Steve Ballmer spoke to Clippers fans at an event shortly after he completed his $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers.
And just like his time at Microsoft, Ballmer greeted his constituency — the fans — by going completely crazy.
If this all seems familiar, it's because Ballmer was just about as excited about owning the Clippers as he was CEO of Microsoft.
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Really, it's pretty similar.
Really, really similar.
Still, Ballmer, a Seattle resident, made it clear the Clippers weren't going anywhere.
Ballmer has long been known as a highly energetic presence on stage and at events like tech conferences or, in this case, a Clippers fan event.
"I couldn't be more honored, or excited, or fired up to be here," he said, screaming into the microphone. "And it is fantastic for me to have this opportunity. I get a lot of questions, press, blah blah blah... one, I love basketball. No, I never really played, I basically got cut from the freshman team, but I love basketball, I was a heck of a good statistician for my college team. I can't take a lip, but I'll take a few of you in a free throw shooting competition."
Ballmer said when he was just out of college he thought he wanted to live in Los Angeles and be in the movie business. He went on to join Microsoft founder Bill Gates to work at Microsoft. "Yes I do live in Seattle, we can all love Seattle, there's no team there, but I'm not moving the Clippers to Seattle. I got 100 reasons but I love Seattle, I'm gonna love beating the old Seattle basketball team."
Ballmer's purchase of the Clippers for $2 billion was finalized last week. In fact, the windfall from Ballmer's retirement thanks to Microsoft's rising stock may have very well paid for the team.
Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Matt Barnes couldn't quite believe it.
Here's Ballmer's full speech.
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Never change, Steve B.
