Right Awn! Friday: One game at a time

This week, I’m going there, Sacramento. Here at the Sac Rag, we’ve yet to broach this topic, but it had to be said, especially tonight.

Find out what there is, after the jumpshot…

Wherever you go, whether it’s during the season or the off-season, the Sacramento Kings are not just the inspiration for fashion in this town, they are also one of the ties that bind Sacramentonianites. It seems that there is some validity to this. Many of you have heard about the results of a recent study by sports marketing thinktank Scarborough Sports Marketing:

Thirty-three percent of San Antonio adults indicated in the Scarborough Sports Marketing analysis that they are Avid NBA Fans – meaning they are “very interested” in the NBA. Sacramento, CA (19 percent of consumers are Avid NBA Fans), Indianapolis, IN (18 percent), Memphis, TN (17 percent) and Detroit (17 percent) round out the top local markets for Avid NBA fans. Nationally, nine percent of adults are Avid NBA Fans.

An interesting ranking, no? Sacramento was second to San Antonio in terms of NBA fan avidity (ok, I just made that word up), and Kings haven’t even won a championship. This definitely says something about how much this city loves their Kings (or it says that there isn’t much else to love, but I digress). Of course, if Sacramento loves their basketball team that much, why is it so hard for them to get support for a new arena? But, I digress again.

Anyway, the results of this study was timely, because the Kings have been playing San Antone in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Expectations were high, as they always are in this city, for the Kings to go far in these playoffs (“Grant, how do you think the Kings will match up against Detroit in the finals?”). But, after getting blown out the first game, and losing from their grasp the second, the Kings were facing an 0-2 deficit against the World Champs.

All of a sudden, playing tonight the third game in the best of seven series, the Kings gave their ever-loving fans some hope:

[Kings’ guard Kevin] Martin tossed in a twisting, three-bounce, wrong-handed layup over Duncan as time expired, and the Kings got back into their first-round playoff series against San Antonio with a 94-93 victory in Game 3 Friday night, cutting the Spurs’ lead to 2-1.

We’re back in it, Sacramento! And to you, Sacramento Kings, for giving us something to cheer for, for yet another day, RIGHT AWN!