Let’s be honest here, the news coming out of Anaheim and Mayor Kevin Johnson’s office hasn’t exactly been music to Kings fans’ ears. To update you, the OC mayor is happy and Kevin Johnson is sad. Here are a couple of samples for those of you out there who enjoy pain.
“The good news is that we are continuing to move closer to bringing a professional basketball team to Anaheim,” Tait said. “Because there are ongoing discussions and negotiations, I have just a few details to share tonight. More information will be forthcoming in the next week or so.”
-OC Mayor Tom Tait
Tait goes on to say, “I am very excited.” His enthusiasm, matched with this line from Mayor Johnson should tell the whole story.
It feels like a slow death.
-Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
Is it just me or does KJ remind anybody of this guy:
Get out of the way dude. We’re all going to die Mayor Johnson, the question is and will always be when. Since no one knows that answer, let’s get busy living.
Now we get the news that the secret, last ditch effort by local businessmen, has been rejected by the Maloofs. Time is running out fast as Anaheim has gone as far as to produce an unsigned lease agreement that includes a 50 million dollar loan to the Maloofs for relocation expenses. Those expenses include another loan that the Maloof family will have to repay to the city of Sacramento – a loan which might be the last bastion of hope for Kings fans.
So we need some ideas Kings fans. How do we stem the tide? How do we lure the Maloofs back to the city that technically, they still reside in?
We need financial help. Big financial help. Like $67 million in financial help and that’s just for starters. We need someone to help us out and make this document go away. Sure, that seems like a huge amount of money, but let’s be honest here, we are dealing with dollar figures the average person can’t even imagine. I have been told that in investment circles, $67 million is a reasonable figure. So we need some ideas on how the city of Sacramento can relieve the Maloofs of this debt as part of a bigger investment/development plan. We need the Maloofs to accept this as a token of the City of Sacramento’s undeniable devotion to accomplishing something in a specific time frame – say 18 months, to break ground on a new sports and entertainment facility with a completion date somewhere around 2015.
We need this document to go away, we need the Taylor/Icon group to finish a preliminary study with financing options and we need the Mayor to turn from town crier, to town salesman.
Greatness can only be achieved in the face of adversity. If this isn’t adversity (in our local world), then I don’t know what is. So who wants to step up and achieve greatness? Right now, Tom Tait is the leader in the clubhouse. Does Sacramento have someone who is willing to step up and snatch victory from the hands of defeat?
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