Jim Rome may be a national voice, but he holds a unique admiration towards the fans and city of Sacramento.
Rome enjoyed his first visit to Golden 1 Center last week. He raved about the current appeal of the Kings new downtown home.
“Much has changed,” he said with a smile during a one-on-one interview with Kings.com. “Much has changed since I’ve last been here. Nothing ever lives up to the hype. I’ve heard so much about this house. It smashed the hype. This is a spectacular building.”
Based out of Los Angeles, Rome occasionally takes his nationally syndicated radio show around the country. Throughout all of his travel however, no place has made him feel more at home than Sactown.
“These are some of the nicest, most real people I’ve ever come across in my life and in my business,” Rome said. “These are good people. They’re hard working people. They’ve supported my show; they’ve supported me.
“When I came to the ARCO Arena, we had 17,000 people who came to see me, some knuckle head talking and interviewing athletes,” he continued. “So I’ve always felt the love here and I appreciate that. You need that. Somebody in my position, you need the fans to say, ‘hey you’re my guy, I got your back’ and I feel that as much in Sacramento as much as I do anywhere in America.”
The nationally syndicated sports broadcaster also spoke positively about this year’s Kings team. Rome said he sees flashes of a team that could potentially make the postseason.
“I think when I watch the Kings, there are nights where I’m like they’re a Playoff team,” Rome said. “As tough as the West is, they’re going to be fine, but then there are other nights where maybe they don’t look like a Playoff team.
“It’s a process,” he continued. “They’re learning to figure it out. If they come out and grind every single night, I think they have a good look at it. But, they can’t give away any more games.”
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