Rise & Opine offers opinions on opinions being offered across California, three days a week.
Opinions
Chris Megerian of the Los Angeles Times offers this declarative statement in a news story about the Kings: "The pending loss of Sacramento's only big-league sports franchise is a blow to a city with a long-standing inferiority complex."
Oh darn. The secret is out. I had really hoped the Times wouldn't reveal that we all feel like losers in Sacramento, every single one of us. If anything, Megerian didn't convey just how morose we really are here. Our persistent sense of inadequacy is palpable. Just walk down the street and ask anyone how they feel. "Inferior" is the answer. And if the Kings leave? That will be it for this city. We might as well just commit collective suicide because, as everyone knows, a pro team is really what defines a city, right?
I searched through Megerian's news story for the factual basis to back up his conclusion. Perhaps there has been an academic study on Sacramento's inferiority complex I had missed? Perhaps a poll or some other data to provide basis for his assertion?
Nadda -- just a blanket statement by a reporter who has been in Sacramento since January of last year.
Perhaps I should give Megerian a pass. Perhaps he was pressured by an editor in Los Angeles to write the "Sacramento-has-a-longstanding-inferiority-complex" story. So I will address this missive to his bosses: Is it possible that the leading newspaper in California's largest city could do a story about Sacramento that doesn't fall back on shop-worn stereotypes?
Deadline
Today is the deadline to comment on a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plan to raise Shasta Dam so it can store more water for federal water contractors. Find more information here.
Did you miss it?
-- In an editorial Sunday, The Bee takes the Obama administration to task for uneven prosecution of marijuana crimes, in particular a legal battle it is waging against Mendocino County.
-- Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna and former Supervisor Sandy Smoley offer opposing takes on the Cordova Hills project, which supervisors will consider Tuesday.
-- Cartoonist Jack Ohman pokes fun at Gov. Jerry Brown and his reliance on a little known state agency, the California Department of Quotations.
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