When I was 12 years old, my parents took me to visit Walt Disney World over spring break. As much as I looked forward to riding Space Mountain and seeing the fireworks at Epcot, I was even more excited because my trip to Orlando coincided with the Magic's lone visit to Sacramento, presenting me with a rare opportunity to see my favorite team on television. The Kings, to the surprise of many, were in the thick of the playoff hunt, and I begged my parents to let me watch the first quarter of the 10:30 p.m. tip-off. I stayed up for the entire game when they soon fell asleep.
After a strong start, the Kings were badly outplayed in the third quarter and trailed by double-digits heading into the fourth. But despite Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway's best efforts, Mitch Richmond and Walt Williams carried the resilient Kings to an upset victory over the eventual Eastern Conference champions. The Sacramento crowd exploded in a frenzy when the final buzzer sounded, as rookie forward Brian Grant walked off the court with his arms raised in the air. The stunned Orlando color commentator then said something I'll never forget.
"Listen to the crowd here at Arco Arena, as the Sacramento Kings defeat the Orlando Magic."
With those simple words, for the first time, I believed that the Kings could beat any team in the confines of Arco, behind the boisterous sellout crowds for whom the number six had been lifted into the rafters. Since moving from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985, the Kings had sold out every home game for 12 consecutive years. When the 497-game sellout streak ended in November 1997, Arco would yet again be filled to capacity for 354 straight games from 1999 through 2007, for a total of 873 sellouts in 922 games. The team seemed to feed off the crowd's energy and unwavering loyalty, while the loud and foot-stomping college-like atmosphere made it difficult for opponents. Perhaps not coincidentally, Sacramento ranked dead last in attendance last season en route to finishing with the worst record in franchise history, including an astonishing 11-30 mark at Arco.
This season, with three consecutive victories at home — four overall, giving the Kings a winning record for the first time in nearly two years — that once familiar buzz is back in the arena. I could hear it through the tiny speakers of my iPhone when I watched the Kings defeat the Houston Rockets last Friday night in front of nearly 12,000 fans who sounded like an electric crowd three times that size.
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