Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

Arena proposal delayed. Now what?

from thinkbigsacramento.com

Yesterday the NBA and the City agreed to postpone the presentation of a term sheet on the ESC until next week. RanSACkedmedia.com was first to report it, and the City website has the joint press release (PDF) outlining activities for the next 10 days. (Ryan Lillis, and the Bee in general, are mum on the subject for some reason.) Apparently the public will be able to see the proposed term sheet on March 1, a week from today, instead of today.

So what now? I’m sure speculation is running wild about why the NBA would want to allow Sacramento more time. Maybe KJ’s Stern connection is really working for him here. Maybe Seattle is the one that needed more time. What do you think? What now?

Arena plan to be released Thursday

Kelly Johnson of the Biz Journal reported yesterday that City Council hopes to release the details of the arena financing proposal on Thursday, in advance of the Council’s vote next Tuesday.

The main takeaway from the piece seems to be that the mayor confirms AEG would be the operator of the arena under the proposal. I suppose that is a good thing? It doesn’t seem to be very important to me.

I still don’t think the numbers add up. The original figure of $387 million always seemed about $100m too low; Seattle was planning to raise $500 for their evil Chris Hansen funded arena. And I don’t think anybody expects the Maloofs to pony up very much–NBA commissioner David Stern said yesterday that the team will contribute, but also that he would consider AEG’s contribution to be a contribution on behalf of the team.

Very little reason for optimism going into next Tuesday.

Kings defeated by reason of Linsanity

Has that one been used already?

Jeremy Lin and the Knicks crushed the Kings tonight, 100-85. Our Men in Black actually made it interesting in the fourth quarter though, outscoring New York 30-23.

Lin, who the Bee pointed out has a local angle, was as they say dropping dimes like he had holes in his pockets and finished with 13 assists, a career best.

City Council in preliminary vote on parking lease tonight

On the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting is a motion to select 10 of the 13 bidders who sent in responses in pursuit of the City’s proposed plan to lease parking operations rights to raise money for a new arena. It’s at the bottom of the agenda, and it’s a purely procedural item but if recent meetings are any indication, folks will most likely show up for the Public Comment ready to talk.

If you want to follow along, you should be able to tune to Channel 15 or stream it live. But I also recommend following a few folks on Twitter who will most likely be discussing/snarking on the proceedings. Not just professional journos like The Bee’s Ryan Lillis (@ryan_lillis) and SN&R’s Nick Miller (@NickMillerSNR) and sports folks like Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave), but also normals like Michael Minnick (@SacraMINNICK), Kevin Fippin (@kfippin) and our old blogger pal Maya (don’t call her Mia) Wallace (@mayagirl) from Postcards from Sacramento.

Bee sees stars aligning for Kings AND Sacramento A’s?

"Stop the game, Shoggoth on the court again..."

No, not the more sober voices of Voisin, Breton and Jason Jones. I’m talking about this piece of science fiction by Tom Couzens.

Fast forward to the morning of Oct. 30, 2015.

Kings fans calling in to ESPN 1320’s local morning sports show are still worked up after last night’s emotional first game at VSP Pavilion at the Railyards.

It goes on from there. I can see why Don Geronimo has so much fun with this guy. My question is, why stop at 2 new arenas and an additional major sports franchise? Why only envision the Kings making a successful squad out of players they currently have? Why not imagine they are led by Durant, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose and Michael Jordan? Why imagine that humans still travel by light rail in 2015 and not personal jetpack? Why assume the Ancient And Unspeakable Ones won’t return in 2012, obliterating all hopes of anything being in existence in 2015 much less Sacramento’s human citizens? (OK I’ve been having a little too much fun reading Hodgman’s new book…)

Public Access Show impresses

“The Public Access Show,” a YouTube and terrestrial TV series created by local musician and comedian Arjun Singh, is inspired by the everyday lo-fi madness of terrestrial public access television. The show features absurd comedy without the confrontational, “theater of discomfort” feel we’ve come to expect from art that touches on the hilarity of amateurism. Basically, it’s a “Tim And Eric” that doesn’t kind of make you want to kill yourself.

The use of original music and “open source” video art in a collaborative spirit really plays on the use of the name. The second installment features more of Singh’s winning “Advanced Drum Techniques,” as well as a cameo by Singh’s WALLPAPER bandmate Ricky Reed, among other sketches.

Much like WALLPAPER., the line between spoof and celebration is blurry. You’ll end up wanting more than the 12 minutes you’ll get. Check out the first two installments and wait by your computer for the requisite “Episode 3D“!

Batman illegal in Sac County?

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My county lawyer contact clued me in to a real corker of a legal drama. According to the Sacramento County Code, sales of “crime comic books” to children under 18 is a misdemeanor. It dates from 1959 and there is no way to read it that doesn’t make it a crime to sell kids almost any comic book in which superheroes fight crime.

The Board of Supervisors specifically finds that the prohibition against the sale to or circulation of crime “comic” books to children is a reasonable measure to meet the clear and present danger hereinabove found. (Ord. 652 § 1, 1959.)

Among the findings that caused the “clear and present danger” was the finding that “Many children have been incited to commit crimes as a consequence of looking at crime ‘comic’ books.”

Continue reading “Batman illegal in Sac County?”

Thornton out 1-2 weeks

The Kings are playing played Denver last night without guard and All Star candidate Marcus Thornton, who is out 1-2 weeks with a leg bruise. (Hi, Ziller!) Kinda makes me wish I hadn’t dropped Fredette from my fantasy squad.

This comes the same week that Kings fans got good news of a personnel loss, badda-bing!

In other Kings news I see from the team’s site that one of my old childhood sports pals, Devin Blankenship, is their longtime Media Relations guy! Maybe he can get me into box seats so we can reminisce about hopping the levee to play home run derby at Ciavarella Field in River Park…

SN&R on Concerts fiasco

News & Review’s Nick Miller posted another great roundup today on the recent firing of Jerry Perry as promoter of Concerts In The Park. Apparently people’s Facebooking has made the firing of a Sacramento legend even more controversial. Go figure.

I know I’m weeks late to the party on this but Perry’s firing really bums me out. This is one of maybe five people that come to mind when you think of the local music world. (I admit that this is mostly nostalgic, but I temper that by not being offended at his replacements.) I don’t know how the lineups in recent years could be any more local. It seems like the bookings have led to themed lineups, and maybe people want more eclectic slates? I don’t see that working; If a band I like is playing after a bunch of say, hardcore bands, I will either skip the hardcore bands or just not go at all. Who wouldn’t? Is that really what people are saying they want?

Continue reading “SN&R on Concerts fiasco”

Kings players to blame for Kings failures?

from Kings.com

I know it’s a bit out of left field, but is it possible that the Kings poor play of late is to blame for their recent spate of playing poorly? And not friction with the coach?

I’m being facetious of course. I get that a coaching change is partly aimed at getting someone who can click with the players and lead them to better play. The team is 1-2 since the coaching change and I can’t see them going better than 2-5 in their first 7 games under Smart. But the rush to boot a coach in midseason (which seems to happen much more in the NBA than in other major sports, though I don’t know anything about hockey) seems premature when everyone looking at this roster knows that it has some major holes. And those holes are management’s fault. Continue reading “Kings players to blame for Kings failures?”