The Sacramento v. Seattle battle over the Kings spilled into the NFC Championship game on Sunday.
The NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks had a little fan history that went beyond football.
For many in Northern California, particularly in Sacramento, the matchup brought back memories of the fight between Sacramento and Seattle over the Kings.
49ers fans had a decent turnout at the game, and a few of them were Kings fans as well. One photo that has been circulating on the Internet is of a fan wearing a Chris Webber jersey in the midst of the Seahawks crowd at CenturyLink Field. The image has been making the rounds on social media so I decided to reach out to the fan in the photo, Rich Biermann-Smith, to get his account of how the crowd took his display of affection for the team Seattle tried to turn into the Sonics last year.
Biermann-Smith is a Sacramento native who traveled to Seattle for the game with a group of 12 other 49ers fans. During halftime, Seattle rapper and Sonics fan Macklemore performed. That's when Biermann-Smith shed his 49ers gear for his Webber jersey.
"I heard a lot of the traditional insults: ‘Kings suck', 'queens', all that," he said. "A guy sitting behind me all game had claimed to be an old high school buddy of Chris Hansen, so I knew I had to really get at this guy big time. He absolutely flipped his lid when he saw the jersey."
The Seahawks, of course, defeated the 49ers 23-17, but Biermann-Smith and his friend, who was sporting a Brian Grant Kings jersey, left the stadium with their heads held high and hit the streets of Seattle. Aside from a few fans who got riled up over the jerseys, he said they "actually got a ton of love from all the fans in Seattle" for supporting the 49ers and loving the Kings.
"Anybody who I engaged with would always tell me that they are glad that they didn't steal the Kings away from us and that they hope to get an expansion team," Biermann-Smith said of fans at the game.
The humility from Seattle fan is good to hear, I hope they get an expansion team as well. And way to represent Rich!