December 17, 2005

Words That Go Together Like a Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich: 'Los Angeles Clippers' and 'First Place': Since leaving Buffalo in 1978, the Clippers have finished above .500 twice and lost all three playoff series they reached, cheered on by loyal masochists like Billy Crystal, Penny Marshall and Frankie Muniz. This year, they find themselves in a strange place -- first. "L.A.'s other team has never come close to a start like this," ESPN's Marc Stein writes of their 14-8 record.

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:25 AM - 11 comments

I like mine grilled in real butter with an ice cold glass of milk. Don't slice the 'nana up, just smear it on the bread.

posted by texoma-slim at 09:59 AM on December 17, 2005

I kinda agree with ya Texoma,except I slice my banana real thin,I find that if it gets "mushed up" it tends to bruise the banana,but you right about the real butter. YUMMY

posted by Tubby Fan at 10:45 AM on December 17, 2005

There's something about Frankie Muniz being a Clippers fan that I find coffee-snortingly hilarious.

posted by ursus_comiter at 11:56 AM on December 17, 2005

You know it's a weird season when GSW are 14-9 and ahead of the Lakers.

posted by billsaysthis at 02:11 PM on December 17, 2005

Billy Crystal, Penny Marshall and Frankie Muniz With fans like these... I haven't seen the Clips yet this year (the Mavs haven't played them yet), but I would like to be the first to nominate Chris Kaman as the official NBA player of SportsFilter. Can I get a Kaman?

posted by Ufez Jones at 02:42 PM on December 17, 2005

it is weird to see the clips and the warriors ahead of the lakers, but i will point out that the lakers have won 8 of their last 10 games, and just went 5-1 on the road against 5 teams with winning records. as a lifelong lakers fan who admittedly goes to more clippers games because as a full-time student i can actually afford their tix prices, i'm happy to see elton brand get some national respect because the guy's a selfless workhorse night in and out. also, the funniest thing i ever saw was the "celebrity" basketball game after a clipper game last year, in which frankie muniz got posted up and knocked down by donald faison (the surgeon from scrubs). then, after about 3 consecutive missed threes from muniz, his team stopped passing to him for the rest of the game even though he was yelling "CUBE" at ice cube so loudly we could hear his voice cracking. now that's entertainment. also, kaman sucks. he kind of looks like hulk hogan, but beyond that he sucks.

posted by ninjavshippo at 02:47 PM on December 17, 2005

Have you ever had a peanut butter and banana sandwich? They were meant to be together. Seriously, give it a try.

posted by panoptican at 05:49 PM on December 17, 2005

Tubby, use a pretty ripe banana and squish it in your hand like grandma used to making banana bread. Smear it on the bread and place it in the already heated buttered pan. It won't have time to bruise.

posted by texoma-slim at 08:32 PM on December 17, 2005

If you're in a hurry, don't have a pan, or just plane lazy try slices of banana on Nutter Butter cookies. Great in a pinch for snack time. It is always snack time.

posted by texoma-slim at 08:37 PM on December 17, 2005

Yeah no kidding- PB & Banana is my favorite sandwich! The only thing that comes close is a perfectly made PB & Honey sandwich. This happens every year: a team or two surprises with a hot start, then can't maintain their pace. This is true of every sport- it's why they make the teams play all 16/82/162/etc games. It's almost demanded by the odds: like coin flips, if heads comes up 40-45% of the time (or about 33-37 wins), it's still a very likely thing that at least one of the eventual ~40-45% teams will start off the season with a coincidental "run of heads". It's far more likely to have "clusters" of overall record-defying streaks, where a team significantly over or under plays their eventual final season record, than to see every team play out their seasons with metronomic precision of losing and winning to perfectly fit their records. Ergo, the likelihood that at least a few of these teams will have strange opening weeks- great teams struggling out of the gate, lousy teams turning heads- is an almost certainty. It's not even newsworthy- it happens every year. The Clippers were 37-45 last year though, 7 under .500, which is not so bad that a one-year turnaround to be a contender is surprising. The Clippers could make the playoffs this year, sure... and the truth is, the Clippers have only ever been victims of their owner's conscious and penny-pinching decision to intentionally put a cheap loser on the floor over an expensive winner. That could undermine them this year, if in the stretch run the ownership doesn't get some new blood via trade to cover for injuries/apparent weak points in the roster. Or they could finally make a couple of necessary moves to sustain the season, and carry them into the post-season. Only time will tell. The funnest part of the Clippers is knowing that Bill Simmons is a partial fan (since he relocated to LA, he's still a "Celtics" fan but is violating his own rule by rooting for a second team in his new home city). This all should make for some good, funny, exasperated columns as they rise high, and then likely fall to .500 +/- a few games, over the course of the season.

posted by hincandenza at 10:01 PM on December 17, 2005

Billy Crystal, Penny Marshall and Frankie Muniz That's karma, that is.

posted by owlhouse at 01:21 AM on December 18, 2005

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