So why did you become a Clippers fan?

Phobo_Phile · Post #1 » by **Phobo_Phile** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:42 pm

Please, I'm not meaning to troll or anything, this is a completly truthful question.

Why I ask is because generally it seems people usually root for the team that represents where they are from. For example, I'm from Michigan so obviously I'm a Pistons fan as well as most other Michiganians are.

And of course in LA, the lakers have been there much longer and have had a much better legacy then the Clips so I was just curious as to what turned you into a Clippers fan.

Post #2 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:23 pm

I know that I asked this question over the summer, but I don't mind answering it again. I became a Clippers fan about a year after I moved to California from New York. Being from New York I always loved basketball, and still do. I would watch both the Lakers and the Clippers. Since I would watch both teams I rooted for both teams. But what drew me to the Clippers was that they needed support. I felt like they would win one day. As I got older during the early 2000s the Clippers were an exciting team.

The Clippers became my number one team around 2003. I believe this is my 9th season being a Clippers fan

PlinkingPanda · Post #3 » by **PlinkingPanda** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:52 pm

Back when I was younger when I hardly knew anything about sports my family and I would watch Laker/Clipper games together. I always chose the Clips to win and would obviously lose on it hah. I've stuck with them ever since.

The good ol crappy days of stanley roberts, pooh richardson, Ken norman, and who can forget "mr. clipper" loy vaught.

Post #4 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:15 am

my story is a little longer. i spent the first few years of my life in los angeles watching both clippers and lakers games. i first became a serious basketball fan leading up to the 98 draft, where we had the first pick of course. i even had my own angelfire webpage dedicated to the draft at age 12 (my mock draft then had us drafting vince carter). after that i reamained a fairweather fan, rooting for the nets (only team besides knicks on tv in new york, went to a few games each year) until lamar odom, who i was a huge fan of in college came to town in 99. it just got better from there in the 2000 draft when it looked like we hit it big drafting miles, q rich & dooling. then when we traded for elton (grew up 20 minutes from me) i became diehard clippers fan. i became obsessed with the clippers when we drafted shaun livingston. shortly following the livingston draft i started posting on realgm. with nba league pass and my fellow fans here on realgm, these are the best days of my many years of being a clippers fan.

Post #5 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:18 am

Hey Loflin are you from Westchester? I grew up in Rockland and I have cousins that live in Peekskill. When I found out that Elton was from Peekskill that only made me even more of a fan

Post #6 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:45 am

thanumba2clippersfan wrote:Hey Loflin are you from Westchester? I grew up in Rockland and I have cousins that live in Peekskill. When I found out that Elton was from Peekskill that only made me even more of a fan

yes sir, plain old wetchester! well maybe the part of westchester i grew up in is more plain than others but you know what i mean. it's funny you're from rockland with cousins from westchester b/c i'm from westchester and have cousins from rockland! literally half my family lives in nyack. that damn tapanzee makes it a pain to visit them ever :lol:

i don't think i ever mentioned it to you guys but my girlfriend is from elton brand's hometown of peekskill.

Post #7 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:54 am

Your cousins live in Nyack. Well my cousins live in Peekskill and Yorktown Heights. That's crazy that it's flipped around for us. I still go back to Rockland all the time because my grandparents live there and I also go to Westchester to visit my family there. I grew up in Pomona, NY. That place is so damn small & that Tapanzee is a pain.

Post #8 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:10 am

that's crazy man. it's hard to find clippers fans in westchester, even in peekskill where elton is the city's "son". i'm going to school in oneonta currently so i'm not in town all that often, but next time you come to visit drop me a pm or something, maybe we can go grab a beer. ask your cousins if they've ever been to playoffs in peekskill. that place is ridiculous.

Post #9 » by **Manhattan Project** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:29 am

While the Knicks are my first team, I have a soft spot for the Clippers. I became a fan when the show LA Sidelines came on and I got to see what the team was like. They were young, energetic and for the most part nice guys. Ive met Miles a couple of times, he was always great. So since then Ive followed the Clippers as one of my secondary teams.

Post #10 » by **mkwest** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:42 am

I've liked the Clippers since about 93. My household was pretty much a house divided between the Clips and Lakers. My dad & my uncle were big Laker fans. I enjoyed watching Magic & Worthy back in the day, but haven't cared for the Lakers since. My brother didn't like the Lakers and preferred the Clippers. So I went through that whole phase where I liked what he liked, and the Clippers were part of the package. As I got older I realized why he liked the Clippers even if the Lakers have had the better legacy. It's easy to choose the team with the banners, but it's not always about that.

Some people want to root for the underdog. Some people are fans for sentimental reasons. Some like the team because of a player or an announcer that they identified with or that stood out to them. Some people prefer the culture or demeanor one team's fans to the other. There's many reasons to make a case for being a fan of either team. Most people only look at the surface and that's probably why they aren't Clipper fans or couldn't understand why someone would want to be one.

JJ LoDuca · Post #11 » by **JJ LoDuca** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:58 am

So, my story is by far the best.....

I always loved basketball, but was mostly a casual NBA fan, I was just a little kid. The first basketball game I watched in its entirety was the last game of the 1998 Finals...not a bad way to start. After that I just watched whatever was on TV when I was bored. Living in SoCal, I inevitably watched a lot of laker games, and began to absolutely loathe that skinny, cocky #8 guy on the lakers, and that big fat #34 too...before I was even a Clippers fan, I was a laker hater.

When I was 12, in Darius Miles, Q-Rich & Keyon Dooling's rookie year, my dance team performed at halftime of a Clips/Charlotte Hornets game. I met Darius Miles in the tunnel, fell in love, and there was no going back. Part of what made me love the Clippers so much was the simple fact that they WEREN'T the lakers, who were so popular everyone and their mom was a fan. Being a Clippers fan was unique, which was all the rage in middle school...plus, the Clippers had Ralph Lawler, and there is no denying that sexy beast.

Post #12 » by **SD2042** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:24 am

In the case of myself. I've only been a Clipsfan for the past couple of years. Mainly due to following both MP and boogie to the Clips board to chip in on turning the Clips board around after TLAF step down. I think what really go me to understand and respect the Clips better was when they got into the playoffs for the first time in 14 yrs and played a great round against the Nuggets and played their hearts out against the Suns in the next round despite coming up short. I hope that the Clips can make some good decisions during the offseason that can get them back into playoff contention again for the next season.

Go Clips!!

cinnamon · Post #13 » by **cinnamon** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:41 pm

In Shaun Livingston's rookie year three years ago, the Clippers came to town and I went to the game and became totally drawn to watching Shaun show incredible vision and understanding of what was happening on the court, at such a young age and so early in his career. I was very taken with it. I am interested in intuition, and he appeared to me to play very intuitively, and to make that work well for the team. He was also so long-limbed and so graceful that he reminded me of a dancer. As a dance fan, I liked that a lot.
After that I just started to take an interest in the Clippers. This board has certainly helped to foster that interest because the people here seem to be more positive and tolerant of each other than what I observe on many other boards. I'm not really crazy about aggressive one-upmanship that requires putting other people down, and I don't see that here.
The Clippers team itself is appealing to me through its ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses --- I find this kind of team easier to support than attaching oneself to a perennial winner and trying to feel superior through that attachment. Being a Clippers fan is more like real life. I was really excited about Kaman's dramatic improvement this year, and how he explained it. It struck me as a wonderful metaphor.
I generally follow individual players instead of any one team, but there are several teams I have a particular interest in and feel special support for, and the Clippers are certainly one of them.

Post #14 » by **Manhattan Project** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:35 pm

Also whats up with the posters being from or living in NY?

mj_shoefanatic · Post #15 » by **mj_shoefanatic** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:41 pm

Because how could I be a fan of team who originally played in Inglewood, CA(GW Forum) but called themselves the Los Angeles Lakers?? :lol:

btw we were the 1st local team in Downtown LA(Sport's Arena). :clap:

Post #16 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:40 am

Manhattan Project wrote:Also whats up with the posters being from or living in NY?

Well MP that's where my family is from. I moved from Pomona, New York to Agoura Hills, California when I was 11. I loved basketball and I started rooting for the Clippers. My cousin got me interested in RealGM and he posts on the Knick board. So that's about it.

playaloc916 · Post #17 » by **playaloc916** » Sun Mar 2, 2008 1:00 am

With the Clippers, it was always a team that I felt had a lot of talent, but one way or another, just could not get it together. Back when it was Q-Rich, Odom, Miles, I thought they were a pretty exciting team, but lacked leadership and direction. I never followed them too closely, but when they got players that I really liked from other teams, I had no choice but to follow the Clippers.

Once they had the Cassell, Brand, Maggette, Livingston and Wilcox on the team, they instantly became my team. Cassell and his cockyness, Brand and his work ethic, Maggette and his agressivness, Livingston and his court vision and passing, and Wilcox with his power dunks, this was a team that I truly enjoyed watching, win or lose. Whether that makes me a bandwagoner, I don't know, but even though they are going through some rough times right now, I'm still rooting for them. By the way, I'm from Vancouver (and probably the only Clipper fan out here, lol).

theFRANCHISE · Post #18 » by **theFRANCHISE** » Sun Mar 2, 2008 1:12 am

D. Manning, Ron "Hollywood" Harper, Gary "the general" Grant, Loy Vaught, Charles Smith.

PlinkingPanda · Post #19 » by **PlinkingPanda** » Sun Mar 2, 2008 1:41 am

thanumba2clippersfan wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Well MP that's where my family is from. I moved from Pomona, New York to Agoura Hills, California when I was 11. I loved basketball and I started rooting for the Clippers. My cousin got me interested in RealGM and he posts on the Knick board. So that's about it.

Just think how cool it would have been if you moved from Pomona, NY to Pomona, CA.

Okay it wouldn't be that cool, but kinda funny at least.

Post #20 » by **SD2042** » Sun Mar 2, 2008 8:13 am

playaloc916 wrote:With the Clippers, it was always a team that I felt had a lot of talent, but one way or another, just could not get it together. Back when it was Q-Rich, Odom, Miles, I thought they were a pretty exciting team, but lacked leadership and direction. I never followed them too closely, but when they got players that I really liked from other teams, I had no choice but to follow the Clippers.

Once they had the Cassell, Brand, Maggette, Livingston and Wilcox on the team, they instantly became my team. Cassell and his cockyness, Brand and his work ethic, Maggette and his agressivness, Livingston and his court vision and passing, and Wilcox with his power dunks, this was a team that I truly enjoyed watching, win or lose. Whether that makes me a bandwagoner, I don't know, but even though they are going through some rough times right now, I'm still rooting for them. By the way, I'm from Vancouver (and probably the only Clipper fan out here, lol).

Since you're from Vancouver. Did you happen to follow the Grizz when they played there from their early days?