I don’t know what’s more awkward: Darrell Bailey “crying” on live TV or Rob Fukuzaki calling him a Lakers fan.

Good times.

The Los Angeles Clippers lashed back at Darrell Bailey (aka Clipper Darrell) after our story broke Wednesday regarding the organization asking their diehard fan to drop his stagename. Below is their statement:

“The Clippers have done absolutely nothing wrong or inappropriate as it concerns Darrell Bailey. His claims are absurd and unfounded. He has never been an employee or representative of the Clippers organization, and therefore cannot be terminated. The Clippers have never engaged Mr. Bailey’s services. When he has been in need, the organization has regularly provided him a seat for games. No good deed goes unpunished.

Read more

Despite the addition of Chris Paul and first place in the Pacific Division standings, the Los Angeles Clippers are still … well … the Los Angeles Clippers.

The front office wants superfan “Clipper Darrell,” aka Darrell Bailey, to drop the Clipper nickname.

After Bleacher Report was denied media credentials while doing a profile on the man who has stood by the Clippers through thick and a whole lot of thin, Bailey called team president Andy Roeser to get an explanation.

Carl Lahr, senior vice president of marketing and sales, eventually returned Bailey’s call last week and informed him that the organization didn’t need him doing stories or speaking to the media on behalf of the team.

“We got to talking and I said the way I feel, you don’t want Clipper Darrell no more,” Bailey told FishbowlLA Wednesday. “You want Darrell Bailey back. They said, ‘You would do that?’”

Read more

Around this time last year, Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin took the NBA Slam Dunk Contest by storm when he dunked over a Kia Optima during All-Star weekend.

Well, it’s time for the Kia Optima to get some revenge.  The tables are turned and the car attempts to dunk over Griffin.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Sadly, this commercial might be more entertaining than this year’s Slam Dunk Contest.

The buzz surrounding the resurgent Los Angeles Clippers/Los Angeles Lakers rivalry is spreading across the country.

Monday’s preseason game between the Clippers and Lakers was the most-watched preseason game in NBA TV history with 509,000 viewers.

It broke the previous record of 501,000 viewers set when LeBron James made his Miami Heat debut in 2010.

This might be the first of many ratings records set by the Clippers during the abbreviated 2011-12 NBA season.

The Los Angeles Clippers Training Center in Playa Vista and the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo should have been swarming with TV cameras, beat writers and NBA players suiting up for the first time in months.

Instead, we are left with two empty training facilities, beat writers that are slowly going crazy as they stake out in New York hotel lobbies and NBA players left in limbo on whether there will be a 2011-12 season.

Based on the current negotiations, there’s still a good chance the entire NBA season could be canceled, not only hurting the Laker car flag industry, but costing employees and local downtown businesses millions of dollars.

And for local fans looking for their fall sports fix, there’s always USC football (on probation), UCLA football (they stink) the Los Angeles Kings!