The Jimmer jet officially touched down in Sacramento around 5 p.m. Friday afternoon, carrying Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette, and the scene at Sacramento International Airport was fit for a rock star of Bono's ilk, not a smiling 22-year-old from upstate New York.
Welcome to the Jimmer Show.
A few hundred people crowded around baggage claim at Terminal A for a glimpse of the former BYU star, who was acquired by the Kings in the first round of Thursday's NBA draft.
The newest addition to the Kings roster arrived with three handlers at his side and lived up to descriptions of his demeanor, remaining calm and at ease in the face of a media horde.
"I'm excited to be in Sacramento," Fredette said, laughing at a question on whether he was worried about being able to take over the team in his first year.
The hype machine was churning, and the fervor of Kings fans was palpable. Several losing seasons left the Kings with highly touted draft picks Tyreke Evans (No. 4 two years ago), and DeMarcus Cousins (No. 5 last year). But neither generated the hoopla that surrounded Fredette's arrival.
That may be because "Jimmermania" preceded Fredette's selection, as shown by a growing list of "Jimmerisms" touting the talents of the star who is Jimmer Fredette.
"Superman sleeps in a Jimmer Fredette jersey." "Jimmer was in Star Wars – he played 'the Force.' " "Twitter follows Jimmer."
The list goes on. Fredette's place in pop culture was cemented with the YouTube hit "Teach Me How to Jimmer," a remix of the popular song "Teach Me How to Dougie" set to Fredette's BYU highlights. The clip got millions of views in days.
His YouTube channel is hosted by Sports Illustrated and has had 2.2 million views in three weeks. T-shirts sport slogans such as "You got Jimmered!" and "Fredette About It."
As SI reporter Kelli Anderson wrote, Jimmer's name is "as versatile as his game." Jimmer can be a noun (as in to stop someone from "pulling a Jimmer" on you), an adjective ("he's making some Jimmer threes") or, probably most popularly, a verb (as in "you got Jimmered!").
Tracing exactly when Fredette made the leap from talent to household name is hard, but he clearly had no such visions of grandeur as a child in rural Glens Falls, N.Y.
The son of Al and Kay Fredette, Jimmer (his given name is James) was the youngest of three children, and showed a talent for basketball at a young age.
His older brother T.J. pushed him to work hard and took Jimmer to unusual places to work on his game, such as Mount MacGregor Correctional Facility.
In addition to adding to the legend of "the Jimmer," playing against felons paid off in basketball terms. After Jimmer scored from all over the court in hanging 43 points on then-No. 4 San Diego State in January, Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant tweeted, "Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world!!"
That kind of outburst is what perpetuates Jimmermania, and Sacramento fans look forward to it.
Grant Bollinger of Sacramento, at the airport Friday, lauded Fredette's all-around game. "Jimmer has range, can hit the three, he's just a playmaker," Bollinger said. He called Fredette the new face of the Kings franchise.
And while that's hardly fair for a rookie who just stepped off the plane, Fredette's basketball style – 30-foot jumpers, creative scoop shots around the basket – has so far lived up to the hype.
Six times in his college career Fredette scored more than 40 points. He set BYU scoring records for a single season and with his four-year career. He also swept the major national college basketball awards and silenced many doubters as he carried his upstart Cougars to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.