My Sacramento Kings...err, I mean the Anaheim Royals of Los Angeles?

It has been well chronicled on sports radio, television and of course the internet, that the Sacramento Kings may be on their way out of town. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has lived in Sacramento for the last several years, for those who voted down measures Q&R (which would have provided funds for a new sports complex in the Sacramento area) and anyone who is a Kings fan. For the faithful it has been a trying season, one that started with such optimism with the drafting of Demarcus Cousins.

With the 5th pick in the NBA Lottery, the Kings were able to draft possibly the best athlete and big man in the entire draft. Even though the Kings has the 3rd worst record in the league the prior season and ended up with the 5th pick, fans still had a reason to be excited. We began to see change in our team last year with the Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans and with our draft it seemed we would only get better. If only the season had ended after the first 4 games. Sacramento started 3-1 and has gone on to win only 13 more games and managed to lose 49 more in that same time frame.

This has not brought us down however; any Kings fan is used to losing and another poor season ending with a presumably high draft pick would be more than acceptable for future strong years. This season has made a pass no fan has been able to handle though. With the Maloof brothers all but packing up the U-Haul to move on down to Anaheim, we are left with forcing ourselves to either accept the inevitable, or continue to fight for a cause we have little-to-no say in.

This has made this season harder to bear than most with the knowledge that we are rooting for a team that as early as next season could be gone. 25 short years in Sacramento and our Kings may be switching to a new city once again. We are not fortunate enough to live in a huge media market, or have a fan base nearly as dedicated as say, the Lakers...so we have to accept the fact that if we lose the Kings we may never get another professional sports franchise. We love the Kings, we have sold out 20 of those 25 seasons the Kings have inhabited the friendly confines of Arco Arena/Power Balance Pavilion. That has to count for something, but because that arena is nearly as old as I am (25) it no longer attracts big names, sell-outs or enough business to make it a viable NBA complex. So now we have to endure another losing season on top of the threat of having our team taken away, but one that thing that I have heard over and over again is how much the Kings mean to our community.

They mean so much not only because we love basketball, but because they have created memories that will last us all a lifetime. One of my earliest memories of the Kings also happens to be one of my earliest memories of my grandfather. He took me and my older brother to a Kings game and I still remember that game to this day. I was in the 5th grade, my brother in the 7th, and we went to go see the Kings take on the Miami Heat. The Kings eventually lost that game but before they did Mitch Richmond (still my favorite Kings player of all-time) hit a 3 point shot to tie the game and send it in to overtime. It was thrilling and unbelievable and as much as I couldn't believe what was happening he did it again to force the game into double-overtime. There were no late-game heroics however and the game eventually ended but I'll always have that memory of me, my brother and my grandfather loving the Kings.

My grandfather isn't with us anymore and as much as I wish I could've gotten to know him better I'll never forget how much he loved sports and how he passed that on to me. Ever since that game I've loved the Sacramento Kings. During the 2002 Western Conference Finals I was almost ready to throw a bowling ball through my television when Robert Horry hit the game winning shot in game 4 of that series. A night later I don't think I had ever been happier when Chris Webber set that screen and Mike Bibby hit his game-winning shot. When that series was over and the Kings had to come back home something told me that was it. That was our chance to win it all and we blew it. Even as crushing as the defeat was (and Mark Madsen dancing during the Lakers' Championship parade) I remained a fan.

All of that makes it so much harder for me and all the other loyal King's fans in Northern California to swallow the fact that our team, the only professional sports franchise in our area, may be leaving. I can point the finger of blame at the Maloof brothers, voters afraid of higher taxes, city and state officials too bogged down with their own personal interests to take more action and the NBA itself for not forcing the issue and keeping basketball in Sacramento, but in the end finger pointing won't keep the Kings in my backyard.

At this point in the game all I can do is fight to keep my team here, fight to make my voice heard, fight to make the Maloofs stop concentrating on dollar signs and start thinking about the community they've invested the last 11 years in and hope.

Hope that one day I can take my kids, and maybe even my grandkids, to a Kings game.

Return of the Blog: The S.F. Giants, LeBron, the S.F. 49ers and the Future

So it has been around 6 months since I've last posted and I could go through everything that has happened since then...but you all know it anyway. I'm going to briefly mention a few that really stuck out to me.

-The San Francisco Giants winning the World Series

A very exciting moment for me, as they are the only professional sports team I root for to actually win their championship game or series. And to do so in the "Year of the Pitcher" really speaks to just how good their pitching staff was. It will be interesting to see if the Phillie's new staff will mesh right away and blow people away like many are suspecting. They obviously have a better offense than the Giants do but have lost one of their power hitters to the Washington Nationals and were beat by the Giants in the playoffs. Like I said, it will be an interesting season.

-LeBron signing with the Miami Heat

This past summer all anyone could talk about was where LeBron James would end up. I even wrote about it a couple of times. He wound up with friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in South Florida, much to the chagrin of Ohioans, New Yorkers, Chicagoans and Brooklynites a few years from now. I liked the move even though I thought he would be more successful on a loaded Chicago team that could've been great with him, but will manage without (though I HIGHLY doubt they will ever win anything, Rose and Booser just aren't enough to push them over the threshold when there are still teams like the Lakers, Magic, Celtics, Spurs and yes the Heat to stand in their way).

LeBron's Heat, or is it Wade's Heat? It doesn't really matter because they have finally hit their stride and are playing meaningful basketball together. I have even found myself rooting for them because I want to see something that hasn't been done before happen. If they can manage to get one or two more solid role-players they can absolutely run the regular season table and go far in the playoffs. I want to see a juggernaut outside of Los Angeles, and I want to see LeBron realize his full-potential. Players of his caliber don't come around too often, he is better than Kobe, and better than anyone else in the league right now. He needs to take that next step though, I'm not sure if he has to be ruthless to accomplish that like MJ or Kobe, but he needs to do something because his fingers still have no hardware on them.

-The San Francisco 49ers finally fire Mike Singletary and presumably will not keep either Smith as quarterback.

Granted, this story isn't that big in the scope of the sport's world, but for me and every other 49er fan out there it is momentous. Singletary is at most a motivational speaker, which is definitely something you want in a head coach. That unfortunately was Singletary's only strong suit. He had no management skills, bad decision making skills and often times looked and acted lost during games. He was not the sole reason for the 49ers having yet another unsuccessful season, but he certainly didn't help matters much.

As for the Smith brothers, I still feel like Troy Smith deserves some chance to prove he can be a quality quarterback, but Alex has had more than his share of chances. Draft-mate Aaron Rodgers just won a huge game against the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons tonight in Atlanta and played so well he didn't even need to play the whole to game to amass over 300 yards passing, three passing touchdowns and one on the ground. I'm not saying Rodgers would have excelled in the 49ers organization, in fact I'm happy for him that he didn't get drafted by the 49ers because if he had he would probably be out of the league right now too. The problem is more with the lack of leadership from the head coach and offensive coordinator positions for the 49ers than it is the personnel. Imagine if Alex had been able to sit his first season, learn how to be a NFL level QB and had the same offensive coordinator every season in SF? Do you think he would be praying for a desperate franchise to pick him up on the cheap as a back-up? I don't think so either. Either way I'm glad all of those mentioned above are on their way out and the 49ers can start fresh with a new coach and hopefully a new QB soon enough (Donavan McNabb anyone??)

So with a few of the big sports moments of the past six months out of the way that leaves me open to the new year and all the sports happening before us. The Kings still suck, The Steelers and Packers are on their way to league championship games and the NBA and NFL may not happen next season.

It is always exciting to be a sports fan and now that I have graduated college (feel free to shower me with praise and accolades) I should have more free time to keep up with writing about just how it feels to be one.

P.S. I won my Fantasy Football League. First time fantasy player, beat 9 other people who have all played before and it feels fucking awesome.