Lakers? Clippers?

Growing up in Los Angeles, the only team that anyone ever talked about when it came to the NBA was the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember the whole city being completely obsessed when it came to Lakers basketball. Billboards, commercials, and fast-food promotions further shoved the team into the forefront of everyone’s mind. Popular bands wrote songs about them and select celebrities lined the courtside seats.

The Los Angeles Clippers came to town in 1984 from San Diego (and Buffalo before that). Nobody paid too much attention at first and you could basically get free tickets with the purchase of 5 gallons of gasoline. They’ve had their peaks and valleys over the years and enjoy larger attendance numbers today but you can still get tickets pretty cheap.  Sometimes still free with the purchase of something else. 

I have noticed changes through the city with respect to the “other” NBA team. There are more Clippers billboards now, and you even see people wearing their jerseys. After the new complex is finished in the LAX area there should be a big advertising blitz that draws even more attention to them also.

What am I trying to say?  Well, it just all feels really odd to me. My team is filled with both prima donnas and underachievers. Gone are the days of every player being a future hall of fame inductee.  Turning in unremarkable outcomes in recent seasons, players like Kobe Bryant garner more headlines for what they say then what they do. No one seems that excited about Phil Jackson anymore and the team is more of a tourist attraction now. “Real” fans have a tough time getting decent tickets to the games since they are a place for celebrities and wanna-bes to be seen as part of the fake L.A. scene.  (Fake L.A. scene as in the one that the transplants come here and try to make, not the one that really exists!) Only one of them, well actually two are real Los Angeles Lakers fans. 

I know, we are really spoiled in Los Angeles; more than one nearby MLB and NBA team, MLS soccer, surfing, close snowboarding, great food, awesome weather, and remarkable shopping.  I wouldn't trade any of this, I just miss the NBA basketball team that I grew up infatuated with.