Live, Learn, Let Go

Immature, young, loose-cannon, inexperienced, wild, unpredictable, disrespectful, childish, a problem with authority; these are all words or phrases that have been used to describe the Sacramento Kings rookie center/forward DeMarcus Cousins. When I think of DeMarcus I think of a few words: potential, talent, and passion.

I am in no way condoning the behavior of Cousins that is being reported about the post-game locker room altercation with his teammate Donte Greene, following the loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. There have been numerous corrections made to the story about what went on in the locker room. I cannot speak to what actually happened between Cousins and Greene, but if what is being reported is factual, I cannot say it was the best way to go about things. I don't disagree with voicing his frustrations, I voice mine on a regular basis, but the way he went about doing it probably was not the best. It cannot be easy to question the veteran, or at least more veteran players, on a team that is young and seriously lacking that one overall leader. DeMarcus is already at a disadvantage in voicing his opinions being the low man on the totem pole, but his concerns are valid.

Lets face it, no one likes to lose. Not in professional sports, pick-up games in the park, or board games. It cannot be easy for DeMarcus, or any other athlete, to go from a top ranked team and winning program to the pros and be on a team that is currently struggling to add wins to the win column. Speaking from experience, losing those games that you have been in the whole game, or have a chance to win in the last seconds is far worse than the ones you never really had a chance to win to begin with. Frustrations are building for the players, the coaches, and the fans. We are all tired of ALMOST winning. We want to win!

No one is questioning the fact that DeMarcus has heart. If they are, they clearly have not watched the young man play a single game at any point in his basketball career. He had heart and passion in high school, while at Kentucky, and he continues to have it in the NBA. There is no doubt that he will continue to have it either. However, I am not sure I really want him to be the player that takes the last shot to win the game. In the past he has not proven himself to be the clutch play maker. He has thrown an errant pass a few rows into the stands, missed wide open corner threes, and has lost the ball going up at the rim in traffic. He is learning to have patience under the rim and taking his time going up for the easy dunk, but in game winning situations, time is not on an offensive player's side. While Tyreke Evans may have missed the three-point shot that would have won the game for the Kings, he is not to blame. It was a good look and it just didn't fall. No one was under the basket to rebound and put the ball up for a chance to tie the game. At least in that situation, with a struggling Beno Udrih on the floor, in my opinion, Tyreke was the best option for that shot, at least he has a few game winning shots on his NBA resume to back up Coach Westphal's decision to go to him late for the win.

DeMarcus did not travel to Phoenix with the team last night. It is being reported that DeMarcus will rejoin the team in Oklahoma City for tomorrow's game against the Thunder and that he has been fined for the incident. I'm not giving up on DeMarcus, and hopefully the incident is the last of its kind and all players, coaches, critics, and fans can move on.

Fans Turn to Social Media to Connect

Years ago the best interaction you could have with fellow fans was to either have them in your home or attend a game. Now, with the evolution of social media fans can interact in a number of ways.

The ability to connect with fans started with Facebook. You can join the fan page of your favorite team and interact with fans from all over the world. Twitter is now the best way, in my opinion, to interact with fellow fans, employees, and players of your favorite teams. With these two social media giants comes great inside information on deals and events surrounding your team. With the advances in social media, comes a new opportunity for Kings fans, and other sports fans as well, live blogs.

As powered by Cover-It-Live, the Kings run an live blog during games. This is the best way for fans to connect with each other. In the Kings blog (or chat as it is commonly referred to as) there is a bond among the fans. It doesn't matter where you are from, who your favorite player is, what your favorite moment has been, or if you are frustrated with the lack of wins in a particular season. Game after game, Kings fans log onto Kings.com to join their "Chat Family" to discuss the current game and events of the team. All fans are welcome! Fans are respectful of opposing teams fans who often come in to chat with Kings fans during the games, everyone is welcome! While last season this chat saw low attendees, this season has been drastically different. With nearly 50 fans checking in for the Boston game and many others checking in consistently throughout the season, it is no wonder many are calling it the best chat in the league. It is in my opinion that every team should offer this type of interaction for their fans!

It is amazing how many fans the Kings have. It is not just local fans either. There are a lot of locals as well as chatters from throughout California, but it extends far beyond the boarders of California. There are chatters from Florida, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Pennsylvania, New York, Colorado, and Kentucky- that should be no surprise with the addition of former Wild Cat DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings also have international fans. Israel should not surprise anyone, just as Cousins has pulled all of Big Blue Nation's attention to Sacramento, Omri Casspi has done the same with those in Israel. We also boast fans from the Philippines, Ireland, Chile, Argentina, and Germany.

In honor of the international fans I leave you with this:

Mabuhay Kings!
Vamos Kings!
Ir Reis!
gehen Köngie!
לך המלכים
GO KINGS!