A few days ago, The Bee's Sam Amick made a plea on his blog for nominations for Kevin Martin's nickname. I sent him my (long-running) suggestion -- Speedracer. There are two bases for this nomination. The easy one: Kevin Martin is pretty damn fast. He has more or less existed as the Kings' entire fast break the past two seasons. (Apologies to the Garbage Time Globetrotters, Messrs. Quincy Douby and Justin Williams.)
The more complicated nickname justification stems from Martin's bizarre welcome to the city in 2004. Amick, then a Bee sports writer but not the Kings beat guy, wrote a 'day-in-the-life of Kevin Martin' story. This passage was included:
Adventure to pleasure to sheer luxury."
This... driving method and the seeming glorification angered some locals. Former Bee ombudsman Armando Acuna describes the fallout well in this column.
This was our introduction to Martin: A punky irresponsible millionaire. We were wrong. Martin is a fan favorite, one of the nicest guys in the league. First impressions aren't always right. It's good to remember that.
Go Speedracer go.