The L.A. Clippers held a free open practice to the public in the Bren events center on Saturday, October 1. Doors opened at 11:45 a.m. and by 12:30 p.m. there were hundreds of people, most of whom were dressed head to toe in Clippers gear, eagerly waiting in a seemingly never ending line. Thankfully, the pain of waiting in line in humid, sweat-inducing heat, wasn’t as bad with Chuck the Condor (the Clippers’ mascot) showing off his epic scooter tricks up and down the line. As 11:45 approached, there was a mad rush for the doors and people began sprinting down the Bren Events Center stairs to get as close as humanly possible to the Clippers team already shooting baskets down below. As the Bren Events Center filled up with people from all parts of L.A., the Clippers started a scrimmage to showcase how hard they’ve been working during the offseason. Much to the shock of many UCI students in the crowd, they announced that the Clippers have been practicing on campus since Monday.
The Clippers wearing black uniforms took on the Clippers wearing white uniforms to play two ten minute halves. The crowd seemed to be rooting mainly for the black uniformed team which had star players DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin on their roster. Personally, I was just rooting for the Clippers which seemed like a pretty safe bet to me. The game was a tight one from the start, particularly because most of the players were simply having fun and making incredible tricky shots. At half-time the black uniformed team was winning 28-20. The Clippers’ spirit squad came out and did some routines as free shirts were cannoned into the crowd by members of the Clippers’ staff. The game started again and the crowded Bren Events Center got hyped for the second half, even standing for the entire last minute, as the score was tied 53-53 with four seconds left. The fate of the game rested on DeAndre Jordan’s shoulders as he took one free throw and missed it. Keeping his cool he lined himself up for one last free throw and made it, thus taking the game to 54-53 and a win for the black uniformed team.
The event ended with a little round of a fun game called “embarrassing the rookies” by making them name each person and coach on their teams and then forcing them into the center of the court for a dance off, which team white won hands down through their rookie Brice Johnson. The event, which drew in an incredible number of people to our campus, was a really cool experience and best of all – it was free. With the Clippers’ holding their pre-season camp here on UC Irvine’s campus and the L.A. Rams holding their camp here over the summer, UCI’s Anteater territory is becoming pretty awesome stomping grounds for L.A.’s own professional athletes.