Nelson Rodriguez has rooted for the Clippers his entire life, but the fandom of the Santa Ana resident was out of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

The 37-year-old never owned an article of the team’s clothing growing up, or even as an adult. He can only keep up with them on social media since Nelson doesn’t subscribe to Bally Sports or the NBA’s streaming service. The financial planner works in an office of Lakers fans. His wife, Cynthia, only cares for the Dodgers when it comes to sports.

And until I took my dear friend to the Clippers home game Monday night against the Miami Heat, Nelson had never seen his team in person.

“I don’t know anyone besides you who’d want to go,” he said as we drove up to the Intuit Dome from Orange County around 4 that afternoon. We left early so we could grab a bite to eat at Con’i Seafood, then wander around the new arena. “If it was Lakers, you’d have 20 hands go up. If I said, ‘Let’s go to an Angels game,’ people would want to go.

“But,” he concluded with a pained smile, “it’s the Clippers.”

His dad, a Salvadoran immigrant, taught him to love the team while Nelson was growing up in Buena Park. He stuck with them through the Clippers’ lost years of the 1990s and 2000s because “I love going for the underdog. When you’re an Angels fan, it’s easy. The Lakers were always the cool option. They get enough praise. They get the famous fans. We get Billy Crystal.”

Nelson’s devotion paid off with the Lob City years, whose trademark dunking and slashing with players like Blake Griffith, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul “is how the NBA should be played.” He was further drawn in with the 2019 signing of his favorite basketball player, Kawhi Leonard.

“He beat the [Golden State] Warriors with the [Toronto] Raptors single-handedly and shut up those bandwagon fans,” he cracked as we enjoyed aguachile and fish chicharrones at Con’i. When I asked what he liked about Leonard, Nelson replied, “He’s super quiet, but laser-focused and lets his actions speak for him.”

Very much like Nelson, come to think of it.

I asked how the Clippers’ season was going as we made the five-minute drive from Con’i to Intuit Dome.

“Good, considering Kawhi has been out for so long. The fact the rest of the team was able to hold it down, that makes the rest of the season promising.”

We finally got to the arena, which we both agreed looked like the ARTIC train and bus station in Anaheim. Music was blasting. People shot baskets at two courts near the entrance. A dance crew dressed in gray jogging suits did their thing. Nelson stared at it all and just grinned.

“Look at how clean everything is,” he said, referring to the design scheme. “That’s one of the reasons I never really wanted to go to a game, either. I once went to a concert at Staples Center. It was ugly.”

Nelson made his way to a spot where we could look down at the Clippers practice facility, where a solitary player was practicing. “Amir Coffey!” Nelson exclaimed. “He’s a hustler.”

Our seats, which were a Christmas surprise from Cynthia to her husband, were the nosebleeds of the nosebleeds.

“That’s where the real fans are, anyways,” he said with a laugh. Nelson then pointed to a section of seats behind one end of the court far below us.

“That’s called ‘the Wall.’ You have to go through this process and you really have to be a Clippers fan to sit there. They ask you things like who’s your favorite player, how many years have you rooted for them — it’s like a quiz. [Clippers owner] Steve Ballmer wanted a space for the real ones.”

Cynthia tried to buy tickets for the Wall but didn’t pass muster in time.

Nelson nursed a margarita and held on to a Clippers sweatshirt I bought him; I downed my double Jack Daniels. It was Korean Heritage Day, so the arena played Psy, BTS and Blackpink while flashing all sorts of lights.

It was game time.

The Clippers came onto the court wearing black-and-white T-shirts that read “LA Strong.” It was their first home game since the devastating Pacific Palisades and Eaton fire that brought ruin to tens of thousands of Southern Californians. Public address announcer Eric Smith mentioned the disasters and their “unfathomable devastation” in a short speech, but the few fans who showed up — attendance was announced at a generous 13,119 — wanted to focus on something else for a few hours, at least.

Nelson booed the Heat as they were introduced, and applauded when it was the turn of his squad. Leonard was nowhere to be seen. “He doesn’t seem to be playing today,” Nelson said with disappointment.

Then Leonard ran onto the court.

“He’s playing!” Nelson shouted.

That would be as joyful as he’d be for the first half.

Leonard looked rusty. The Heat were raining down three-pointers. Nelson groaned when the Clippers turned over the ball and shook his head when they missed easy shots. Mostly, he stayed quiet. He was enraptured. He never checked his phone once.

At halftime, with the Clippers down 48-43, I asked how he liked watching a game in person.

“It’s really nice,” he replied. “Live, you really get into the flow of things. And it’s such an amazing view.”

I was happy he was happy, but was afraid my compa’s first game would be a blowout loss. Then the Clippers came alive.

Center Ivica Zubac kept grabbing rebounds and muscling his way toward dunks to fans growling “Zuuuuub.” James Harden scored 13 points in the third quarter as the Clippers clawed back from a 17-point deficit. Nelson began to clap louder. His head bobbed with the music. When small forward Norman Powell did a shake-and-bake before hitting a three to give the Clippers a lead they never relinquished, Nelson yelled “Ohhhh!”

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard controls the ball in front of Miami Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. during the first half of the Clippers’ 109-98 win Monday at the Intuit Dome.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

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We cheered and booed throughout the fourth quarter, and even mooed as part of a Chik-fil-A promotion that promises free chicken sandwiches to all attendees if an opposing player misses back-to-back free throws in the fourth quarter. When the game ended with the Clippers on top, 109-98, Nelson sat back for a bit and basked in the moment.

“Beautiful,” he finally proclaimed. He put on his sweatshirt so I could take a photo with the Clippers court behind him, then we left Intuit.

“That was really good,” Nelson said as we walked through the chilly Inglewood night. “All I can think of right now is, ‘When am I gonna come back?’”

He explained how tonight was a typical Clippers victory this season: “They’ll be up, then they start to get behind, then they hustle back to win but give their fans freaking anxiety. But Kawhi is going to get better. The Clippers are going to get better. It’s going to be good this year.”

We drove back to Orange County, and agreed to attend another game this season. The following day, I hung out with Cynthia and she told me how ecstatic Nelson was.

“He even wore his sweatshirt to work,” she said with knowing eyes. “And I said, ‘Is that appropriate?’ And he said, ‘Of course it is!’”

We’ve got the Wall next time, Compa Nelson. Zuuuuub.

Eric Barker has never known his older brother to do anything half-heartedly.

So when Michael informed Eric and the rest of the family that he planned to travel to 100 college football games during the 2024 season — an accepted if not officially recognized world record — Eric wasn’t all that surprised.

“He’s kind of an extreme guy,” Eric said.

“Last year, I did 90 (games),” Michael said. “(This year was) 100 games or bust.”

The elder Barker — who runs the popular X account, “College Football Campus Tour” — hit the century mark earlier this month when he made his way to the Division III national championship game in Houston, fresh off a trip to Nassau for the Bahamas Bowl. He celebrated the milestone with a homemade sign and a late-night trip to Bucee’s, where he grabbed his favorite breakfast burrito and a rhino taco before heading to Frisco for the FCS national championship game the next day. Game No. 101.

100 games in one season 🍾

Appreciate every single one of you for supporting my journey to a new world record 👊 pic.twitter.com/1QXKMpFkZ1

— College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) January 6, 2025

On the heels of catching both College Football Playoff semifinal games last week, Barker is finally home in California this week for the first time since catching a 5:30 a.m. flight on Dec. 26. But college football’s most well-traveled fan is headed right back out Sunday for Monday night’s national championship game in Atlanta to put an exclamation point on his 104th game of the season.

“I grew up in a pro (sports) house,” Barker said of cheering for the San Francisco 49ers as a kid. “(But) college football really had all the things I wanted and I just didn’t understand it. And when I did, I went full force — obviously.”

This all started sort of by accident.

In 2017, Barker, looking to embrace solo travel and see more of the United States, booked a trip to Lake Estes, Colo., to stay at The Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining.” Barker told his mom at the time that he was afraid to travel alone but knew the trip would be good for him, so he took the leap.

On the way to the hotel, Barker planned a stop at Colorado State’s campus. Although his father didn’t talk much about his college football career, Curt Barker played one season at BYU and two at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Barker remembered his dad telling him that one of the best games he ever played was at Colorado State, so Barker planned to make a pit stop there and at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“I just really enjoyed going around the campus at each of them,” Barker said. “And when I got to the hotel, it was just on my brain. So I stayed at the hotel for — it was supposed to be two nights and I cut it short and did one night. Before I left the area, I stopped at Wyoming and I stopped at Air Force in Colorado Springs.

“I got home and was like, ‘Man, I really enjoy stopping at campuses.’”

That summer, Barker visited colleges in Arizona, Oregon and Washington before booking a three-week trip to see 99 different campuses from Miami to Maine to Minnesota to Texas and eventually back to California.

It was only natural, he said, that he start checking out football stadiums the following fall.

“He just kind of fell in love with the stadiums themselves, the history, the old ones,” Eric Barker said. “So it was kind of a natural progression.”

Barker, a real estate appraiser, started small (by his standards) and attended 13 games during the 2017 football season, an average of about one a week. He increased it to 30 in 2018 and 50 in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he still managed to see 42 games. And between the spring and fall seasons of 2021, he made 81 trips.

Last season, he upped the ante to 90 games, pushing himself to what he thought was maximum capacity.

But when his social media followers delivered some good-old-fashioned peer pressure and encouraged him to see if he could hit 100 in 2024, Barker realized that a longer regular season and the expanded College Football Playoff would make the goal feasible.

“The people — Twitter — asked for it,” he said. “And I wanted to deliver.”

Baker has now seen games at all 134 FBS programs and has been to 95 of 129 FCS schools — holding a “soft spot,” for FCS stadiums and teams.

The funding has largely come from his savings account, with Barker admitting that the COVID-19 pandemic hurt his income when interest rates reached such low levels that homeowners had no incentive to refinance their homes. Refinances comprised about 80 percent of his appraisals.

He also has a partnership with TickPick that has helped him land obstructed-view tickets, which is also a beloved part of his brand as he visits various stadiums. He estimates he has spent only $300 on tickets all season thanks to some schools providing a media credential and also the generosity of his followers on social media.

Eventually, he knows he’ll either need to make more money in real estate or beef up his corporate sponsorships if he wants to keep this going.

But for now, it works, thanks to his savings and a very specific set of self-mandated rules.

“No parking, no airport food, no concessions,” he said.

Oh, and this is the big one: no hotels, either.

“If you go to 100 games, $150 a night hotel, let’s say, you save $15,000 if you don’t do a hotel,” he said. “If you can withstand the glamour life, you get the reward.”

Barker said the first thing he does when he arrives in a city is search for “grocery stores near me” on his cell phone so he can load up on protein bars and healthy snacks to avoid having to eat stadium food. He spoke to The Athletic from a Target parking lot in Texas.

If he doesn’t get a media parking pass, he’ll often venture a mile or two away from the stadium and walk to avoid paying for parking. On the nights when he isn’t headed straight to the airport, he’ll often sleep in his rental car in a truck stop parking lot, typically at a Love’s or Buc-ee’s, and walk over to grab a coffee the next morning.

He also has a Planet Fitness membership. For $24 a month, he can keep up with his exercise routine at any facility in the country and also take advantage of the free WiFi and showers.

If and when Barker needs to go directly to the airport after a night game, he’ll often sleep in the terminal before heading to his next stop.

Ringing in the new year at LAX. Rental car isn’t available until 2:30am. Rose Parade starts 8am #GlamourLife pic.twitter.com/KKAAVBunoZ

— College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) January 1, 2025

Asked about his favorite atmosphere, Barker gave the nod to Texas A&M but shouted out LSU and Ole Miss for their tailgating, as well as the fine people of Iowa who once invited him to play Giant Jenga and down beers in the parking lot at Kinnick Stadium. Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium is a favorite, too, with the mountains in the background, and the crowds at Penn State and Oregon are undeniable.

Montana has a 233-35 home record since opening Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 1986. This includes a 37-7 record in home FCS playoff games #GoGriz 🐻 pic.twitter.com/CL6wf6ye0a

— College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) July 22, 2024

As for his most memorable stretch on the road, it had to be this October when he hit six stadiums in five days.

“It was a Tuesday night at New Mexico State, Wednesday night at UTEP — which is about 45 miles south — and then a 5 a.m. flight into Raleigh-Durham,” he said. “Drove three and a half hours and got to Virginia Tech on a Thursday night. Then flew to Chicago for a Friday night game at Wisconsin-Whitewater, which is a D-III power.

“After that, there was a Saturday two-for-one. It was 1 p.m. at North Dakota in Grand Forks and it was 7:30 p.m. at the Fargodome, the (Dakota) Marker game between South Dakota State and North Dakota State. That required an 11-hour drive from Whitewater to Grand Forks in the middle of the night in about a 14-hour window.”

Barker joked that oftentimes when his mother is curious about his whereabouts, she’ll head over to his X page for answers. He keeps his followers updated with photos and videos from his trips.

Just last month, he went from Montana State (Dec. 13) to South Dakota (Dec. 14) to the Frisco Bowl (Dec. 17) to the junior college national championship game in Canyon, Texas, (Dec. 18) to the New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 19) to Notre Dame versus Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff (Dec. 20) to Texas versus Clemson on the second day of the first round (Dec. 21) to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 23) and, finally, to the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.

After five overtimes and about 10 hours in Hawaii, he hopped on a red-eye back to San Francisco, where he landed at 6:30 a.m. local time on Christmas Day then boarded a train to Oakland at 8 a.m. to be with his family. By 9:30 a.m., he’d made it to the Christmas festivities and stayed with his family for 20 hours before heading out to the Rate Bowl in Phoenix first thing the next morning. Just enough time to dig into Christmas brunch … and do some laundry from the lone suitcase and backpack he travels with.

“(At first, my family members) were like, ‘Mike is finding himself. Let him find himself,’” Barker said. “And I think there was a point almost where they wanted to say, ‘All right, are you gonna be done with this?’ And I would say in the last 18 months, they have bought in.”

Barker typically travels alone due to the physical and financial demands of his itinerary, but Eric went on one trip with his older brother in 2019.

The duo went to the Egg Bowl at Mississippi State on a Thursday night, where they witnessed the infamous fake urination celebration, then headed up to Charlottesville, Va., for a Friday game featuring Virginia and Virginia Tech before scooting over to Western Kentucky the next day for a rivalry matchup against Middle Tennessee State in the “100 Miles of Hate” rivalry. Eric and Michael capped the trip off with a visit to Vanderbilt for a men’s basketball game later that night, where Eric walked to seats at the top of the arena and promptly fell asleep.

“I don’t even know how he does it and how he survives. He’s kind of like a machine,” Eric said.

“He hasn’t come on a trip with me since then,” Michael said.

As the college football season comes to a close next week, when Notre Dame faces Ohio State in Atlanta, Barker will head back to California with mixed emotions.

This was a season he’ll never forget with memories he’ll always cherish. And he’s hoping to stretch this adventure out for at least two more years, possibly more, finances permitting.

But for now, college football is over for the next seven-plus months.

“I’ll go home and pretend like I’m happy and am going to do all the things when I’m back home,” he said.

“But I’m just gonna be thinking about football.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos courtesy of Michael Barker)

A Philadelphia Eagles fan at the center of a vile incident at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday lost his job at a New Jersey-based DEI-focused consulting firm this week.

The fan, who was identified as Ryan Caldwell, was seen in the viral video getting into the face of a female Green Bay Packers fan and calling her a “dumb c—” while her fiancé recorded the situation. He also taunted the man with other disgusting gestures.

The fan and his employer have since “parted ways,” the company said.

“We, the management of BCT Partners, have concluded the international personnel investigation regarding an employee who was caught on a video outside of the workplace making highly offensive and misogynistic statements,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “In keeping with our company values, which are firmly centered in respect, dignity, and inclusion, we have decided to part ways with the employee. This separation is effective immediately.

“We condemn our former employee’s conduct in the strongest possible terms. This individual’s conduct and language were vile, disgusting, unacceptable, and horrific and have no place in our workplace and society. Such conduct is not who we are and not what we stand for.

“At the same time, again, to be true to our values, we can condemn the actions without condemning the individual. None of us deserve to be remembered for actions taken on our worst day. We have offered grace and support to our former employee. We hope that he will grow, and we all can learn from this deeply disturbing incident. That’s what real inclusion is and does. That is also who we are and what we stand for.

Philadelphia Eagles fans react against the Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild card game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Streicher-Imagn Images)

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“We sincerely apologize to the victim and for the many ways in which these events already have impact so many people. We remain committed to gender equity and fostering a culture of respect and dignity for all.”

Caldwell’s tirade was caught as the Eagles topped the Packers in the wild-card game over the weekend. Aside from just calling the woman a “dumb c—,” he also called her an “ugly dumb c—.” Caldwell asked her fiancé if he was going to do anything about the name-calling, and if not, then he should turn around and watch the game.

The woman’s fiancé identified himself on social media as Alexander Basara and posted the video on social media. He wrote on X he did not want to get into a physical altercation with Caldwell.

He mentioned in one post that he definitely was not going to start painting all Eagles fans with a broad brush.

“A lot of you guys were very nice. Trust me. The normal banter but a handshake at the end. This was out of line tho for sure,” he wrote on X.

A general view of of Lincoln Financial Field prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoff between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 12, 2025 in Philadelphia. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

The Eagles fan was also banned from all games at Lincoln Financial Field, according to USA Today.

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