Photo by Aniko Kiezel
Blame Game TIME FOR FANS TO GET TOUGH ON KINGS
T
here’s one rule in professional sports honored by every player, coach and team owner. The rule is this: Never blame the fans. In private, free to speak their minds under the sanctity of the locker room, players, coaches and owners joke
RG By R.E. Graswich Sports Authority
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contemptuously about fans. But such words must never be spoken in public. There comes a time when rules should be broken. It’s time to hold Kings fans accountable for enabling an awful team. It’s time to blame the fans. Kings supporters bear heavy responsibility for letting the franchise limp through the last 15 seasons without a playoff appearance, for failing to reach (much less win) the NBA championships in 70 years, and for being one of the worst franchises in pro sports. Why blame fans? Those everyday folks who support the Kings with ticket sales, merchandise purchases and media
attention don’t write starting lineups and make substitutions. They don’t screw up trades or swoon over dumb draft picks. They don’t hire and fire the wrong coaches. And they don’t interfere in technical areas where their only basketball experience was years ago on a recreational level. But fans must be held to account. They provide oxygen for losers like the Kings. They encourage lousy decisions and crummy performances via blind devotion given without consequence. There’s no way the Kings would have gotten away with being this bad for this long in any other town, not even Salt Lake City.
Everywhere but Sacramento, fans force teams to get better. Or else. Imagine what would have happened to the Kings if they somehow switched places with the Warriors 15 years ago and played in Oakland and now San Francisco. On good days, Bay Area fans and media would ridicule the Kings. On bad days—which means most days—the team would be ignored. Fans would stay away. Season tickets and advertising sponsorships would plummet. That fancy new arena on Mission Bay would be an empty lot, unless the team improved significantly by 2016.
