Hello everyone, my name is Will and I’m a … Clippers fan. Yup, I’m a diehard supporter of that basketball team from Los Angeles. If you’re wondering why I sound like someone at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting it’s because being a fan of one of sports most ridiculed franchises isn’t something you always find yourself yelling to the world.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love (II) my team and will always follow and support them, there’s a certain badge of honor us members of ClipperNation wear, and that comes from acknowledging how utterly bad our experiences have been and still sticking by the team.
We’re a throwback to true sports fan and a testament to loyalty. A really strong testament to it, because unlike the spoiled, diva-like “trendy” fans of the popular team across the hall (Hi Lakers fans!), there is no bandwagon to jump on. We chose to support this team because we love it, not because of trying to look cool, front run or whatever other reason drives the Staples center to over-tanned, text-message crazy capacity for Laker games.
Clippers fans have every acceptable reason to switch their allegiances and support a more successful franchise but instead choose to stay true to their roots. Think about it, the Clippers are a prime example of what can go wrong in sports.
Infamous owner with a less than stellar record – Check.
Decades of mediocrity losing – Check.
A coach that won’t be nominated for coach of the year anytime soon – Check.
Bad luck – Check.
As I told you all in my first YBB post, I’m LA born and raised and I’ve never liked the Lakers. Before I get into this running Diary of a Clipper Fan series, I want to put a few things out there. I think Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time, by far, and I grew up admiring him and his last Bulls 3-peat team. Those guys crushed the competition and nobody had the determination or killer instinct MJ had. Since I’m an 80’s baby my run of watching Bulls success was very short lived, and I was basically left supporting an east coast version of my Clippers after 23 hung it up. I love players who do it for the love of the game or reasons other than the fame. People like Bill Russell, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand ( :( ) and more.
Those guys were blue-collar to the utmost, and although the Clippers may not have always had those type of guys, aside from Brand and a few others, we’ve definitely had our share of oddballs, journeymen, underachievers and draft busts. Sure not all of them panned out, but those who suited up for this team and competed every night, despite the incessant losing and lack of support from the owner and management, were admirable.
I’m a fan of the sport above all and the Clippers were always the right team for me. The team has hopelessly languished at the bottom for its entire existence, so that weeded out all the potentially superficial fans and helped create an actual community of basketball fans. There’s definitely a special aura involved with being a Clipper fan, us who would show up early or stay late after a game to meet a Keith Closs, Brian Skinner, Troy Hudson, Cherokee Parks, etc. Call us crazy or whatever, but we sure are dedicated.
At places like ClipperBlog, ClipsNation and Clippers TopBuzz, we’ll all gather and analyze losses, bash missteps, and share our foolish optimism. Other sites like FireDunleavy.com are an example of the passion and disgust associated with moves that fans have to deal with and the lengths they’ll go to try and change the franchise’s direction. Call us proverbial losers all you want, but you have to respect our enthusiasm and commitment. Similar to other long-suffering fans in both the NBA and other major leagues, our experiences helped grow a stronger appreciation for both our team and sport. Just look at Bill Simmons, who suffered through the Red Sox curse for most of his life and naturally fit right in with us once he moved to LA.
In the next installments of this diary, I’ll delve further into our troubled history, explain why we haven’t been able to shed our loser label, and chronicle some of our worst moments. I’ll also cover our current form and how we lucked out (knock on wood) drafting guys like Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon and shedding Zach Randolph.
For the time being, we’re back in the same state of cautious excitement and hope that lead to videos like this when Baron Davis agreed to sign with us and presumably join Elton Brand or when we had a young core of Darius Miles, Elton Brand and Lamar Odom and dared to dream of winning. You know, before it all fell apart.
Until our glorious days of winning arrive, we’re left crossing our fingers, yelling at our substitution patterns and hoping to erase the memory of what happened on June 24, 1998 from our nightmares. Such is the life of a Clippers fan.
-Will
“Diary of a Clippers Fan” will be published every Wednesday during the regular season and on various Wednesdays during the offseason.
Your site theme looks cool. May I ask which theme you use?