LOS ANGELES — Darrell Bailey braced himself.
The first volley of smack talk hit him after only a few steps. It came from men in purple Lakers T-shirts. “Clipper Darrell!” yelled one. “We got LeBron, baby! We got LeBron! We gonna win championships, Clipper Darrell! How you like that?”
Bailey, 50 years old, short and broad-shouldered, is the biggest, loudest, most passionate fan of the city’s junior varsity N.B.A. team: the Los Angeles Clippers. He goes to every home game. He wears a tailor-made, two-piece suit, divided vertically — Clippers red on one side; Clippers blue on the other.