BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

On the Sacto Kings moving to Seattle


This appears on nba.com

An obituary, wedding invitation, and an adoption message.
by rick olivares

An Obituary for the Sacramento Kings 1985-2013
Sacramento – Here lie the Sacramento Kings, 28 years in the capital of California after spending its formative years in Rochester, Cincinnati, Omaha and Kansas, died a NBA death when plans to build a new arena failed to push through.

The Kings will leave behind a fan base that was captivated by the runs of the early years of the new millennium when players like Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Dough Christie, Jason Williams, and Mike Bibby.

Born and raised in Rochester, New York, the Royals, as the Kings were previously known, won the very first National Basketball League (NBL).

Soon after its move to the Basketball Association of America, the team moved to Cincinnati where they had the Big O and Jerry Lucas in the lineup but could not hurdle Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics.

After Robertson left for Milwaukee, the Royals faded and departed for Kansas City-Omaha. The team changed its name to the “Kings” as Kansas already had a baseball team by the same name.


The team achieved a modicum of success under head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and with players like Phil Ford and Otis Birdsong before once more fading. The poor play and dwindling attendance was a foreshadowing of the fate that would eventually befall this franchise.

When the Kings moved to Sacramento, they saw some success but it wasn’t until Divac and company were in uniform did Sports Illustrated proclaim them as “the greatest show on earth.”

The Kings where the heirs to Showtime as they passed the ball around like no one’s business. They made basketball fun to watch. And they challenged the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty but much like Oscar Robertson 30 years earlier could not get over the hump.

A funeral service will be held after this NBA season as it looks like the Kings will not make the playoffs unless Vlade Divac comes out of retirement to teach DeMarcus Cousins the finer points of post-play, Chris Webber finds the fountain of youth, Peja Stojakovic comes out of retirement and finds his hands golden once again, Mike Bibby teaches Tyreke Evans the finer points of quarterbacking and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is able to prevent the sale of the team to a group of Seattle-based investors.


A Wedding invitation
Because you believe in the sport of basketball, the great city of Seattle and the Kings-who-are-soon-to-be-renamed-the-Supersonics, together with our parents, Chris Hansen and David Stern, invite you to share the beginning of our new life when we exchange vows on Friday, the first of March, two thousand thirteen at the NBA offices at 590 5th Avenue, 10036 New York, New York. 

We would also like to invite you to our house blessing in the South Downtown Industrial district of Seattle that will open in October of 2013.

A call to adopt a pet
Will someone please adopt me? I need a home.

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