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There weren’t many basketball fans who had high expectations for the Sacramento King heading into the current NBA season, and while they got off to a solid start, it was fairly easy to write it off as a fluke…at least until it wasn’t.
When everything was said and done, the Kings clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 16 years and finished at the top of the Pacific Division thanks to the 48-34 record they posted under first-year coach Mike Brown (who recently became the first skipper to win Coach of the Year honors via a unanimous vote).
There are plenty of factors that played a role in Sacramento’s unexpected success, but it’s pretty hard to overlook the good luck charm known as “The Beam,” the giant ray of purple light that now shoots out of the top of the Golden 1 Center whenever the team secures a win.
It was easy to dismiss The Beam as a groan-inducing gimmick when it was initially introduced, but it was quickly embraced by fans and players alike (as evidenced by the “LIGHT THE BEAM” chant that now reverberates around the arena at the end of every victory).
“Light the beam” chants rain down in the closing seconds pic.twitter.com/OlH7T65Mrm
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 18, 2023
Of course, you can’t get popular without attracting at least a few haters—and The Beam recently found one in the form of noted troll Colin Cowherd.
Earlier this week, the talking head did what he could to rain on The Beam’s parade in a tweet where he stated it “feels like an egregious waste of energy.”
Light the Beam feels like an egregious waste of energy. Hopefully @GavinNewsom looks into it.
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) April 18, 2023
Based on his lengthy history of stirring the pot, it seems pretty likely Cowherd was just trying to ruffle some feathers by floating a claim he obviously didn’t even bother looking into before airing his grievances.
However, The Sacramento Bee was more than happy to do a little bit of research to see if his assertion had any merit, and the outlet discovered the six lasers that form The Beam consume the “same wattage needed to run one cycle of an average dishwasher.”
That’s obviously a drop in the bucket when you consider how much energy the arena uses to operate—and it’s even less of an issue when you consider the Golden 1 Center is entirely powered by solar energy.
Good job, good effort, Colin.