Sacramento might be the capital city of California but I’ve never spent any real time there.
I hung out in the airport between flights one time, which certainly doesn’t count as a visit. On another occasion, I flew in and out of Sacramento to cover something in Stockton of all places.
But I do have one visual of what was then called Arco Arena – now Sleep Train Arena – as I spotted it off to the right on the way to the airport.
It didn’t seem like much of a building that day but those Sacramento fans sure loved the barn-like place. And the facility hosts a basketball game for the last time on Saturday night when the Sacramento Kings play the Oklahoma City Thunder.
One of my Friday work assignments included writing about this arena that opened in 1988 — read it here: Kings bid farewell to Sleep Train Arena
The franchise will move into a new downtown arena next season and new memories will emerge. But one thing sports’ fans do well is hold on to those old memories.
So to most NBA fans, probably not that big a deal that Sleep Train Arena has just 48 minutes (barring overtime) of basketball remaining. But it is a major deal to the people of Sacramento.
That’s because it is the end of an era.
MrSportsBlog 