A curious question on the latest controversy of the NBA.  So we have an owner who made some horribly racist comments — private comments and then leaked to the gossip media.  Don’t bring a black person to the arena, Magic Johnson ew, and also such and such a baseball player is okay in his book…

And my ever asked question on just what emotional attachment to always changing sports teams means.  Understand, this is a controversy which has lead to the team… protesting and distancing themselves from the team.

The Clippers gathered at center court before a 118-97 Game 4 loss in their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors and took off their Clippers warm-up shirts and left them there. They then warmed up wearing inside-out red shooting shirts that did not display the Clippers name or logo. During the game, players wore black arm or wrist bands and black socks.

And this leads to fans taking a couple different stances of “Done with them”…

Former NFL defensive lineman Marcellus Wiley, who also has a radio talk show in Los Angeles and makes no secret he is a Clippers fan, suggested he will stay away from Game 5, too: “Donald Sterling’s latest racist comments just freed up my tuesday night plans at staples. Shame on us … we were warned! #HistoryRepeatsItself,” he tweeted.

OR… “In the end, the players represent the team more than the owner”…

Clippers season ticketholder Brian Claypool, who sits on the same row as Paul’s family, wants Sterling out — now.
“I think Sterling needs to be forced out and he needs to be removed immediately,” said Claypool, a civil rights attorney. “The remarks are so unsettling. They make me sick to my stomach,” said Claypool, a civil rights attorney.
But he said the players will get the fans’ support Tuesday: “Fans are going to be out in full support, and the Clippers will get beyond a standing ovation.” he said. “Clipper fans are the most loyal you are ever going to see. There will be a complete sellout and it will be fully supportive.”

And the question of emotional attachment… something odd about being a fan of the Clippers, and generally speaking a fan of a sports team is one that has some odd mental arrangement in their head of the history and continuity…

The Clippers have historically been a laughingstock of … pretty much all of sports.  And not only that, but one where the owner has played a nickel and dime approach in making money, keeping the payroll from being bloated while advertising as a budget alternative to the other team and playing up when major stars from other teams come in to play…

And not only that, but in the field of spectator sports attachment, which is built largely on the city, whatever the makeup of the team (from back when the city of Cincinnati embraced a  Cincinnati Red Stockings team made up of players not from Cincinnati in the 1870s) … they play in the same city and indeed arena as a marquee team of the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers.  Note a figure of the controversy, “looming large in Los Angeles basketball history”, Magic Johnson — legendary player for the Los Angeles Lakers.

There has been a stable of Hollywood stars attending Clippers games, just as there are fabled stars attending Lakers games … I always figured these stars were acting just a little too kooky by half.

What the Hell is a Clippers fan?  Born of what geographic or sociological or whatever field does someone jump to the Clippers over the Lakers?

Then again, there might be a notable “passing of the torch” moment.  The two players who have shifted the Clippers fortunes… one from the 2009 draft pick of Blake Griffen… and the second came with a trade for Chris Paul… which came when the custodian owner of a New Orleans in the NBA itself traded Chris Paul to the Clippers instead of the Lakers… maybe it makes some sense: you root for whichever team in town happens to be playing best.

One more curious note to all this…

The NAACP, which previously honored Sterling with a lifetime achievement award, canceled plans to give him another. “The remarks attributed to Mr. Sterling are outrageous and remind us that racism is alive and well at every socioeconomic level,” said NAACP interim president and CEO Lorraine C. Miller.

Two questions:  Given the history, why would the NAACP give him a lifetime achievement award, and how can you award multiple lifetime achievements?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2014 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.