April 25th, 2004
Beep! Beep! The Bandwagon Has Pulled Into Town!
The Greater Sacramento/Reno area is very predictable this time of year. Annually for the past many seasons, this is the time of the year that the amount of Sacramento Kings fans seems to quadruple.
This is truly an anomaly for this area and it's a disgraceful one. During football season, the lines are clearly drawn. The Raiders and 49ers make up the majority of fans and there is no bandwagoning when one does well. In fact, Raider fans hope for the Niners to fail and vice-versa. The same is true during baseball season with the A's and Giants. Additionally, during baseball season, there is a core group of loyal Sacramento Rivercats fans and when the Rivercats make the playoffs, you don't see a ton of band-Waggoner non-fans suddenly start rooting for the Cats and wearing their jerseys. That's how it should be.
That isn't how it is with the Kings though. The Sacramento/Reno area is an absolute embarrassment when it comes to basketball loyalty and proper fans-manship (which is a word I just made up).
Sacramento is often praised for its' ability as a smaller big city to overwhelmingly support its' sports teams. This is a label well deserved. What isn't discussed more and needs to be is the transparent, pathetic, latching on that occurs every spring when the NBA playoffs heat up and the Kings are in the thick of things. Even this year, as the Kings limped into the series with the Mavericks, thousands of wanna-be's grabbed their moldy, dusty Kings garb from the backs of their closets and began wearing them. There has been a sudden onslaught of purple flags on cars. Conversations have suddenly shifted to "how bout them Kings?" It's ridiculous.
The Kings have great fans and those of you that try to claim to be fans every spring are an insult to the true follower. You're lame and you're fair-weather and you're dis-loyal. You should be ridiculed in public for your lack of faith and following.
True fans have the same level of loyalty and fervor regardless of their teams success or the time of the year. To a true fan, a baseball game in April is just as meaningful as the last one of the season. True fans have invested their hearts and souls and sometimes their very identity into how their team plays every single game, as opposed to those of you who refuse to take the true leap of faith.
Gutless; that's what you are. Isn't it easy to keep your jerseys, hats, pins and flags in the closet until you're sure that the Kings have made it to the elite circle of being in the playoffs each year? True fans proclaim their love of team at the beginning of each year and never waiver. They may hate their team and its' play at times, but they still proudly wear the colors and stay steadfast in their loyalty. Not this town.
As the playoffs continue, more and more people will proclaim to be Kings' fans and stay home and watch the games. If Sacramento is lucky enough to get past the Mavs and get to round 2, the streets will get more and more barren every game. Then, as soon as the Kings lose the town will instantly transform to normal and you'll see no purple anywhere. Pitiful.
This area needs to take a lesson from one of my most despised football teams of all-time; Green Bay and Packer fans.
Regardless of how crappy the Packers get, that town shuts down every single Sunday in the fall. Regardless of whether the Packers win or lose, the only conversation every Monday morning is the previous days' game. Whether the Packers are in the playoff hunt or not, their games consume the entire town every week, every year. Those are some real fans. Too many of you are posers, pretenders and opportunists that make me wretch.
By the way, I'm not a Kings fan. I couldn't care less about the Kings either way. I've never been a basketball fan and still am not today. I am however a sports fan, and more importantly a fan of common human decency and proper behavior, neither of which are demonstrated by this area's actions each and every NBA playoff season.
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