Kings v. Thunder 4.8.14

Today I sat in the upper bowl as my fellow season ticket holders took our regular season ticket seats. I was in section 218, and I've got to say hat he view wasn't bad at all. As I sat up there I couldn't help but compare the experience and viewing angles to the seats we had at Oracle last Friday. Sleep Train Arena, while old, has great seating arrangements from the floor seats all the way to the top row. They all give the fans an enjoyable time out.

One of the things I really enjoy seeing from the upper bowl is the awesome floor lighting during the introduction of the players. The introductions is one of my favorite parts of the game... and I would hate to ever miss it! I know some fans come late to the game - that's too bad because lots of awesome things happen before the actual NBA game takes place.

There was a new game that I don't recall seeing on the court today. They got two couples to wear these giant rings. It was a race of sorts where they had to do a few things and then run to center court. The winning couple got a hundred dollar gift card to a jewelry store.

A hundred bucks to a jewelry store might be nice... but not as nice as a brand new car! And that's what this guy won today at the arena by hitting this half court shot. The crowd erupted as the shot went in! This was the second winner of this contest... the first one was way back at the beginning of the season.

I decided to go for some black & white shots for the on court basketball action. DeMarcus did his usual thing by getting a double double and playing very well.

Travis Outlaw provided some early scoring punch by hitting a bunch of shots. He ended up scoring over 20 points tonight! That's definitely impressive for Travis.

The guys had to step it up tonight because Rudy Gay, Reggie Evans, and Isaiah were all out due to injury. The Kings kept it close during much of the game, but in the end the Thunder pulled away and won pretty convincingly.

Despite losing these last few games, the team still supports each other, and it is evident in the way they act. It's good to see teammates encouraging each other whenever they can.

The cotton candy looked extremely temping tonight, but I held off. I was in the mood for a different kind of sweet dessert at the game.

Yup. Ended up getting ice-cream. The line for ice-cream is always ridiculously long and intimidating. Why does everyone want ice-cream so bad anyways?!?! Well, today I took the plunge and got myself a cup of ice-cream during the third quarter. It was delicious.

Kings v. Mavs 4.6.14

Check out who I ran into outside Sleep Train Arena before the game! It's Charmichael Dave from KHTK 1140. He was instrumental in helping keep the Kings in Sacramento. He's definitely a funny guy, and I love listening to his morning show when I drive to work.

The Kings had a carnival before the game. It was a great time out for families. As you can see, Slamson was out taking photos with everyone. The Kings and KHTK partnered up in an anti-bullying campaign, and today they celebrated that partnership. It was a beautiful day for this special occasion.

It was a surprise to see the SKD outside doing a performance on the grass for all who came out to the carnival. They looke and moved great! It's really cool when the SKD do performances outside their time on the court. These performances have a different feel to them.

Here's Slamson being a bit mischievous around the dunk tank. He needs to understand that people are supposed to throw the ball at the target - not simply push the button with their paw!

Now I think I've seen it all. One of the things they had going on at the carnival was this toilet bowl racer race. Kids had the chance to get on a toilet bowl and race around a track. It was definitely a sight to see!

Inside the arena featured the return of Peja Stojakovic. Peja was a very popular Kings player years back, and the fans remember him well. He's hanging out at Kings Social Media HQ with Andrew answering some questions before the game.

Check out this really unique foam finger the Kings were selling at the arena today! This hand gesture is popular in India. Many Kings fans in attendance took some 'Viveking' selfies today with this in honor of Kings owner Vivek Ranadive!

Not only can Isela dance with the SKD, she also has an amazing voice. I got this shot of Isela as she sang the national anthem tonight before the game. That girl can belt it out!

After the last game versus the Warriors, the Kings really needed to rebound in a big way to get that sour loss out of their system. The Kings played Dallas very well today.

Rudy Gay was especially impressive in this game. The game came down to the wire with the Kings having the ball down by two with under 10-seconds to play. Unfortunately, the Kings weren't able to convert and lost by just two points. I have to give credit to the Kings for playing hard today though.

After the game Peja took an on-court selfie with some fans and then went up to the West Lounge to take some more photos with Cap City Kingdom members. CCK members could spend some of their Royal Circle points on this meet & greet event. Thanks to Peja for taking the time to hang out with us!

Cap City Kingdom Road Trip to Oracle Arena 4.4.14

Jenn and I signed up for the Cap City Kingdom road trip to Oracle Arena today to see the Kings take on the Warriors. We arrived at Sleep Train Arena and were given these nice Road Trip t-shirts to wear!

Scott Fresh and Slamson were hanging out with the Cap City Kingdom members before they got on the buses. It was pretty cool to chat with them and see them today - a nice surprise!

This lounge area is near the entrance to the court under Sleep Train Arena. It's a really nice place to hang out and chill. There are TVs and really comfy chairs like this one I'm sitting on.

Besides the t-shirts, we got a bag of goodies to bring with us. Jenn's sporting both pairs of Kings sunglasses we received- the bag also had foam fingers and noise makers. Our collection of foam fingers has now tripled! Yes!

Feel like having a bowl of popcorn? Well... the Kings had us covered! Check out this giant bowl of popcorn provided for us. The pre-party had drinks and snacks - more than we could ever want!

The Sacramento Kings dancers also came by to send us off on our trip. It's too bad they couldn't join us, but we did have a number of Kings staff come with us on the buses.

There were two total buses to bring all of us to Oakland. We thought the pre-party snacks were nice, but the Kings absolutely loaded up these buses with food and drinks to enjoy as we rode down Interstate 80 towards Oracle Arena.

There was a lot of traffic on the way to Oracle, but we finally got there. It so happened that both the Warriors and the Oakland A's baseball team were scheduled to start at approximately the same time. This made for a very crowded situation as both teams play literally right next to each other.

It was a bit chilly here in the Bay Area, but weather was pretty nice as we came off the bus. Here we all are as a group before going into Oracle. We were all chanting Sac-Ra-Men-To in the parking lot!

All of us brought our own Kings swag to the game. It was awesome of these ladies to bring a big Kings flag though - that was a nice way to represent the team.

As we walked into the arena we noticed that there were other Sacramento fans in attendance. This reminded me of Warriors fans going to Sleep Train when we play them. It was cool to get the experience of being a fan of the opposing team. Of course, I wouldn't ever try this at an Oakland Raiders game.

We cheered loudly as our Sacramento Kings were introduced. The way the Warriors do their game is completely different than how the Kings do theirs. I personally wasn't used to it and didn't like it as much. Sure, call me biased!

Here's a look inside Oracle arena. The layout of the place took a bit of getting used to. There are actually two concourse levels, and all the passageways are pretty cramped. Again, maybe it's my bias, but I definitely prefer our older, yet more comfortable Sleep Train Arena.

I thought this guy's job was very interesting. He sits way up on a suspended platform high above all the action. I would be totally freaking out if I had to be up there the entire time. I guess some people wouldn't mind having a job like that.

This game was pretty much decided in the first two minutes of the first quarter. The Kings were completely out of sync and DeMarcus got in foul trouble very early in the game. The Warriors played well, but the Kings played beyond terrible.

Our fans did the best they could to cheer on the team as much as possible, but it was hard given the circumstance. Here we are leaving the arena. You can see O.co on the left, that's where the A's play.

Even though the Kings lost in horrific fashion, I have to really thank the people at the Kings for organizing this trip. I could tell that they did everything they could to make this trip fun for the fans. It's juts too bad that the game didn't match the effort put on by the Kings staff who brought us out. Hopefully we can do this again next year and get a better result!

Kings v. Lakers 4.2.14

Tonight was Bollywood night at the arena! This has got to be the most colorful I have ever seen the place. It was absolutely amazing to walk into the arena and see all the colorful t-shirts placed on the seats. Some may not like it, but I love it when team branded stuff is on a color that isn't typical of the team. I had the opportunity to get a purple Bollywood night shirt, but I went for a pink one instead!

Everything tonight had an Indian flair to it. Of course you see the shirts behind me in this photo, but the music was also distinctively Indian. It definitely peaked my interest in Indian culture. It's pretty sweet to have a night like this.

Not so sweet were the Laker fans in the house. There is always a big crowd of Laker fans whenever they come to town. A pretty big contingent of them were watching the early warm-ups.

Today one of the goals at the arena was to get fans to donate shoes for foster kids. I saw helpers at each entrance with these signs letting fans know where they could drop off their new shoes or make a cash donation.

I had messaged a bunch of my Instagram friends about this game... and many of them came out! It was awesome to see everyone cheer on the Kings. 

The Kings provided free henna painting out on the concourse! I saw quite a few people take advantage of this service to get some unique art on them. Of course, all the henna work was Sacramento Kings themed... which made it especially cool.

I actually met Ted at a Yelp Elite event I went to last week... and here we are meeting up with each other at the game! I'm pretty amazed at how social media sites can bring people together!

Here are some fellow fans I met not on Instagram, but at a Ben McLemore signing way back at the beginning of the season. We've since found each other on Instagram, but there are all sorts of ways to connect with people with technology... and I know Vivek is on the cutting edge of this sort of thing.

Yup! More from Instagram! Michelle is an amazing photographer - her wedding photography is especially awesome. Here she is with her two sons!

The Kings were wearing these special shooting jerseys during warm-ups. Yours truly liked them so much that he went and got one at the Team Store. You'll probably see me wearing it pretty soon.

A lot of the big name Lakers didn't play tonight - which is a good and a bad thing. You always want to see the best, but I'm fine with them being understaffed!

The Kings, and Ray McCallum in particular played very well. Demarcus had some foul trouble, but still managed to get a double double!

Rudy Gay was amazing in this game as he scored 31 points tonight. There is a lot of speculation on whether or not Rudy will stay in Sacramento next season. I sure hope he does!

The Kings Dancers put on a show tonight with some very special costumes. They looked great and performed beautifully on the court. They should bust these out more often!

There were two up-close shots that I really liked tonight. The first one is of Semaj in her blue/purple costume. She looks great... almost like she's going to do a some martial arts.

And the other up-close shot is of Corina. She's sporting the black costume, and she definitely is getting fierce as she does her moves for the Kings fans.

Vivek's daughter Anjali performed at halftime with the SKD. There was a moment when she pulled Vivek onto the court with her to dance! It was a very nice moment and performance that I think everyone enjoyed greatly. More of this please! Also, I ran into Morgan Ragan from KHTK as I was taking photos. That was pretty cool in and of itself!

I just had to include this pic. Our section had a competitor in the tricycle races tonight... and HE WON!!! Our entire section got free tacos. I think we were supposed to get free chicken nuggets... but I'll take tacos any day!