There's no doubt that the re-emergence (if you count a blip in '06 as the "emergence") of the Clippers as a respectable playoff contender has ignited a bit of a cross-town rivalry. Lakers fans see Clippers fans as bandwagon jumpers throwing themselves at a flavor of the week, and Clippers fans see Lakers fans as entitled older brothers desperately hiding their fear of being supplanted atop the food chain. Since it kinda sorta seems like neither team may get out of the Western Conference Semifinals, we may not be able to settle this on the court, so instead, let's go for the next best thing and figure out who's bringing the serious star power to the Staples Center these days. Hint: it's not the L.A. Sparks. More»

The last time I reported on the crowd at a Clippers game, the Clippers were a much different team. Those Clippers finished with a 32-50 record and were primarily characterized by their historically unpopular owner heckling his own overweight, apathetic "star" player. Now? The Clip Show is the hottest ticket in town, featuring two of the biggest stars in the league (Mo Williams and Caron Butler, obviously) and three spots ahead of Kobe & The Kobettes in the Western Conference standings. But has all this success changed the notoriously sparse, bizarre Clippers crowd? I hit up the Clips-Timberwolves game last night to find out. More»

Man, being Connor Cruise must be the awesomest awesome time in the world. First of all, your dad is Tom Cruise, who clearly has it together, and your mom is Nicole Kidman, who left to go live in Australia, so hey, free trips to Australia! You've been shipped off to Scientology boarding school in Oregon, which is probably great because you don't have to read or do math or any of that boring stuff. And you've already chosen the rewarding and challenging career path of DJ'ing! What better way to celebrate than by having an MTV-worthy super sweet birthday bash at Hyde? No, not that Hyde, the one in the Staples Center, on Clippers game night! SWAGGGGG. More»

Since the Los Angeles Clippers moved here from San Diego in 1984, they have shared a "rivalry" with their championship-winning neighbors the Lakers that makes the relationship between Germany and Poland look equitable and balanced. Historically crippled by terrible signings, fan apathy, perpetually awful luck, and Ricky Davis, it seemed to most people as if the Clips were destined to be an eternal punchline. But in sports, conventional wisdom is only true until it's not anymore, and Monday night (in a game that admittedly means nothing) Chris Paul and the Clippers looked a hell of a lot better than Kobe and the Lakers. More»

While most of our Daily Style Philes lately have focused on monsters of one sort or another– whether they happen to play one on television or just act like one in general– today's subject is probably the only one whose sheer physical abilities might actually deserve that qualification. That's right, we're talking about the Clippers' Blake Griffin, the most explosive power forward to happen to Los Angeles basketball since A.C. Green (at least on his wedding night). Oh yeah, and guess what? He's also a pretty funny dude. More»

As previously reported, we were somewhat less than impressed to see photos emerge of social butterfly and legal-system enthusiast Mel Gibson getting down at The Colony on a Saturday night. For all of his many transgressions (a list that we'll include Signs on), we at least figured Mel knew enough about our fair city to represent himself passably as an Angeleno, focusing instead on giving Catholics, men, actors, and Australians a bad name. And yet, here we are, looking at Braveheart himself, partying like an accountant from Dallas that's here through Tuesday. So Mel, as a group of Jews, females, and female Jews, please understand that we're not doing this for your benefit; nevertheless, here's a few other places you can go on Saturday night to spare the rest of us the embarrassment... More»