RealGM

Bill Plaschke wrote a really nice piece about our own Ralph Lawler, essentially paying tribute to him. Lawler has broadcast more than 2,700 Clipper games since the team arrived in California in 1978.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-ralph-lawler-plaschke-20150121-column.html#

good stuff, but Bill Plaschke is still a tool, and Im pretty sure the suspension was not over Ralph pronouncing Iran as eye-ran, but Mike Smith calling Hadaddi a towel head, which is a racist term and they should have suspended Mike Smith and Mike Smith alone.

Ya that's definitely not why they were suspended lol. I just listened to it again, it'd been a while. Didn't seem like anything overly terrible, but still definitely not something you should be saying on air. Although I did chuckle when Mike Smith asked if it was Borat's younger brother lol.

Good read, love Ralph, hope he gets a statue outside Staples one day and gets into the HOF.

I remember watching the telecast of that game live, but I did slightly forgot about Mike Smith's Borat remark. I just remember it was a silly, awkward, and hokey conversation, but the overraction by that fan was all levels of ridiciousness.

I've read in the past that they were suspended for the pronunciation or Iran. That's not what I would think, but that's the story that has been given over the years.

Ralph has allowed me to enjoy many many dreadful seasons. A typical fan would probably turn off the TV or skip games altogether when they're team is as bad as we have been. They always managed to keep it fun and entertaining. When I first starting watching Clipper basketball, Ralph worked with the likes of Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello and of course, the Big Red (Bill Walton). Ralph will always be my favorite Clipper and hope that he gets to experience every single honor and acknowledgement that is available to him.