Viva la George

“The stone that the builder refused..will always be the head cornerstone” – Bob Marley 

George Karl was already Sacramento’s biggest celebrity even before he set a toe in California’s capitol city, and drew up his first pick and pop play at Sleep Train Arena.

Karl arriving in Sacramento is like our version of The Beatles getting off the jet at Kennedy International Airport in 64′ to go on the Ed Sullivan Show, but  to be fair to The Beatles, Karl didn’t have three other guys sharing the workload here.

From a Sacramento fans’ perspective, Karl was brought in to right what was the sinking ship of the Kings. The last time Karl was leading an NBA team, he was exiting stage right in another early playoff exit at the hands of Stephen Curry and the then-upstart Golden State Warriors. Last night, he was on the floor celebrating his first win as Sacramento’s third head coach this season, and witnessed what might be the first signs of total rebirth in the land of the Cows.

The beautiful thing about the Karl hire is that he gets it …. all of it … every part of it, and even more importantly, Karl loves Sacramento, and he’s not afraid to show it.

We live in a sports world today  where it seems as if everybody tries their best to contain enthusiasm.  They give the fans, media, and analysts what would seem to be scripted answers, never getting away from their poker face; “God forbid I get to excited and show media and fans I actually care, that might make me a bad coach,” like poker face.

But that isn’t what George Karl is about, not by a long shot. No one matches the man’s passion, his craving to make this team great, and his will to make a team better than it once was.

He knows what once made this franchise a special basketball commodity. The fans, the noise, the excitement, the atmosphere, and he encourages it. Karl’s near demand to bring back the famed cowbells (more on those bells later this week) was followed up by a huge Twitter wildfire with Kings’ fans who are inching to bring them back into one of the loudest arenas in the NBA:

And the team that used to seem like it had been mourning a funeral for the past 40 or so games, didn’t look like it last night whatsoever in the victory against Boston.

The Kings who showed up last night were the ones who played the first 24 games of the season, the team that played with a sense of passion, joy, and enthusiasm that had not been seen since the departure of Mike Malone.

Forget x’s and o’s for a minute and look at what Karl is trying to establish for the remainder of the season. His main goal is to bring back the fun to Sacramento, to remind this team of what it’s like to enjoy playing basketball again. From the persistent smiles on the bench, last night looked like the Kings are finally back on the right track to finding joy in their pursuit of basketball happiness.

In a little over a week, George Karl took the Kings organization, roster and fanbase, from total depression to instant jubilation and exhilaration. What once was the sound of silence has turned into one huge rendition of Uptown Funk. He’s won over the fanbase, the City and the team.

Now he just needs to keep up the winning and everything else will fall right into place.