Holiday Chaos and Joy

Being a professional athlete has its perks, don’t get me wrong. Being paid well to do something you love and would play for fun, regardless, along with the adoring fans, being able to travel all across our own country and not to mention all over the world to countries like France, Italy, China and others! But let’s be realistic, being a professional athlete around the holidays is not much fun.

For instance, the Kings are in the middle of an eight-day, four-game trip. The rest of us are running around trying desperately to finish up our holiday shopping while fighting the crowds, planning our trips home to see our families or readying our own homes in anticipation of hosting our families. And if your family is anything like mine, the simple thought of spending four days with 30 people, eight of which are young children, as well as 12 dogs… well, I’m already getting a headache just thinking about it! Even though the holidays are synonymous with stress and self medicating, be it chocolate or adult beverages, I wouldn’t trade them for the world. But the professional sports world doesn’t necessarily recognize holidays! 

Those of you who love great Christmas movies, you have to see “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ll give you the “Reader’s Digest” version. Crosby and Astaire are in the entertainment industry and Crosby decides he wants to leave the industry to live life on a farm. He quickly finds out life on the farm is a lot more labor intensive than he expected and he decides to get the best of both worlds by turning his farm into an inn that is only open on holidays! The night of his last performance, Crosby asks Astaire if he even knows what a holiday is. They’re “days of rest!” he replies. “But when you’re in show business, it likely means you give an extra performance!”

Athletes are no different than entertainers or performers. Take the Christmas Day match-up between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers or the Thanksgiving Day football games — the list goes on and on! It’s only one of the reasons I’m so thrilled to be an average person these days. During this holiday, when all the teams all over the world are lacing up their sneakers and throwing on their game and practice gear for another day at the office, I will be cuddled up on the couch with one of my nieces or nephews surrounded by my loud and frequently overbearing family and a dozen or so animals… and I will be loving every last ear-piercing minute of it!

Happy Holidays to you and yours! May they be filled with chaos and joy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kayte’s Caption, November 14, 2008

Today’s winning caption:

“If he doesn’t stop humming ‘Short People’ I’m gonna bite his kneecap.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s how to submit your caption suggestions:

1.  Leave a comment.

2.  Text ‘Kayte’ to 69866

3.  Or, click here to submit.

Kayte’s Caption, November 12, 2008

Today’s winning caption:

“Kaman at ya’.”

-submitted by Dusty from Sacramento

Thanks to everyone who participated.  

I’ll have another caption later in the week.

Hello

Hey Kings fans!! 

By now, you have probably seen me on House Party Live with Koz, Fat and Henry on Kings TV. I was hired at the beginning of the season to attempt to fill the shoes of Kara Lawson. Considering she is an All-Star for the hometown Monarchs as well as an analyst for ESPN, they’re not easy shoes to fill. Fortunately, working with Koz, Fat and Henry has made my transition into broadcasting amazingly simple.

While the Kings season is winding down, I am about to start my seventh WNBA season in the middle of this month, so analyzing basketball is something I’ve been doing for years. As a player, your job is to do just that — analyze. Analyze yourself, your team and your opponents. I’ve been playing for so long now it seems like second nature! Aside from broadcasting, basketball has brought numerous opportunities and sparked all kinds of interests — one being writing! So this new blog on Kings.com is not my first go-round in the blogosphere!

I started blogging for my college team at UC Santa Barbara. My posts were usually about topics pertaining to off-court things, in an attempt to allow fans to see athletes from a very different and, usually, more entertaining perspective. One of my favorite posts in college was the result of living with four other girls, three of which were teammates, and their reaction to a mouse in our house! Having grown up on a farm, I’ll just say my reaction was much different than my city dwelling roommates! I had so much fun blogging at UCSB that I decided to continue blogging when I made it to the WNBA, blogging for both my team and WNBA.com. I also had the opportunity to freelance for the Arizona Republic while playing for the Phoenix Mercury which allowed me to write on topics that the WNBA may have found slightly controversial. As you have probably seen on HPL, I enjoy sharing my opinions on all subjects!

With my role on HPL, it’s only natural that I can now share my thoughts with Kings fans about all things Kings and hopefully many other topics in the months to come on Kings.com! To conclude my first post, here are a few thoughts I have about the Kings and the last two weeks of the season.

In my personal opinion, the Kings season has been a success on many levels while also slightly disappointing, as will always happen, on others. It’s been a season highlighted by giving, in the eyes of many, what may be considered inexperienced coaches and players, opportunity as well as taking chances and risks. The team has had to deal with adversity and fought to prove that it’s not always about the best group of athletes being assembled, rather about making the group you have the best team. I have always believed that having all of the very best players assembled on one team, no matter what sport, does not mean that they will make the best team. I believe the Kings have been an example of this in 2007-08. Players suffered injuries, players were traded, players who never had court time were handed the reins and proved what trust and opportunity combined, can create — a hard working and exciting team! That is why I feel this season, without glancing over at the win/loss column — as most sports fans, media, coaches and players tend to do — has been a success.

So what can we look forward to in the last days of the season? Again, I am sticking with my theme of opportunity. I think, you will see some of the young players, who haven’t had a ton of court-time this season, see their fair share of minutes. Even though most Kings fans wish we were vying for that increasingly-difficult-to-obtain spot in the Western Conference playoff race, the remaining games are about a chance for some young players to gain some experience. And who knows, maybe they’ll show there is something the Kings can’t live without next season. Sport is not always about numbers and totals. It’s about chance and ceasing OPPORTUNITY.