The San Diego Clippers are coming, the San Diego Clippers are coming, and yeah, I can’t wait either.
But this Clippers edition will not match the shenanigans of their first stay in the region.
This week, news broke that the San Diego Clippers are returning to the area they called home from 1978 to 1984.
The new guys from Ontario will plant their flag in Oceanside when they swing open the doors of Frontwave Arena this fall.
But they do so with a reminder of how wobbly this outfit was during its initial stint in our slice of paradise. That failure resulted from a slapstick organization that was cheap and zany and, oddly, presented a future picture regarding the San Diego Chargers.
The fresh Clippers belong to the G League, the NBA’s version of MLB’s Triple-A — the top level of minor league play. G League players are bent on going hard and getting their ticket punched to basketball’s top rung.
When watching G League games in Santa Cruz, the energy, excitement, and eagerness of the athletes are impossible to ignore.
Load management?
Take it elsewhere, as these men go all out, all the time.
This brings us back to the San Diego Clippers of years ago, a floundering franchise that reminded many of driving up on a car wreck. Even if a peek at the pileup is disheartening, one still looks.
The Clippers were known for losing and laughable business practices.
The team’s second San Diego owner, Don Sterling, made cheapskates look like Elon Musk. Sterling cut corners with the training facility, scouting department and office supplies.
Administrative assistants who toiled for the Clippers and then worked for the Chargers would regale sportswriters with tales of Sterling counting paper clips as closely as the games’ final scores.
Those teams had talent, but Clipper fans lost the owner lottery, with Sterling constantly having one eye on the spreadsheet and another on the next train to Los Angeles.
Sterling wanted the L.A. market, much like the Chargers did decades later. When the NBA told him he couldn’t move, he told the NBA to go pound sand.
The NBA blinked and San Diego went bonkers. OK, that’s a stretch, with the team averaging about 5,500 fans per game in its last year.
While the defeats were plentiful — the Clippers won 17 games in 1981-82 — they were only eclipsed by the characters associated with the squad.
Coach Gene Shue? His hair was so dark late in his life that he was often called “Shoe Polish.”
Remember the halftime show that featured a pie-throwing contest under the basket? The second half was 30 minutes late due to the mess it made at the old Sports Arena (now Pechanga Arena).
How about when the Clippers signed La Mesa’s Bill Walton? But Walton and the team never found their footing, with Walton’s feet keeping him sidelined for long stretches.
Walton played 14 games in his first three seasons, and he chafes at what might have been.
“When you fail in your hometown, that’s as bad as it gets, and I love my hometown,” Walton once said. “I wish we had NBA basketball here, and we don’t because of me.”
That’s harsh but rings with a sliver of truth.
It was clear that Sterling, like Chargers owner Dean Spanos, had eyes for the lucrative L.A. market, and nothing would stop either of them from heading north.
Money was always a problem with the Clippers, but not so much finding players to root for.
Terry Cummings was a star, as was Tom Chambers.
Norm Nixon, the fast-twitch guard who won with the Lakers, was traded here for Byron Scott.
Kobe Bryant? He was a toddler, but his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, was a Clipper favorite.
John Olive, the longtime Torrey Pines High hoops coach?
Olive played small forward for the Clippers, scoring 44 points in 35 career games from 1978-80.
Lloyd Free was the epitome of cool, and that vibe increased when he changed his name to “World B.” during the ’81 season.
Free would usually start shooting when entering the parking lot, not being shy about the number of shots he took or from what distance.
Memories rush back with the Clippers coming back to San Diego County. It’s a great win for Oceanside, even if the last time they were here was a lesson in losing.
Contact Jay Paris at [email protected] and follow him @jparis_sports
