Let me be the first to congratulate you on the success that your beloved Clippers have enjoyed in this year of firsts—your first 50-win campaign, your first season sweep over the Los Angeles Lakers to clinch your first division title of any kind, your first season with any sort of bull's-eye on your back, etc.
As a native Angeleno who grew up alongside your team's futility, I never thought I'd see the day when the Clips owned the Staples Center, and I'm sure many of you never thought you'd be so privileged, either. As such, I implore all of you to enjoy it while you can.
Because, as any Clipper fan knows all too well, success of any sort on the court is all too fleeting.
Unless, of course, you're talking about the Lakers.
(Allow me, for a moment, to replace my "Semi-Objective Blogger" hat with my favorite purple and gold chapeau so as not to jeopardize my job...Better.)
Even in victory, there remains some measure of embarrassment among the Clippers about their not-so-distant past when compared to that of their co-tenants. For most teams, there would be little debate as to whether they should hang a banner for winning their division. Even the Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs, with their combined 10 championships, celebrate their regional dominance by dangling cloth from the rafters.
But the Lakers don't. The only purple and gold banners you'll find at the Staples Center are those commemorating each of the franchise's 16 titles, dating back to its days in Minneapolis.
It's understandable, then, that the Clips might be hesitant to fabricate a Pacific Division banner. Heck, if the Lakers decided to hang a banner for each of the 23 times they finished atop their division, there'd hardly be room for the Clippers to include one of their own.
If I were the Clips, I wouldn't try for a 50-win banner, either. Otherwise...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
