Bleeding purple hearts

Sometimes it hurts to be a Sacramento Kings fan.

It's a respect thing. Take that recent Rolling Stone column headlined “The Sacramento Kings' Completely Insane Plan to Save Basketball.” In it, the writer snarked that the team is a “glorious train wreck” whose players “just stand there, completely uninterested, hands on knees, because sometimes you just get tired and basketball games are kind of long, you guys.”

Ouch.

Then there's the new arena—scheduled to make its tax dollar-eating debut in 2016. And, of course, Mayor Kevin Johnson's shady attachments to both the building and efforts to keep the team out of Seattle's greedy, sticky hands.

OK, fine, but whatever. I refuse to be a Kings apologist.

I love the team because even at its ball-dropping, no-passing, locker-room-drama worst, it's still fun. It's fun whether I'm sitting in the nosebleed seats sipping $10 beer, or sitting in my living room, yelling at the TV. It's fun screaming over squandered leads, painful overtime stretches and, sometimes even, energetic runs and jaw-droppingly graceful slam dunks.

The King's 2015-16 season gets its jump ball Wednesday, October 28, at Sleep Train Arena in a match-up against the once equally pitied Los Angeles Clippers. In the meantime, turn to page 16 to read Blake Gillespie's insight on the new season—the highs, the lows and all the George Karl/Boogie Cousins/Willie Cauley-Stein questions in between.

This season probably won't bring the team more respect but who cares as long as it brings a little bit more of that much-needed bleeding purple heart fun.