Sacramento Kings’ Introduction Video
The Sacramento Kings showed a stereotypical video of abandoned buildings and burned out cars while introducing the Detroit Pistons during a game on Tuesday. They have since issued an apology for showing the images, but there is still some discussion going on about it. I came across this ESPN Radio discussion about the video. Most people who called in sounded like they thought it was ok, mostly because Detroit isn’t really all that nice of a city, so it was funny to them. Some people, even a Pacers fan, thought it was a low blow.
I personally don’t feel offended, but it is bad sportsmanship, even though they say Sacramento pokes fun at other teams too. Yeah, Detroit does have a bad image. I can attest to that, because I recently saw what was probably a drug house, completely engulfed in flames while driving down the expressway. But it’s well known that Detroit has been trying to turn around its image in time for the Super Bowl this winter. There are literally thousands of great people volunteering their time to try to make downtown Detroit a better place, and this is a cheap shot to all of them. I was fortunate enough to meet a few of those people last winter during the Motown Winter Blast, and it’s amazing how positive their attitudes were! I really think the story this winter will be how much Detroit has done to change the image of the downtown area.
To whom this may concern,
I’m a 10 year veteran Police Officer of the Detroit Police Dept. and a longtime Detroit city resident. I have recently moved out of the city, along with a large number of the cities working population because, quite frankly, it appears to be a losing battle. I don’t understand why anyone would be offended by that intro video in Sacramento. I work in the city everyday. THE DEPICTION IS DEAD ON! In fact, from what my brother related to me (he was courtside at that game) It was a watered down version of what’s really going on. Time magazine was one of numerous publications who thought Detroit’s mayor was one of the nation’s worst and the citizens of Detroit voted him back into office last week even after he squandered millions of the taxpayer’s dollars (mostly on himself and his family) over his first term. This is just a sample of what’s going on in Detroit. I love my hometown, But it is the rectum of this nation. Take it from a cop who’s wife has been carjacked at gunpoint twice, and who’s house has been broken into a half a dozen times. No video in the world could make this city look any worst than it actually is.