Channing Frye wins the battle, Sacramento wins the war

Last night's game was a tough one. And by "tough" I mean miserable. We never led, Ron Artest had more steals than the Red and Black combined, we shot 38% from the field and our starting lineup committed 16 turnovers. But hey, we did out-rebound the Kings 43-37. That's something ... I guess. Basically, we got served.

But there was a small bit of vindication that took place in Sacramento. Channing Frye, after taking a bit of heat from John Q. Kingsfan for saying California's capital was a less than enjoyable destination, found out first-hand that his impressions of Sac-town were basically right on the money. From Jason Quick's Behind the beat blog:

The two (Channing Frye and Bobby Medina) went to see "The Bank Job" at a theater that Frye couldn't recall, other than to say it was within walking distance of the team's downtown hotel and near a set of train tracks. When the movie started, Frye was comfortable with his popcorn and soda when Medina excused himself briefly. As Medina left, Frye swore he saw something scurry underneath his seat, but he dismissed it.

When Medina returned, another flash of movement rustled underneath their seats, prompting Medina to ask "Did you see that?"

"It was a rat,'' Frye said.

The two moved and reseated themselves near the top of the theater ... in front of what Frye described as a "passed out homeless person". Intrigued, Frye illuminated his cell phone and leaned back to get a closer look at the man.

"He was just out, head to the side,'' Frye said, shaking his head.

After the movie --"it was OK", Frye said-- the two returned back to the hotel on foot, albeit nervously because of the number of homeless people.

"I have nothing against homeless people, but these guys were crazy,'' Frye said. "We were turning our heads back every few steps.''

I've got two questions.

First, how does a theater showing first-run movies have rats? Maybe at one of those $1.50 theaters (though I've been to many a cheap movie and have never seen any rodents), but at a legit operation in a downtown area? That's disgusting. If I were Channing and Bobby, I would have asked for a hantavirus inoculation and my money back.

Secondly, they let the homeless sleep in theaters in Sacramento? Is that some kind of experimental program to reduce panhandling? Did he have to pay admission? Don't they have ushers at theaters in Sacramento? I can understand sleeping in a bus station or in an abandon building, but at the 10:45 showing of "The Bank Job"? That's unbelievable.

I'm sure Sacramento has more to offer than rodent infestations and movie-going indigents. It has to. But after reading this story, I think some of those Kings fans who left the unsavory comments on Channing's blog owe him an apology.