‘This feels illegal’: UCLA lit the beam in NCAA tournament — and not all Kings fans are happy

Jason Anderson
·2 min read

Los Angeles didn’t like Sacramento’s cowbells when the Kings and Lakers warred over Western Conference supremacy at the turn of the century, but apparently they love the beam.

The UCLA men’s basketball team borrowed the wildly popular Kings victory beam after punching its ticket to the Sweet 16 with a win over Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament’s Sacramento sub-regional last weekend at Golden 1 Center. The Bruins took to social media to post a doctored image of Golden 1 Center with UCLA blue trimmings and a blue beam shooting into the sky.

“LIGHT THE BEAM!” the team tweeted. “The Bruins (31-5) have advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive season with tonight’s win against Northwestern at the @Golden1Center in Sacramento.”

The Bruins bowed out of the tournament with a 79-76 loss to Gonzaga on Thursday in Las Vegas, but not before showing that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Their tweet elicited a variety of responses from Kings and Bruins fans.

“As a NorCal native, Kings fans, and Bruin alum, I’ll allow it,” @j_legs replied.

“As a die hard Sacramento Kings fan and UCLA Bruin, this brings a tear to my eye,” @Y0ung_Gloud88 tweeted.

However, not everyone was willing to share.

Twitter user @mynameiskane issued a “cease and desist” order in the comments section.

Another Twitter user, @HereWeKangz, replied: “Get your own thing.”

Others responded: “Not your beam,” “this feels illegal,” and “Nah delete this! The beam is purple!”

UCLA coach Mick Cronin enjoyed the atmosphere in Sacramento and his team’s run through the first two rounds of the tournament at Golden 1 Center.

Cronin harkened back to a time when Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber and Vlade Divac took the Kings to the brink of an NBA championship — if only they hadn’t been stopped by the Lakers in a controversial seven-game series in the 2002 Western Conference finals.

Those were rollicking good times in Sacramento. Cronin said it’s nice to see a resurgence as coach Mike Brown, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis lead the Kings back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

“The Kings are really good,” Cronin said. “Mike Brown is a great guy, a great coach. Sabonis is pretty good. I have a feeling it’s going to be rocking again like Vlade and Peja were out there come playoff time.”

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