The Long Wait

Here is the era other sites skip past, and the one we refuse to. From 1984 to 2011 the Clippers made the playoffs four times, changed the lottery odds through sheer participation, and played across the hall from the most glamorous franchise in sports. If you want to understand why Clippers fans are the way we are, funny, loyal, allergic to hype, this is why.

Arrival, uninvited

Donald Sterling moved the team to the LA Memorial Sports Arena in 1984 without league approval. The NBA sued and eventually settled, and Los Angeles suddenly had two teams: one with banners, and one with cheap tickets and character. The Sports Arena was old, half empty, and weirdly lovable. Ask anyone who sat in it.

The wilderness years

The low point came fast. The 1986-87 team went 12-70, one of the worst seasons in league history. In 1988 the Clippers won the right to draft Danny Manning first overall, a genuine franchise talent, and 26 games into his rookie year he tore his ACL. That injury is where the phrase "Clippers curse" was born, and honestly, the case file only grew from there: Ron Harper's knee, Marques Johnson's neck, Shaun Livingston's everything.

And yet the era kept producing things worth loving. Michael Cage won the 1988 rebounding title by grabbing 30 boards on the season's final day. Larry Brown parachuted in mid-season in 1992 and pushed the team to 45 wins and its first playoff berth since Buffalo, then did it again in 1993. Ralph Lawler called every game like it mattered, because to him it did. Bingo.

The fun young Clippers

Around 2000 something great happened: the Clippers got young, broke, and extremely fun. Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson and Corey Maggette turned Staples Center's other tenant into the league's favorite watch. The head-tap celebration went from their bench to every playground in Los Angeles. National magazines called them the future. Then, in the most Sterling move imaginable, the team let the future walk rather than pay for it. The talent scattered and thrived elsewhere. Fans learned the lesson early: love the players, trust nothing.

2006, the proof of concept

The 2005-06 team was the payoff for two decades of patience. Elton Brand at his absolute peak, Sam Cassell strutting after big shots, Chris Kaman doing the dirty work. They won 47 games and beat Denver in the first round, the franchise's first playoff series win since 1976, in Buffalo. Then they took Phoenix to a Game 7 in the second round and lost it on the road. It stung, and it was still the happiest spring the fan base had known in a generation. That team also gave us the best off-court story in franchise history, when four players quietly paid for assistant coach Kim Hughes' cancer surgery.

Setting up the light

In 2009 the ping pong balls finally cooperated and the Clippers drafted Blake Griffin first overall. He missed his entire first season with a broken kneecap, because of course he did, then won Rookie of the Year the next season while turning every game into a highlight reel. The stage was set. All the franchise needed was a point guard, and in December 2011 the wait ended.

Respect the era

It is easy to make jokes about this stretch. We make plenty ourselves. But the fans who chose the Clippers during these years, a lot of them kids in the San Gabriel Valley, South LA and Inglewood who wanted a team of their own, built the most self-aware, least entitled fan base in basketball. Nobody here inherited anything. That is the point of the badge, and if you were there, this site wants your stories most of all.