The room was quiet.
Eight Sacramento Kings fans sat on two couches with their chins resting on their hands. As Sacramento's score failed to grow, faces looked grimmer and the banter got fiercer.
Until Steve Terwiske shot out of his chair, fists in the air, fingers pointed at his friends, letting out a victorious roar as the score widened by two points.
"Can you count? 'Cause that's 20," he said.
He's a Dallas Mavericks fan. A playoff game glowed from the TV in front of him.
While the group around him threw him dirty looks each time the Mavericks made a basket and each time the Kings missed one, Terwiske, a Chico State University senior, stood by his team.
Playoff fever has hit Chico. It's fan against fan, and it's not pretty. Students are glued to every game, bidding on tickets to see the real thing and trash-talking their friends and fans of other teams.
"It's rough when we play the Kings," Terwiske said. "It's intense, And it's going to get more intense as it gets more into it."
Terwiske said he hasn't seen any other Dallas fans in Chico, so that's his motivation to get fired up. He puts on a jersey and his Mavericks hat for each game.
"I'm gonna sport my stuff all over," he said. "I got my Dallas colors on. I'm ready to go. It's gonna be nuts."
Terwiske started listing off the friends he was going to call and brag about the Maverick's win. Even during commercials, he continued to chant for his team.
"There's no Dallas fans here," he said. "There's only Laker fans and Kings fans."
Although he's originally from Southern California, Terwiske said he chose to be a Dallas fan because he liked the players and the owners. He said he's never been a fan of any other team, but thinks a match-up between the Kings and Los Angeles Lakers would be "insane."
But not everyone wants to see that rivalry again. Josh Brodliet, a sophomore at Chico State, said he doesn't want to see his favorite team, the Lakers, meet up again in the third round.
"I hate the Kings with a passion," Brodliet said. "I don't like their character. They think they're the best and they're not."
Brodliet said he's been a Laker fan since he was younger when he grew up in Los Angeles. "I feel like I know them," he said. "Everyone talks so much about Shaq. I feel like he's my brother."
He said having his team in the playoffs is pretty stressful.
"If (a game) is close, I'm on the edge of my seat," he said. "If they're down, I'm on the edge of my seat. If they're down by a lot, I have to turn the TV off."
He said he can't watch the playoff games with his roommates anymore because of all the trash-talking that goes on.
"When they make a basket, I'm the only one on my feet," Brodliet said. "I have to watch with Laker fans."
Brodliet said he's really into all of the West Coast games because he knows whoever wins will beat any East Coast teams. He said he would be OK if the Lakers didn't win this championship, because they've already won three.
He said watching a game is personal for him because he loves the Lakers so much.
"The Superbowl is nowhere near the intensity of a Laker game," Brodliet said. "Even a regular season game."
Not everyone is satisfied with watching the playoffs from their couch, however. Stephanie Tomassilli, a junior at Chico State, just paid $300 to see the Kings play the Mavericks on Mother's Day.
"They're up high, but I don't care," Tomassilli said. "I'm really excited because Arco Arena is amazing to be in there. It's so loud and there's such energy that it's well worth it."
Tomassilli said she doesn't want to see another Northern California versus Southern California series because the playoffs are giving her enough anxiety as it is.
"It's very nerve-racking," she said. "Having the Kings play the Lakers would be more stress. But I know my Kings will pull through."
She said with all the "high-profile" Kings fans in Chico, the chaos that playoffs bring is justified.
"When everyone around you is a basketball fan you get really into it," she said. "It's in the air. It's playoff fever."
Tomassilli doesn't miss Kings regular season games if she can help it, and said she wouldn't think of missing a playoff game. She said the games are so intense that she has to watch them all.
Drew Price, a Chico State junior, is getting together with his friends to root for the Kings during the playoffs. He said the anticipation of Sacramento winning keeps him on the edge of his seat also.
"I'm a little nervous about the series," Price said. "We just want the Kings to win so bad."
Price said the rivalry between him and fans of other teams is fun. He said having people feel so strongly about certain teams makes the competition that much more important.
"We all like basketball and we like to see good games," Price said. "But if the Kings don't make it I'll be upset -- for a long time."
Sarah Schaale can be reached at:
featureseditor@orion-online.net
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