忠诚

Gabriel Baumgaertner

SACRAMENTO KINGS FANS REMAIN LOYAL DESPITE YEARS OF INSTABILITY， LOSING.

尽管经历多年的不稳定与失败，萨克拉门托国王队的球迷依然对球队保持忠诚。

Bob Dreizler， section 202 row B， usually glances at the mornings Sacramento Bee on his front porch. He doesnt want to stand too long outside in his underwear.

鲍勃·德雷兹勒，坐在202区的B排，他通常会在早上瞅一眼门厅里的《萨克拉门托蜜蜂报》。他不想穿着内裤站在屋外太久。

On Monday morning， he paused.

星期一早上，他停住了。

"Mike Malone fired？"

“迈克·马龙被炒了？”

Nancy Daley， section 115 row V， was alarmed to find some 300 new tweets on her timeline after finishing a Netflix① movie before falling asleep Sunday night. She learned why once she refreshed her browser.

南希·戴利，坐在1 15区的V排，周日晚上在Netflix上看了一场电影后准备睡觉时，她发现自己推特时间线上多了300条更新。刷新浏览器后，她明白怎么回事了。

"Malone fired？"

“马龙被炒了？”

Mark Drobny， center court Row D， found out by text message.

马克·德罗布尼坐在中间区域的D排，他是从短信上得知的这一消息的。

"Malone … fired？"

“马龙……被炒了？”

The most tortured group of NBA fans over the past decade， Sacramento Kings fans are now supporting their seventh coach （Tyrone Corbin） in eight seasons. Soon， they may meet number eight. Volatile， but respected， Malone arrived from Golden State 18 months ago， handpicked by owner Vivek Ranadive， who purchased the franchise from embattled former owners Gavin and Joe Maloof in 2013. The coach lasted only 107 games -- longer than three of his predecessors since Rick Adelman left the team in 2006.

作为过去十年NBA最受折磨的球迷团体，萨克拉门托国王的球迷们如今正在支持球队八个赛季里的第七个主教练（泰伦·科宾）。很快，他们可能就要面对第八个主教练了。马龙脾气火爆，却广受尊敬，18个月前，他从金州勇士来到国王，球队老板维维克·拉纳戴夫亲自选择了他。2013年，拉纳戴夫从四面楚歌的前老板加文·马鲁夫以及乔·马鲁夫手里买下了国王。马龙只维持了107场比赛——自从2006年里克·阿德尔曼离开后，马龙比他的三个前任延续的时间都要长。

"Can you even name the Kings coaches since Adelman？" asks Drobny， who has held his tickets since the team moved to Sacramento in 1985. Adelman led the team to eight playoff berths in his eight seasons in charge and built one of the NBAs most formidable franchises. When he departed， the team bottomed out. His successors （Eric Musselman， Reggie Theus， Kenny Natt， Paul Westphal and Keith Smart） were at the bottom -- or totally absent --from other teams wish lists. Few fans or season-ticket holders can remember them all.

“你能说出阿德尔曼后的国王教练吗？”德罗布尼问道，自从国王在1985年搬到萨克拉门托后，他就一直买票看比赛。阿德尔曼主管球队的八年里，他带领球队八次打进季后赛，他们是NBA最强大的球队之一。他离开后，球队沦陷了。他的继任者们（埃里克·穆塞尔曼、雷吉·托伊斯、肯尼·奈特、保罗·威斯特法尔和基斯·斯玛特）在其他球队的候选名单上全部排名垫底，甚至都看不到名字，所以也几乎没有球迷，或者季票持有人能记起他们的名字。

A group still bruised by the former owners attempts to move the team and exhausted by the grassroots effort to help save it， Sacramento fans -- once the jewel of the NBAs mid-market franchises -- must embrace a new coach， a new scheme， and another promise that they will， one day， be feared by the rest of the NBA. For most， their fondness lingers for the teams of the early-aughts. They try to name a nadir from the last decade， but there are too many bungled draft picks， expired contracts and relocation threats to remember.

这是一个仍然被前老板企图搬走球队伤害着的团体，试图依靠草根的努力拯救球队让他们更是精疲力尽。国王球迷——他们曾是NBA中型市场里最耀眼的明星——必须接纳一个新教练，一个新规划，以及又一个球队会再一次让全联盟感到恐惧的承诺。对于大多数人来说，他们对球队的喜爱已经消磨殆尽。他们试图找出过去十年中最糟糕的时刻，可是记忆中却有着太多糟糕的选秀、到期合同以及威胁搬迁球队的往事。

Scarred is one way to describe them. Dreizler has another term.

饱受创伤只是描述他们状态的一种形式，而德雷兹勒还有另一种说法。

"My son， Ross， and I have been going to Kings games for 25 years now，" he says. "Were that disturbed."

“我儿子罗斯和我已经看了25年国王的比赛。”他说，“我们就是这么不正常。”

Despite the Maloofs oppressive ownership -- the constant losing and fluctuating roster -- many returned fearing the departure of the citys one major professional franchise. While some fans renewed their season tickets， others purchased them just to try and keep the team in town. Once the most voracious fans in the NBA， some of the associations most devoted supporters were forced to watch a roster full of lackluster players claw their way to one fruitless season after another.

尽管有着马鲁夫兄弟令人压抑的管理——持久的失败，永远变动的阵容——但很多回来看球的人担心的却是，他们会失去城市里重要的一支职业球队。虽然有球迷继续购买季票，但其他人买票只是为了让球队继续留在自己的城市。他们曾经是NBA里最强大的球迷，作为联盟中最忠实的球迷，如今他们却被迫看着了无生趣的阵容，在一个又一个无果的赛季中挣扎。

For some， the firing of Malone revived that familiar trauma of instability fostered by the Maloofs neglect.

对于一些人来说，炒掉马龙重新唤起了人们因为马鲁夫家族的忽视，而导致球队不稳定所引起的创伤。

For others， it was confidence that Ranadive and his new ownership group were committed to the promise of winning. But can that happen by firing another coach -- the third midseason dismissal in the last seven seasons-- only 25 games in？

而对于其他人而言，他们是相信拉纳戴夫和他的新所有权集团的，他们相信管理层致力于赢球的承诺。但这能通过在赛季只进行25场比赛，就再次炒掉一名教练来实现吗？这是他们过去七个赛季里第三次在赛季中炒掉教练了。

"We have this saying among Kings fans called Being Maloofed， says Laura Good， section 202 row E， who supported Malones ouster. "And when Malone was fired， that phrase started popping up again."

“我们国王球迷中有一种说法，叫‘被马鲁夫了。”坐在202区E排的劳拉·古德说，她支持赶走马鲁夫家族，“当马龙被炒时，这种说法又一次出现了。“

The Kings entered this season with a bonafide star （DeMarcus Cousins）， a pure scorer （Rudy Gay）， a blossoming talent （Ben McLemore） and an upand-coming coach. Though not a playoff contender in a stacked Western Conference， the Kings are rich with promising talent and feature one of the NBAs most intriguing rosters. Malone， a fierce leader who earned praise for helping engineer the Warriors turnaround， appeared an ideal fit. He nurtured a mercurial star in Cousins， engendered a loyalty in his players and garnered respect after working with USA Basketball this past summer.

这个赛季开始时，国王有一个真正的球星（德马库斯·考辛斯），一个纯得分手（鲁迪·盖伊），一个正在爆发的新人（本·麦克勒莫），还有一个积极进取的主教练。尽管在强队如云的西部算不上季后赛球队，但国王阵容却有前途似锦的新人，而且有着全联盟最让人心动的阵容。马龙是一个无所畏惧的领袖，因为帮助勇士焕然一新，他赢得了外界的赞赏，看上去他适合这支球队。他安抚了一个脾气变化无常的球星考辛斯，在球员中树立了忠诚的概念，过去这个夏天，加入美国国家队还让他赢得了尊重。

The project looked successful when the Kings started the season 9-5 and began fulfilling a starved， relentlessly passionate fanbase that last enjoyed a winning season eight seasons and six coaches ago. But after Cousins fell violently ill with viral meningitis and missed 10 games， the Kings lost eight of them. After the seventh loss， Malone was out of a job and the Kings， again， were in flux.

当国王打出9胜5负的开局时，球队看上去取得了成功，并且满足了渴望成功、永远充满激情的球迷们的愿望，这些球迷上一次享受到胜利赛季的喜悦，还要追溯到八个赛季和六个主教练之前。但在考辛斯因为严重的脑膜炎病倒并且缺席10场比赛时，国王输掉了其中9场。第七场失利过后，马龙丢掉了工作，国王再一次处于变动之中。

Most inside the basketball world saw the firing as a brash， tone-deaf move， especially since Malone didnt have his best player on the floor. Some fans were displeased that it occurred one game before the Kings were set to retire three-point legend Peja Stojakovics number. But a sub-.500 record is unacceptable under the new ownership.

大多数篮球圈内人将解雇马龙视为鲁莽、盲目的行为，在马龙手下最好的球员无法上场的情况下，作出如此决定让一切变得更不可思议。一些球迷对此很不高兴，因为这距离国王退役三分传奇佩贾·斯托贾科维奇的球衣只差了一场比赛。但在新老板眼中，胜率低于50%是不可接受的。

Losing -- any losing -- is unacceptable to Vivek Ranadive.

失利——任何失利——对于维维克·拉纳戴夫而言都是不可接受的。

"Malone seemed to be doing a really good job with the team，" Dreizler says. "The last three or four games were really sad. But just because they played terribly against Detroit， is that really a reason to fire the coach？"

“马龙似乎做得很不错。”德雷兹勒说，“过去三四场比赛确实很让人伤心，但仅仅因为他们对活塞时打得很糟糕，这真的就是炒掉教练的理由吗？”

Carmichael Dave， a prominent Sacramento sports radio host and former leader of the "Here We Stay" campaign to keep the Kings in town， posted a Twitter poll asking fans if they supported the firing -- 228 out of 252 responders said no. Good， a social media maven who lauds the Kings unparalleled community support， posted a poll where 88 percent of responders answered "angry" or "uncertain" to the news of Malones ouster.

卡尔迈克尔·戴夫是萨克拉门托著名的体育电台主持人，也是将国王留下来的“我们留在这里”运动的领袖，他在自己的推特上发起投票，询问球迷是否支持解雇教练的决定——252个参与的人中有228个表示反对。很好，一个称赞国王拥有无与伦比球迷支持的社交媒体专家，在他发起的一个投票中，有88%的人对马龙被炒的新闻表示“愤怒”或“不确定”。

Sacramento， state capital and the apex of Californias central valley， is a sprawling metropolis of 475，000 that， according to Dreizler， "everybody passes through there， but not everybody stays. The running joke is that were about two hours away from every great place in California."

萨克拉门托，加州首府，也是加州山谷的中心，城市区域有475000英尺，据德雷兹勒说，“每个人都会经过这里，但没人留下来。我们经常说的一个笑话就是，我们距离加州每一处好地方都差着两个小时的车程。”

"My grandson got a Tyreke Evans jersey for Christmas a couple years ago，" Driezler says. "He was fun to watch. But now hes gone， too."

“我孙子几年前圣诞节得到了一件泰雷克·埃文斯的球衣。”德雷兹勒说，“看他打球很有趣。但他现在也走了。”

"Malones firing was unfortunate，" Daley says. "But at least hes our coach to fire， not Seattles."

"马龙被炒很不幸。"戴利说，"但至少他是我们可以炒的教练，不是西雅图的。"

On the night of Stojakovics jersey retiring， the first game of the postMalone era， Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away late in the fourth quarter to send the Kings to their tenth loss in 12 games. The irony of losing to the NBAs new mid-market darlings on a night honoring a team legend was bitter. Their NBA-worst eight seasons without a playoff berth will likely become nine come April.

斯托贾科维奇球衣退役的那天晚上，也就是后马龙时代的第一场比赛，凯文·杜兰特和雷霆在第四节最后发力，让国王吃到了最近12场比赛中的第9场败仗。在一个向球队传奇致敬的夜晚输给了NBA新的中型球市宠儿，这种讽刺感无疑是苦涩的。他们在NBA中最差的连续八个赛季未能进入季后赛的纪录，可能在四月要变成九了。

"You know， I bet $20 every year that the Kings are going to win the title，" Dreizler says. "This year the odds were 200-1."

“你知道，每年我都会压20块钱，赌国王能赢得总冠军。”德雷兹勒说，“今年的赔率是200比1。”

But he still made the bet.

但他仍去下了注。

①Netflix是付费电影电视剧网站，也是美国最有影响力的影视网站之一，《纸牌屋》就是这一网站拍摄的电视剧。