Tag: Kings

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…)

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…

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?”

Perspective on the Kings coaching situation

As RonTopOfIt pointed out in a great comment, the Kings won a scrappy victory against Milkwaukee last night under interim head coach Keith Smart. But clearly fans’ and players’ relief after one victory is premature; shouldn’t the new coach get at least seven games before we decide that we made the right call?

On the flipside, it wasn’t just seven games, it was 2+ seasons of misery under Westphal. I’m just asking for a little perspective: clearly it’s not just the coach’s fault. After all, as Paul Wright (@HKronin) said after @JimCrandell wondered whether there would be a coaching change, the coach doesn’t tell his players to turn the ball over, not get back on defense, to ignore the extra pass. Like RTOI said, how much actual coaching should a group of grown men actually need? Maybe some of these players are just not fundamentally sound at this point in their careers. Continue reading “Perspective on the Kings coaching situation”

Kings fans need to lighten up! UPDATE: Westphal fired


From Kings.com

UPDATED 1:22 PM While I was typing my original post, the Kings were busy firing Westphal. I will still never understand how fast some teams move when there are problems. I’d love to do a thorough examination of situations where sports organizations left pieces in place that weren’t very successful and allowed them to come to fruition vs. markets that throw tantrums when things don’t go their way for a single calendar week. Anyway, my original post follows.

So yeah, at this point the Kings are 2-5 and at the bottom of the Western Division. There are reports of DeMarcus Cousins impetulantly asking to be traded, a rumor that both Cousins and the Kings appear to deny, though that hasn’t kept it from becoming a thing that other teams are talking about. The consensus appears to be that Westphal is to blame for the recent woes, and should be run out of town on a rail.

I’d like to see the Kings win too. I guess it’s the nature of sports to demand heads roll one week into a season that starts poorly, but it seems a bit premature to me. Continue reading “Kings fans need to lighten up! UPDATE: Westphal fired”

Top articles for 2011

Fireworks 3
Creative Commons License photo credit: C.M. Keiner

Happy 2012 everyone! For your enjoyment here are the top posts on this site that were published in 2011. Of course, Julie Durda, How to pronounce Goethe and The Shins making headlines continue to be curiously popular as well.

  1. Band Tesla ft. Nick Toma
  2. Sugar Plum Vegan- No More Excuses
  3. New Midtown Goodwill Opens with Boutique Flare
  4. Hitt leaves CBS 13 (published December 2010)
  5. 60 Minutes airs story of local climber
  6. Kings rally Tuesday, Don G has details
  7. The Brunch That Nightmares are Made of, or How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Sunday
  8. Quick Bites: Good Eats shutting down, THIR13EN meets expectations, Doughbot news
  9. Brew It Up! is shutting down
  10. “Rise Guys” leaving for SF with Don G move, new show for Carmichael Dave

Kings win, World Peace loses

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Bringing youth together all around the world
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The Kings beat the Lakers at home for the first time in more than three years, 100-91 on Monday night. Former King Ron Artest, er, Metta World Peace wasn’t too worried about the loss.

“We have a lot of games left, a lot of games left,” World Peace said. “Everything is going OK. Everything will be great.”

I think I’ll get a few more weeks of fun out of the “World Peace said” thing (and by “a few more weeks” I pretty much mean this post). For example, why did Artest change his name?

“Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world,” World Peace said in a statement released after the name change court hearing.

Alrighty then. Dream big, right?

At any rate, it’s a good win for the Kings and it is nice to have the distraction in town again. Might replace the “this is some cold spell we’re having, huh?” ice-breaker.

Think Big not thinking about the little people?

from thinkbigsacramento.com

Not too proud about that headline. Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy’s poll about the use of City funds to bankroll the new arena showed overwhelming public support for going to the ballot box, the Bee reports today. However, Think Big Sacramento, the Mayor’s initiative aimed at making the arena happen, calls the poll suspicious. Apparently they have their own poll that contradicts Sheedy’s:

Chris Lehane, head of the mayor’s Think Big Sacramento commission, pointed to a poll his group commissioned in August that found majority support for selling some city land, and for leasing city parking garages as part of a potential financing plan.

Supporting putting it to a vote and supporting some of those uses don’t seem to be diametrically opposed, but I’d have to see the questions on both polls. The Bee doesn’t supply those.

Continue reading “Think Big not thinking about the little people?”

What is biggest risk in Arena deal?

This week will see Mayor Johnson’s financing plan for the downtown arena, which Johnson calls “the city’s greatest economic opportunity since the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.”

At least in the Bee report, the Maloofs seem cautiously optimistic and willing to play ball, though they do want to see a solid plan:

Maloof said he is holding the city to the March 1 deadline. “They’ve got to deliver. Everything has to be in place, ironclad. No risk. No ifs.”

No risks? Sure, sure, sounds like a plan. For example you wouldn’t want to take on a risk that your major tenant can’t make rent payments, right?

Maloof has said the Kings only want to be tenants, not operators, of the new arena, and warned the team doesn’t have much money for rent payments.

Not sure how Maloof expects the City to handle the risk of Maloof not being able to make rent.

I would personally hate to lose an NBA franchise–and though I have been critical of the Maloofs in the past, I guess it is pretty standard to be completely beholden to the team even when their commitment is in question. It is just business, after all.