by Charlie O

SACRAMENTO–Kings head coach George Karl coached his first two games against the Boston Celtics in Sacramento and his second game in L.A. versus the Clippers with different results. Nobody really knew quite what to expect many reporters haven’t in Sacramento haven’t been able to cover Karl that much but you see the persona on television.

Head coaches are suppose to be friendly and their suppose to be nice and their suppose to be fun guys on ESPN. Many were on hand to see what their first impressions were with Karl at the helm. I got a chance to be at his pre game conference for his first game last Friday night which is set 90 minutes ahead of the tip.

It was really interesting to me it was a tremendous media circus there were about 50 reporters there instead of the normal four to five your would have in the coaches office before the game. One of the things he talked about he was really overwhelmed by the reception he was getting from media in Sacramento with the coverage.

I really believed that he was indeed overwhelmed in that first game as head coach for the Kings. That was carried out even more when he was introduced to the crowd during the intros. You can tell he was just taken aback from the way the crowd responded to him. Sacramento is a really unique town, it’s an NBA town.

That’s because it’s an NBA only town, the Kings are the only show in town, there’s the minor league soccer team the Republic FC, the minor league baseball Rivercats, and a former UFL team the Mountain Lions. Sacramento is a one team market like Memphis, Oklahoma City, or like Portland. It is the big thing in Sacramento and you could tell almost immediately that he has been caught up into how important his role is to the fans and the sporting community in Sacramento.

Karl is aware the fans obviously care about this team and what their going to do and it was a nice introduction. I liked his attitude and the way he handled the press. It was a real scrum because you had everybody out covering it there were people there that I haven’t seen at a Kings game in the last two years that I’ve been covering the Kings. He handled it with grace and he really made people feel like he cared.

Charlie O covers Sacramento Kings basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com catch his podcast below