Welcome to the refreshed Sactown Royalty! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you’d like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card [contest rules]. We’re collecting all of the stories here [https://www.sbnation.com/why-we-are-fans] and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!

If you're a fan of the Sacramento Kings in the year 2017, there’s a story behind it. There are no bandwagon fans here. They left for the bay a long time ago. So how did we get here? For me, it started in the early 90s.

I grew up in Sacramento during the Mitch Richmond era. I was by no means a die-hard, but I really liked Brian Grant, and Tyus Edney, and of course The Rock. But my early fandom was limited. I went to my first Kings game when I was 6. I still have the ticket stubs, and I recall a handful of games in the years that followed. But the Kings weren't good, and it seemed odd that my town had a team. Sacramento wasn't what I thought of as a big city. At least not like the other cities that had NBA teams.

The next chapter of my Kings fandom involved me essentially missing the glory years. I moved to Colorado in 1998. While the rest of the city was falling in love with the Kings, I was reading about them from afar. League Pass wasn’t an option. The internet made screeching noises and took several minutes. The Kings were finally good, and I missed out on most of it.

I was able to reconnect with the Kings as they defended back into mediocrity. I found Sactown Royalty around the time when Ron Artest and Kevin Martin were carrying the team to the 8th seed. A year or two later I bought League Pass for the first time. Suddenly I could watch games again. And more importantly, I could talk with fellow Kings fans.

Why am I a Kings fan? Because of Sactown Royalty. Because of all of you. It's that simple. The community matters to me as much as the team. As we embark upon another rebuild, I'm thankful we have each other.

Legal Stuff:

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