Steve Ballmer wants Clippers fans to show up earlier, doesn’t entirely get Los Angeles
New Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is one of the most popular men in the NBA, a breath of fresh air following the decades-long ordeal of the Donald Sterling era. Ballmer will run into trouble at some point, because all owners do, but for now he has the opportunity to turn the Clippers into one of the league’s most popular organizations. While anyone would have been an improvement over Sterling, that doesn’t change the fact that Ballmer has approached his new role with passion and excitement.
However, it seems like the former Microsoft CEO and Seattle resident doesn’t necessarily understand Los Angeles culture. He has asked the city’s sports fans to do the one thing they can’t do — show up early. From Ben Bolch for the Los Angeles Times (via SLAM):
The new team owner delivered his request at an event for season ticket-holders Thursday night at Universal Studios after hearing from players that the decibel level inside Staples Center was too low in the opening minutes.
“They said the first quarter can be a little lonely,” Ballmer said.
While acknowledging that he wasn’t an expert in Los Angeles traffic, Ballmer asked fans to arrive for tip-off.
“I will just tell you, 10 minutes earlier in your seat and Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are really going to love you,” Ballmer said.
As a Northern Californian native, I have spent most of my life disparaging fans of every Los Angeles team for showing up late and leaving early. The latter still confuses me — maybe because I’ve never had an industry party in the Hollywood Hills to attend — but the former makes total sense once you’ve ever tried to get anywhere (and especially downtown near Staples Center) on time at 7 p.m. on a weekday via the city’s freeways. The roads will not cooperate and you will get stuck in traffic. (Kobe Bryant uses a helicopter for good reason.) It’s easy to say that these people should leave earlier to fulfill their duties as sports fans, but that’s usually not possible for anyone who has a boss or works in a complicated corporate structure. Perhaps circumstances would be different if powerful executives like Ballmer allowed their employees more leeway.
It’s true that LA’s professional sports games don’t feature the most intense atmospheres in the nation, but that is largely because the weather is almost always very nice and it’s tough to get too angry when it’s 73 and sunny in mid-January. The truth is that the city’s fans can be just as fervent as those anywhere else, as evidenced by the time a Dodgers crowd booed Chris Paul and his young son. When LA fans are at the game, they’re perfectly capable of getting excited and rooting on a good team. Lakers fans have shown up late for years and still rep the franchise with a commitment bordering on mania. A lot of these issues are out of their control.
In a way, Ballmer rendered his own request ridiculous when he mentioned that he’s not an expert in LA traffic patterns. He’s not from the city and is rich enough to avoid the problem entirely with a personal helicopter or super-secret telepod. The rest of us have to wait in traffic with the pregame show on the radio.
– – – – – – –
Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
