie is "It’s become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity" supposedly itself a gross simplification of an unrelated, and decidedly less Hollywood, actual Einstein quote in reference to the Atomic Bomb:

"Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." - Einstein, May 25th, 1946, New York Times

.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#23
Yeah, I was kinda bummed about the no pin thing either. The last few years I have been making a point of going to the opening night games and that was always a "plus" I looked forward to, especially given the higher ticket prices opening nights usually have.
 
#24
I'll have to look, but I swear there was a year recently with no pins. I distinctly remember being disappointed with no pin another time.
 
#25
IMO the new arena will have more people with their heads buried in their phones.
You only have to look as close as the 49ers. They have "the most wired in stadium in sports" and boy has that effected the atmosphere.
You can't enjoy the full experience unless you have your phone. Count me out. I'm like you VF. When I go to any game I leave my phone at home.
 
#26
I was wondering about the pins myself so I asked the ticket taker at the door (I've been to every home opener and was looking forward to getting my 30th). She told me (as stated above) that they were given out to season ticket holders and said they had a few for sale in the team store. I went to the team store after the 1st quarter (to avoid the crowds at half-time). Lucky for me I got the last one they had for sale ($6.00)! Why stop a tradition after 30 years? I sure do miss the programs too. They don't have to be anything fancy. Just a sheet of paper folded in half with the team rosters and player stats on them would be fine.
 
#29
... I sure do miss the programs too. They don't have to be anything fancy. Just a sheet of paper folded in half with the team rosters and player stats on them would be fine.
At the customer service desk near section 123, they had a sheet of paper with all the information that used to be in the program -- I told them I don't have a smart phone.
 
#30
I agree with VF21. I was pretty disappointed in not getting a pin. I actually am a STH, although I split with friends so there's obviously not enough for everyone.
 
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