R.E. Graswich

Writer and Editorial Team

About This Author

R.E. Graswich is a journalist, author and media expert. His book “Vagrant Kings” is the definitive history of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. He was Special Assistant to Mayor Kevin Johnson, managed the Sacramento Voices program for the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education and worked for the Sacramento Bee, CBS 13 and KFBK.

Articles by this author

Dead Heats

What a pathetic year in local sports. The Cal Expo Board of Directors and California Horse Racing Board destroyed horse racing and set the stage for Sacramento State University to embarrass itself.

Two sleepy state bureaucracies blew opportunities to expand thoroughbred and harness racing in Sacramento. Instead, they set aside a slice of Cal Expo for Sac State’s football fantasies.

Image Problems

I looked for Randy Paragary in an alley behind the Sheraton Grand Hotel and found Cesar Chavez. At least I think it was Cesar Chavez. It resembled him, though someone painted the name “Randy Paragary” under the mural.

Mistaken identity happens everywhere. Police lineups and courtrooms are notorious for confusing who was present when the gun went off. Some witnesses blame poor lighting. Or poor eyesight.

Which doesn’t mean I expect street murals to be precise representations of the people they wish to honor. A painting on the side of a building isn’t John Singer Sargent mixing bone black and lead white to produce skin tones for “Portrait of Madame X.”

Pedal Power

Sacramento finally has a mayor who knows when to shut up. Kevin McCarty gets the beauty of brevity. He realizes the less a politician says, the more people listen.

The city’s long-delayed levee bike path through Pocket, linking Freeport to Land Park, Downtown and the American River trail, gives McCarty the perfect platform to show off his talent for tight speeches.

When the City Council voted unanimously to approve the Environmental Impact Report for the levee bike trail, the mayor boiled a half-century of fences, gates, backroom deals and deceptions into one sentence.

Rebel’s Yell

Authors love to make news when their books come out, but John Burton went to extremes. Three days after his autobiography was published in September, Burton died.

The grand old California politician slipped away at 92, silenced after six decades of wrangling votes, calling in favors and raising hell across a legislative landscape that stretched from Pat Brown to Gavin Newsom.

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At least Burton lived long enough to hold hardcopies of his new book, “I Yell Because I Care.” His coauthor, Sacramento journalist Andy Furillo, helped arrange for a box of special editions from publisher Bloomsbury Academic.

Year Zero

The biggest off-season Kings news happened in July and had nothing to do with the Kings. This was rare for an NBA team that controls its destiny by driving off cliffs.

The news concerned Mike Brown, the coach fired by the Kings at Christmas. The dismissal was a gift for Brown, whose poorest career decision came in 2022 when he agreed to coach the Kings.

There was no doubt Brown would quickly resurface after he was shoved out by Kings lead owner Vivek Ranadive. The question was where Brown would land.

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