being that the Clippers had such an awful season, Darst Vader and I sorta lost interest in writing about other peoples' teams and their successes this year and neglected the Bench Mob altogether. call it selfish, call it lazy. whatevs. however, i will admit there were indeed some bright moments:
1. the magic.
2. the thuggish ruggish nuggets.
2b. houston w/o t-mac & yao = a lil' better.
3. kobe playing like a real life team member finally.
4. lbj's amazing regular season.
5. big baby grows up
and now that things are winding to an end w/ the last remaining teams and others already enjoying an early vacation......for us Clipper fans, Spring and Summer welcomes probably the most excitement all year. everything is hopeful and positive, and although those thoughts and feelings vanish by, oh say, December - right now it's good to be a Clipper faithful. why? BLAKE GRIFFIN. the number one concensus pick in the draft, which by some crazy miracle the Clipps have. so, if all goes according to plan, we'll end up getting the 2005 version of Elton Brand mixed w/ some vintage Chuck Barkley and a dash of Boozer minus the injuries or inflated salary - all in the package of Mr. Oklahoma, Blake Griffin (heretofore referred to as Beast Griffin). now the word is Baron's supposedly hitting the gym 9 times a day (or so he Tweets - sorry i wrote that phrase), the youth movement of Commissioner Gordon, MIkey Taylor, Big Al, and Deandre looks promising, the coming out party of fan favorite Novak, the return of Caveman Kaman, and to top it all off, Dunleavy sounds like a man on a mission. as it is every Clipper offseason, we seem to have wonderful pieces in place for the next year.
but there's little i can do as a lame brain faithful to help make sure IT IS a successful season outside of sitting around all Summer and annoying my lady and friends about my wayward child of a franchise and how, "they deserve a second chance", "i can't throw it in", "they'll be better", etc.
however, tonight i went ballistic and made good on some of my age old comments. i've always said that outside of smart basketball decisions (ie. acquiring and developing the right players at the right time), t's my fervent belief that the CULTURE needs to be changed in Clipperland more than anything if their going to make things happen.
look at teams like Cleveland, Dallas, Atlanta, all teams that had a long history of losing, they didn't just do the basketball manuevers to right the "ship"....they changed the look and spirit of the whole club. and the first step in that is logos and jerseys. sounds simple and somewhat crazy, right? it is. but it works. it just takes a good design team and for some money to be ponied up (hear that Donald Satan?). the fact is, the old Clipper logo carries baggage with it and is a visual reminder of some really sad days. throw it out i say.
so, i went into my laboratory and drew up some designs of what i think the new Clippers design should look like. the first rule is to never have a totally different color scheme, that can alienate fans. just improve what's already there - maybe go back to an older team design. i love the the San Diego Clippers baby blue and orange. so i merged the new w/ the old and went w/ baby blue and cardinal red. i also think that the vintage look the 70s and 80s jerseys w/ stripes and simpler designs - should make a comeback. Baron is a trendsetter himself and i think he could really pull off that look.
look at Dallas' alternate green jerseys - amazing
or the Cavs' throwbacks.
below you'll see i chose lettering and design that has a hint of throwback to it. i also made some merchandise designs for your viewing pleasure.
lastly, when you look at the current same ol' Clippers logo, it's doesn't help you to understand just what a "Clipper" actually is. it's a boring logo, and very basic. doesn't give the team an identity at all. A Clipper, for those of you who are unaware, is an old war ship. now incorporating ship and nautical themes is tough, but i think i stumbled across some nice ideas. using images of steering wheels, anchors and nautical stars / compasses does the trick. no need to show something lame like ships, or sails or waves.
anyway - my insomnia was fed and i hope to hell this work maybe catches the eye of one of the Clipper suits and finds it's way through the proper channels and gives people ideas. i think it would help to usher in what might be a nice turn of events for a Clipper Nation here in the upcoming 2009-2010 season. they deserve a change of events. and with that, WELCOME TO L.A., BEAST!
