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The Clippers are the Talk of the Town

By Steve Perrin

Obviously, the idea of a daily clippings post is one of those things that has fallen to the realities of life and time constraints.  But I dusted off the clippings tool today to collect a bunch of what is out there right now.  Needless to say, the Clippers are getting more ink and pixels than we are used to.  By January 10, 2009, there weren't even any beat writers traveling with the team.  If you wanted anything beyond the AP gamer, it was Steve or Kevin writing on their measly blogs.

Yesterday was one of those Staples Sunday double headers - Clippers in the afternoon, Lakers in the evening and as the Clippers media were wrapping up their stories, the Lakers crew had begun arriving.  With the Lakers riding an ugly two game losing streak (including a loss to the Clips) while the Clippers had just won their fourth straight, the jokes about the 'best team in LA' were flying.  Kidding aside, I had a couple of interesting encounters with LA Times employess. 

Mark Medina, who had often filled in for Lisa Dillman on the Clippers, recently got his own beat as the Times' Lakers blogger after the Kamentskys left for ESPNLA.  Poor guy - he went to the purple side just as the teams' fortunes were reversing (however briefly). 

I also overheard a Times' senior NBA columnist, who I shan't name (rhymes with Park Chrysler) on the phone with his editor.  I wasn't eavesdropping by any means, and you shouldn't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure I heard him say something to the effect that he wanted to write a piece on the Clippers instead of that other team because "The Clippers are more interesting right now."

There are many events converging to make the Clippers more interesting on the media scene.  For one thing, ESPN launched ESPNLosAngeles, and has a bunch of new web pages to fill.  Given that it's hard to think of anything else to say about the Lakers, the Clippers coverage was bound to increase.  But obviously the fact that the team is playing well is a big part of it.  Then there are the individual stories.  Chris Kaman is playing like an All Star, despite not even being on the ballot.  Meanwhile, Baron Davis is a story that media types love - he signed a huge contract to come home, had a terrible first season, and is experiencing a rennaissance this year.

Fun times.  Here are some of the more interesting links to Clipper pieces around the web.

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