Folsom restaurant, city figures show support for Kings ahead of Game 5 against Warriors
Some of Folsom bleeds purple ahead of next game in the Kings-Warriors NBA playoff series.
Game 5 at7 p.m. Wednesday will break a 2-2 tie in the first-round showdown and determine who advances — the defending NBA champions or the upstart and fast-paced capital squad. The city of Folsom is showing its support for the Kings in a number of ways.
Back Bistro, a restaurant and bar in the Palladio, features the “Back Beam” cocktail as an endorsement to the Purple and Black, a reference to the beacon that shines should it win. It contains gin, fresh lemon, fresh lime, house-made blueberry puree, and a sugar rim, lemon and mint garnish, according to Garrett Foerstel, a bartender at the restaurant.
The drink is on the sweeter side, he said, and a splash of mint and citrus from a lemon garnish make it a refreshing experience. The gin does not overpower the drink but provides euphoria enough to think maybe the Kings might just pull ahead on Wednesday.
Foerstel said Trevor Canova, a bar manager at the establishment, came up with the drink.
“We all grew up in Folsom and Sacramento, so it’s been a part of our life for as long as we’ve known sports,” Foerstel said.
TVs are installed in the regular bar and available to private parties and members of the restaurant’s Whiskey Club, a tiered, paid membership that gets access to the restaurant’s special-edition whiskeys. Foerstel said occasionally this season, Back Bistro has been packed with customers watching the game.
Political backing, sort of
Assemblyman Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, said he has been a Kings fan since the late ’90s, when his family moved to the capital region.
He said then he loved watching the golden years of Kings basketball.
If he considers the 2022-23 season a repeat of the “golden years,” that may soon come to an end.
Fox suffered the injury with roughly over four minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Sunday when Golden State guard Jordan Poole was called for a non-shooting foul on Fox as he drove to the basket. Fox continued to the basket for a layup attempt after the whistle, and Warriors center Kevon Looney swatted at the ball, making contact with Fox’s left hand.
“I think De’Aaron is the heart of the team, and we are in trouble if he doesn’t play,” Hoover said.
Going into Game 5, he thinks the Kings will find victory, but it will not be easy.
“I think it’s a must-win for the Kings, but I think they are up for the challenge,” he said.
Longtime support
Scott Spiegelman, 62, owns Money Mailer of Folsom and El Dorado County, a direct mail company that ships postcards, coupons and letters. He said he moved to Sacramento from Santa Rosa in 1987 to attend Sacramento State and became a Kings season ticket holder with his brother.
He said he was a Warriors fan at first, but watching Sacramento game after game back then turned him.
“I grew up a Warriors fan,” Spiegelman said. “When the Kings played the Warriors, we wanted it to be a good game. Then, the next year we wanted it to be a good game, but it would be okay if the Warriors won, but we wanted the Kings to win. Then, it kind of evolved where we just wanted the Kings to win and didn’t want to have anything to do with the Warriors at all.”
He recalled one home game against the Dallas Mavericks where his brother and he sat behind the Dallas bench, and NBA officials told them to stop ringing their cowbells so loud.
After continuing to ring them, Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks, came up and made a similar request.
Spiegelman and his brother asked him what he would give in return if they stopped ringing.
“What do you want?” Cuban asked.
Spiegelman and his brother said they wanted tickets to the Kings-Mavericks away game in Dallas, and Cuban delivered, paying for the tickets and a flight.
Today, Spiegelman is still a season ticket holder and hopeful the Kings will pull ahead at Golden 1 Center.
“It’s a best-of-three series now,” he said. “I was feeling much better about it because we were so close in the last game. We just have to keep winning our home games, and the Warriors can win their own games, and we would win the series. But, now that Fox is injured, it’s going to make it a little more scary.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 1:11 PM.