Leading Off

Think of the 28 seasons since the Kings came to Sacramento from Kansas City. They went to the playoffs just 10 times, and they had a winning record just eight times.

At the end of a media day full of cameras, note pads and tape recorders – and two elementary school-age interviewers – on Monday afternoon, River Cats manager Steve Scarsone stopped, looked around and offered a question right back to the group:

Is there anything better than Opening Day of baseball season?

Zak Basch, the River Cats' executive in charge of public relations, is hissing mad – or whatever it is cats do when they get angry.

Today is the final day in Arizona for the Giants and A's before returning to the Bay Area for the three-game Bay Bridge series beginning Thursday, a day off Sunday, then their season openers Monday.

Sixteen sweet reasons to love Florida Gulf Coast and its basketball team:

Luke, a midtown Sacramento resident and longtime Giants fan, took exception via email last week when I proclaimed the 49ers as the most beloved pro sports team in Northern California.

The NCAA Tournament is in San Jose this weekend, with games Thursday and Saturday.

So you're planning to take in Friday's CIF Division I boys championship between Pleasant Grove High School and Santa Monica?

Having been nominated for 15 Academy Awards as an actor, director and producer, Warren Beatty isn't used to playing the supporting role to some Joe from the coal-mining town of Monongahela, Pa.

It's only fitting that there are now four No. 1s – Louisville, Gonzaga, Kansas and Indiana – in the NCAA Tournament since no men's college basketball team seemed to want the top honor for long during the 2012-13 season.

Sure, it's a cliché, but it really is March Madness, even if those two words started as a marketing ploy of the NCAA to pump up interest in the men's basketball tournament.

Daimon Shelton still looks like a fullback.

Anquan Boldin, acquired by the 49ers this week for a sixth-round draft pick, could be the latest veteran receiver to change teams late in his career and thrive.

If DeMarcus Cousins was limping up and down the court for the Kings but refused to tell team doctors where he was hurting and refused treatment, do you think management would continue to allow him to play?

Sacramento State men's basketball coach Brian Katz might not admit it, but getting to the Big Sky Conference tournament – which the Hornets failed to do for a seventh consecutive season – would have been good enough.

After Mayor Kevin Johnson formally announced that Mark Mastrov and Ron Burkle were the "whales" leading a Sacramento group trying to buy the Kings and keep them in town, the vibe over the team's future seemed to have brightened, even if the odds still remained long.

All of our baseball expert friends say the World Baseball Classic is a big deal, but we're not feeling the excitement – at least not yet.

Some highlights from a few days in Scottsdale, Ariz., enjoying the sun-drenched circus that is spring training:

The Black Hole in Oakland no longer resides in the end-zone seats at the Coliseum, but rather along the Raiders' defensive line.

If Darrelle Revis returns healthy from the season-ending surgery he had five months ago for a torn ACL, should the 49ers trade their first two draft picks – Nos. 31 and 34 – for the New York Jets' All-Pro cornerback?

We're nearing the end of Jimmer Fredette's second season with the Kings, and it's still unclear if the guard is talented enough to have a long and successful career in the NBA.

Yes, the tickets are pricey, but so are the pints of pilsner folks consume during happy hour or the espressos we cannot seem to function without.

Most of the recent Kings news has been about "whales," arenas and losing, but there is one thing the Kings can win this season – the top spot in the NBA draft – when the lottery balls drop on May 21.