I was enjoying what was soon to be the Clippers ninth victory of the season earlier tonight. That was until Marcus Camby hit the hardwood grimacing in pain after pulling down an offensive rebound. My heart sank. There was no way that this was happening. I must be imagining it. How can a team have THREE point guards (Baron, Hart and Taylor) and THREE quality big men (Randolph, Kaman, now Camby) all injured at the same time?! After a year in which their best player sat out the entire season and the team was mired in a similar injury situation on their way to a 23 win season. This just can't be happening. What did the Clippers do to piss off the basketball gods, I thought. To sum it up, the guy sitting in front of me turned around and said, "Well, I was about to say 'There goes the season,' but the season is already gone."

I mean, seriously. Fate obviously does not cut the Clippers any slack. Of all the players who could have gotten injured, Marcus was probably the one I wanted least. Seriously, it couldn't be Novak or Jordan? I mean, it's no longer the training staff. There is something funky going on here. This just doesn't happen in the real world. This is other wordly, but in a bad way. The Clippers as an organization have never been any good, which is why this is so incredibly frustrating. I don't have any good history to look back on. All I have is six of the teams best players in street clothes on one end of the bench. Just as I get content with the fact that Baron, Kaman and Randolph probably aren't going to play for awhile, Marcus goes down. I can't take this anymore.

I think that there is some legitimacy to an idea of a curse. There is no reason for it, but it most definitely seems to exist. We're already talking about salvaging the season, so it would be nice if we could get healthy and establish some momentum for '09-'10. But no, we can't even get that. Instead, we get consecutive seasons where injuries have ruined what little hope of the playoffs we had. The worst part is talking to Laker fans or listening to national sports coverage where all I hear is "That's the Clippers." Yes, it is the Clippers, but it is also SIX injuries to KEY players. Laker fans, cry me a freakin' river about your three injuries to role players. Basically, my point is that it isn't that publicized. We will forever be just "the Clippers." Never the team that got screwed by injuries. It's like we're yelling at the top of lungs for help on an uncharted island. It's frustrating.

Well, I did hear on the postgame report that Marcus' injury might not be as serious as it first looked, but I've had enough experience with seemingly small injuries on this team not to look at the worst possible scenario. I mean, Taylor is the only Clipper who's out for a set period of time with an injury that's been clearly defined. Every other injured Clipper has some ambiguous injury and it doesn't look like any of them are coming back soon. As ClipperSteve pointed out, Kaman's return date continues to be pushed farther back such that he'll probably retire before returning to the court.

To wrap it up, I just feel like I don't know what to think anymore. I mean, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. Every time this team gives me hope, it selfishly takes it right back. I'd like to see one year, just ONE YEAR, where things go right. Please, Clippers, for us.