My First Clippers Game (of the 2026-2027 season)
Precisely seven hundred and twenty eight days ago, I attended my first Clippers game at the Intuit Dome on October 23rd, 2024.
Fast forward two years, or thereabouts, and I am ready to attend my second Clippers game at the Intuit Dome on October 21st, 2026.
The routine is the same: get off from work early and head right down to Highland Park Brewery located in Chinatown to pre game and catch the Clippers shuttle at Union Station (powered by RideCo). I am slam six pints of Fresh Hop Hello, LA IPA like the brewery is never going to make this particular beer ever again. The beer has tasting note flavors of snowy Alpine, resin, and freshly carbonated sulfates. I start chopping it up with two L World fans who are also pre gaming ahead their respective home opening match.
Decked out in Purple and Gold, I order yet another deliciously delectable Fresh Hop IPA as the couple complain to me about their struggles of accessibility at Intuit Dome when attending a concert, and it is at this time that I will warn you that you absolutely must download the Intuit Dome application onto your phone before you visit for any basketball game or concert or else you will have a variety of issues plaguing you during your entire time at the venue.
I look down on my iPhone 14 Pro to check the time and the clock reads 5:10 PM over my sexy Blake Griffin Celtics #91 Crypto Dot Com Arena Jumbotron background that I have not changed since December 2022.
“Great,” I thought to myself, “I’ll have enough time for a quick one at Everywhere Brewing,” and so I bid my farewell to the polite couple, close out my tab, then head over to the Goldline Light Rail Chinatown Platform location. (Let’s have some real talk for a hot second: no Angeleno is calling it whatever zany Alpha Beta generic name Metro Los Angeles has renamed it to just to make a quick quip like: “Hey guys, I’m gonna ride the D this afternoon!” With Gradey Dick on the Clippers this season (2026-2027), I have more than enough fodder for Dick jokes.)
Located inside of the gorgeous Art Deco style Fred Harvey room inside of Union Station Los Angeles, Everywhere Brewing serves up modern lagers and pilsners, hard seltzers, and even has a little speakeasy with mixed drinks called The Stream Liner. I say “Hello,” and “Goodbye” to my friend Jay Chang who is casually sitting at the bar. I guzzle my pilsner with haste and rest the unusually bold empty 40cL glass on the bar as I make my way over to the Clippers shuttle.
But where is the shuttle?
I have clearly used the Clippers shuttle before. This is not my first Clippers game. Yes, I am eight beers deep, but I am not so drunk that I can miss a big white shuttle bus. The clock reads 5:40 PM.
“Clippers! Clippers?!”
I hear two elderly gentlemen shouting: “Clippers! Clippers?!” right near the front entrance of Union Station, the location of the pick up point for the courtesy shuttle. “Are you two waiting for the Clippers shuttle?” I ask anxiously. “Yes, we are,” one continued, “and we’ve been waiting for forty five minutes! Are you the shuttle driver?” The fear of missing the Clippers shuttle consumed my entire body. Thinking quickly, I busted through the two double doors at the front entrance of Union Station like Erling Haaland rushing past two defenders and flagged down the first security guard I could find: “Where is the Clippers shuttle?”
With the utmost assurance in his voice, the guard simply answered: “They changed the pick up location to Vignes street so that people wouldn’t get confused with the other shuttle.”
In typical Clippers fashion, they changed the pick up location without telling anyone.
“I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more.” - Tyler Durden
The shuttle was stopped at a red light, ready to take off. I think I probably took a cue from Keanu Reeves and banged on the bus door violently like that one scene in Speed. The bus driver opened the door. Winded, I asked the bus driver “Please tell me this is the Clippers shuttle?”
“Hop on in! You just about missed us! We depart at 6PM!”
My clock read: 6:01 PM.
The ride to the Intuit Dome from Union Station Los Angeles is anything but fast, even though you get to ride on the fast track lane. Like Chris Rock said in CB4: “only an idiot would follow me [to the 101]!” Relief washed over me in an awesome wave as I made my way to an open seat towards the middle of the bus and quickly dozed off.
Instead of dreams of joy, I was greeted with nightmares. Lester Hudson. Josh Hart “He’s on Fire” like NBA Jam from deep. The collapse in the bubble. Four guard line ups. Blake Griffin breaking his hand trying to punch the athletic trainer Mati. Steve Ballmer committing crimes like Lex Luthor. Eventually I woke up and I recognized the same empty garage drop off for the Clippers shuttle. If that is not enough, you still need to walk like three blocks to enter the Intuit Dome.
Rain.
Rain makes it perfect. A light drizzle started as I walked towards the Intuit Dome entrance laced up in my Nike Utility Presto Mids in Triple Black. After nearly two years, I was worried that I might experience entering the arena. Would the camera recognize my beet red tomato rosacea ridden face?
It worked. I was on my way to my first Clippers game in over one entire season. Suddenly, I had another feeling possess my body. The eight beers I drank earlier had gone stale in my stomach and I had to blow it up the way the USA likes to bomb Iran. I rushed to find an empty stall but had no luck. One of the nice things about the Intuit Dome is that there are over 1,100 restrooms so it does not take a lot of time to find an empty toilet stall. I hear the National Anthem starting and I am sitting blasting away. I have not stood for a National Anthem since before arenas reopened in 2021 so sitting on the porcelain throne was fitting.
After working my way past concessions that were cooked at 11 AM in the morning and left under heat lamps for the duration of the game, I found a Michelada stand and gripped one before heading to my seat. Although I missed the opening tip off, the flame throwers were still going off behind the backboard and The Wall was decked out in University Red jerseys. Garland was crossing players up like Prince crossed up Charlie Murphy in that one Chappelle Show skit. Keaton Wagler was draining treys like Steph Curry. Gradey Dick was a spark off the pine with hard D on both ends of 94 feet. The Clippers D was even good enough to prevent Domantas Sabonis from getting a triple double. I was so engrossed in watching the game that I did not even realize that my phone died. I’m not sure why I didn’t bring my charger since every seat at the Dome has charging capabilities but I didn’t need my phone to take away from the experience of my first Clippers game.
“Now THIS is Clippers basketball!” I shouted in the tone of “Now THIS is podracing!” I yelled and yelled, relentlessly trying to break the noise meter at every possession until my vocal chords gave out and I started sounding like Doc Rivers. At the half I gathered with my friend Dime Dropper who I met several seasons ago for a group pic. It was nice to see some familiar faces as well as some new faces. My love for the game was back and before I knew it the Clippers were up big and it was down to two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Where did the time go? My first Clippers game of the 2026-2027 season was over and I had to make my way back to the shuttle pick up point.
I ran into Carlo Jimenez on my way out and tried to say “Hello,” but he acted like he was talking to someone on his phone and shrugged me off. It didn’t matter because I was so happy that my first Clippers game of the season was a success. Before I went back to the shuttle I met up with my friend Dime and told him to let everyone on his YouTube Channel Dime Dropper know about the new shuttle pick up point at Union Station. The ride back from Intuit Dome to Union Station is the opposite of that gulag trek going to the Dome. It’s like a flight to Vegas from LAX — that is to say, that it’s over before you know it.
Kings 96 - Clippers 121