Red and Blue Tinted Glasses

[MexicanMamba]

“Cruisin’ down the street in my NINE-FO’!”

 

The bass shook the 1994 BMW 740i as Eazy-E continued talking about how he would be jocking and slapping different types of undesirable women, which seemed a bit mean spirited to me, but the driver seemed, as always, in high spirits.  He also slightly altered the lyrics to match the vehicle which we rode in.  Like its driver, this 36-year-old car has lived a long, full life.  Also, like its owner, it is incredibly difficult to miss when it is in fact, cruising down the street. 

 

Equal parts red, white and blue, the BMW stands out in a crowd even among a city where you will routinely see movie stars and athletes riding through the highways in cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The “Los Angeles Clippers” decals on each door, almost big enough to cover the entirety of them, allows no one to mistake the loyalties of the man behind the wheel.  Darrell Bailey, or more affectionately and widely known as Clipper Darrell in Los Angeles, has had a long, exciting but admittedly hair pullingly stressful life as a Clippers fan. 

 

“Hell, I had a head full of long beautiful locks before I decided to become a Clippers fan.  Coulda been on a bottle of Soul Glo!  Nothing but juices and berries on this head!”  The reference of the comedy classic “Coming to America” making him chuckle to himself.  “But only strawberries and blueberries, of course.”

 

Heading to Staples Center for the Clippers 2030-2031 home opener, traffic was light for an early Monday morning in Los Angeles, which ass to say that no one had attempted to kill each other yet.  Though as the sun became higher into the morning sky, the amount of middle fingers sent out seemed to grow as well.  Darrell didn’t seem to mind though as he alternated between sipping his coffee and sharing stories about past home openers for the Clippers which he has attended. 

 

“Gotta tell ya, there’s a buncha losses in there.” A shrug and a smile.  “Lotta memories too though.”

 

As is customary for a Clippers fan, Darrell’s first recollections are of the Kevin Durant years which led to the franchise’s only real MVP candidate and championship run.  The 6’10” silky smooth scorer was certainly a sight to behold in his prime and Darrell mentions the dagger he hit over the Magic (in a 35 point gem) to get to 1-1 that championship season with as bright a smile as you’d find in any magazine.  He says that he has a bunch of selfies with players and fans on the court from after that one, which he promises to show me when he has a chance to.

 

Darrell also recalled Al Horford in 2016 going for 27-11 and including the Kareem sky hook in the 2nd quarter that helped bury the Clips.  In 2007, Big Dirk Nowitzski was the perfect complement to KD, adding 22 to KD’s 30 to get a win over the Mavericks.  The first home opener that he attended as a season ticket holder was all the way back in 2001 against the Memphis Grizzlies, where Nick Van Exel put on a show scoring 33 points and adding 9 assists, hitting a key off balance jumper in the face of defensive stalwart Shawn Marion while being fouled to put the Clippers up by 5 and the ensuing free throw capping the night’s scoring and giving them a 6 point lead. 

 

“You never forget your first, do ya?” He shook his head to his own question, obviously not needing an answer.  “Regardless if its your first home game ever or getting busy with Shelly Bronson in the playground at school after sneaking out of the homecoming dance.”

 

Most of those memories were of times when the team was successful, and as every basketball fan knows, that has not been the case for quite awhile now for this franchise.  Clipper Darrell acknowledged this but did not seem to let it deter his rooting interest. 

 

“Even with these rough years since KD, I haven’t missed many games.  In fact, I have only missed three since 2001.  Two for medical reasons, a third so that I could go see my daughter get married.”  He finishes his coffee,  briefly looking disappointed. “I have grown with this city and this team, for real.  In a lot of ways it has been even more exciting these past few years.  Since Mr. Moreira bought the team seven years ago, or was it eight?, (It’s eight) they have been more welcoming than ever.  The past two, once KD came back to coach and Mr. Abitua took over the day to day, they have made me feel like part of the family.  Even offered to upgrade my raggity ass car … but I love her too much to change her.”

 

I could feel the sense of pride flash across his face and he took a hand briefly off the steering wheel to give the dashboard a quick pat, as if commending a child for doing their homework. 

 

“Just look at where we are going now, right? I aint never been asked to be part of a team event until Moreira came on.  It’s so wild to me that they think all of these soldiers will wanna meet and mingle with me, but here I am, heading to the arena for a Veterans Day event before the game tonight.  Really, it’ll probably be me that is most excited.”

 

We moved through the traffic for awhile without speaking.  Those middle fingers being thrown around in the LA traffic continued to increase but they were never aimed at us.  People honk, sure, but there’s a difference between the aggressive honk of an angry driver and the light beep of one that is only trying to send some love and support Clipper Darrell’s way.  He greeted them all with a big smile and a wave out of the window.  Even a few cars with Lakers decals were surprisingly pleasant and cheerful, if only towards him. 

 

“You know the other thing that has been fantastic about these down years? Getting to know all of the young players that have come through.  For the most part, they’re humble, good kids just trying to find their way.  It’s a rough business and sometimes they gotta learn that the hard way like Pallies, Kaldur and Radd did.  But Pallies in particular, and Radd in his short time, were so willing to ingrain themselves into the community.  They also let this old fool chat them up before and after games, or give me a little shimmy or high five during it when something went right.  I was sad to see them go, but hopefully they find success out there too.  Saw Pallies signed with Chicago who is as good as anyone in the league.  Good for him.  Maybe he’ll get a ring, as long as it isn’t at our expense.”

 

We chatted some more before getting to the arena.  He expressed his disappointment that the Clippers couldn’t get more depth in free agency, but was happy that they kept Futrell for the long haul.  His fingers are tightly crossed that everyone stays healthy this year after both Jackson and Lopez missed significant time last season.  He admits that the season hasn’t started off as he would have hoped as they sat at 2-5 after seven straight road games to kick the season off.  His favorite current player is Michael Garvin, who he KNOWS is going to be a superstar “real soon”.  He’s unsure if a big trade is on the way or not, but he wouldn’t be opposed to some more moving and shaking to try to round out the squad. 

 

When we arrived at the arena, there was a parking space assigned just for him.  Another more recent perk, after almost 30 years of intense fandom.  We stepped out of the car and went up to the arena and it was incredible the amount of love he received.  The security guards, the cleaning crew, food vendors, ushers all yelled out to Darrell.  He slapped hands, bro-hugged and shook hands with countless people before he even approached anyone with a more official role with the team.  The first person with the team that we met was none other than General Manager Roberto Abitua.  A hulking presence for sure, but so easy to engage with and a man with charisma to spare.  Darrell looked like a child during their quick embrace.  After some pleasantries, the General Manager walked us to the court where people were setting up for the Veterans Day event.  I was surprised to even see a few players helping put tables and chairs in their proper place, including Michael Garvin and Joffery Baratheon.   When Mr. Abitua led us towards them, you would have thought it was the players themselves that were meeting with a celebrity and not the other way around.  There was small talk and laughs before the players went back to work and Clipper Darrell and I were left to fend for ourselves. 

“Good people around here.  The kind of people you want to see be successful.”  Darrell said with a nod, but without looking at me.  His gaze instead taking in all of the people in front of him.  “They’re going to too, no doubt.  Tonight might be the start of it too, hell.  You see that boy, Garvin?  He looks primed for a big season and from what I am told, he worked his butt off in the off-season and in camp.  Smart and now saavy after being in this league for a bit now.  Doesn’t hurt to have a perennial star playing the Point right next to him, does it?”

 

Joffery Baratheon was indeed helping Garvin to bloom.  Garvin himself has admitted it several times.  They also are not sure how much longer Joffery will be with the team.  His massive deal is now expiring after his team option was declined before the season began.  The goal to keep him beyond this season if at all possible, though there is a very real possibility that they do not ultimately choose to keep a 30-something point guard on such a young roster.  Change has been a constant for this team in recent years, so this would not be an unexpected move.  Clipper Darrell may be the only enduring thing about the team lately, but that has been a beacon of positivity for the franchise. 

 

When the event started and Darrell Bailey traded in his jeans and t-shirt for his now famous red and blue suit, becoming Clipper Darrell in a way that is hard not to compare to Clark Kent going into a phone booth and coming out as Superman, his effect on the emotional state of the team was even more apparent.  He took hundreds if not thousands of photos from local military men and women who were all smiles and laughs.  He (badly) lost a game of HORSE to young Small Forward Hans Gillum and then had his “ankles broken” by a Private First Class in the Army during a game of 21 (which only was a game of 5 since at 63 years old, Darrell couldn’t keep up).  They ate together, shared stories together, laughed and jumped around.  Clipper Darrell was in his element and it helped him feel as young as those men and women in uniform and players actually were. 

 

Once the event was over and the game was getting ready to begin, I asked Darrell how he managed to stay so positive and excitable, even though the team had been in a losing rut for so long.  He was riled up even in shoot around.  He chest bumped every member of the team when they came out for warmups.  He let Alan Snelling of the 76ers know, without any doubt, that he was U-G-L-Y and that he had no alibi for it.  He teased Udoka Azubuike about how he was going to get clamped down by Jaren Jackson (Udoka ended up with 34 points and 10 rebounds). 

 

“C’mon man, how could you not love this?  Life is too damn short to only find the negative in so much warmth.” 

 

Once the game started, he took it to another level.  He cheered as hard as the Clippers played.  During one sequence in the first quarter where Snelling found Azubuike for an alley-oop slam, he pretended to be Fred Sanford and fake a heart attack, channeling his inner Red Fox.  He broke out some break dance moves that no one had done since 2020 during a 2nd quarter barrage by Baratheon and Colby Lopez which was given an exclamation point when Big William “Willie” Caine moonwalked past Darrell after a timeout was called when Caine had a particularly powerful put-back slam over Cheick Diallo. 

 

The Clippers, led by the tireless efforts of Clipper Darrell, would go on to win the home opener 124-113.  He was sweating afterwards almost as much as game MVP Joffery Baratheon was.  Darrell stood at his seat after the buzzer and just looked around the arena with that bright smile plastered on his face.  He took in the cheers and chants from the crowd. 

 

“I dunno how many of these I have left in me, man.”  His high fived a Virgilio Carrasco as he came by.  “So, I’m gonna love em every time.   And you know what?  I think I am going to get to enjoy a bunch of these kinds of nights this year.  Maybe we don’t win it all.  Hell, lets be honest, we probably won’t.  But we gotta just have fun where we get it.  If you don’t like seeing these kids ball?  Or seeing the passion in Mr. Abitua when he talks about his plans for the squad?  Or THIS crowd?  Shit, we don’t want ya anyway!”

 

Fun and hope. 

 

Probably the two biggest takeaways that a person could leave with after spending a day with Clipper Darrell.  Sure, there are a lot of reasons that we could point to to say why the ceiling is not particularly high on these Clippers.   A weak bench, possibly an over reliance on youth to carry the load, and lacking too many pieces to move around to change some of that.  But, you know what?  Maybe that doesn’t matter just yet.  These kids and this management team are enjoying playing and working for these fans and they have done enough to instill real, genuine hope into everyone for the first time in a long time. 

 

So, let’s sit back and enjoy the ride as well, shall we? 




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[false9]

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