I tell ya, the Clippers don't get no respect.
NBA.com is promoting the NBA Europe Live tour on their website. They've created several special banners featuring players from the teams touring Europe this October. There's Nash, Stoudemire and Marion for the Suns. There's Duncan, Parker and Ginobili for the Spurs. And there's Brand, Maggette, and... uh... who the hell is that guy?
I guess it's Rebraca, but I'm not really sure. But why would you feature a backup center? And what's he wearing? It's not a Clippers Uni, at least not one they use in games. Are you kidding me? You couldn't bother to make a graphic including three actual Clippers in actual uniforms? You're EN BEE AY DOT FRIGGIN COM FOR PETE'S SAKE!
Then, as I was watching SNF (has that caught on for Sunday Night Football yet?), I was boo-booping through the commercials on the TiVo (don't watch commercials anymore, you know) and my highly tuned Clipper sense recognized the briefest glimpse of Elton Brand! I go back, and it's a commercial for the NBA Live 2007 video game. Ah ha, says I, the Clippers are finally gonna get some love and be featured in this commercial. Wrong. The Clippers were the Washington Generals of the commercial, continually getting dunked on or having their shots blocked by Shaq and pretty much everyone else in the league. To make matters worse, Kaman in the game was frightening. OK, well, maybe frightening isn't really the right adjective here, since Kaman is frightening in real life. But it didn't even look like Kaman. I had to look at the jersey number to verify that it was who he was supposed to be. He had some sort of Eddie Munster widow's peak in front, when everyone knows that Kaman's really got the opposite, the receding hairline which he tries to hide by just letting it grow.
No respect. No respect I tell ya.
Update [2006-10-6 16:51:31 by ClipperSteve]: I figured out who the third guy is (kind of). It's not Rebraca, and it's not a Clipper. It's someone from CSKA Moscow, although I don't know who. Why the NBA gives the 3 other teams 3 of their OWN players on the banner, but makes a Clippers banner with 2 Clippers and someone from the Red Army, I can't say. Of course there's the 'no respect' thing. But it seems like something more. Is David Stern secretly a COMMUNIST SYMPATHIZER? No? Oh, OK. No respect it is.