Utah Gets Some Props
Look’s like the “experts” at the sports equivalent of WalMart (ESPN) have given the Jazz “dark horse” status. I’ve always thought that disrespect was the best thing for a Jerry Sloan team. Maybe it still is.
The truth is, I can’t remember Utah ever being favored – ever. Remember the ‘96 playoffs? Utah wasn’t even supposed to get past the upstart Lakers before making them look like a High School JV team. Remember last year? There was no way they were getting past the Rockets. Too many big names.
So maybe the sports writer’s stamp of approval will be lost in the hype that Kobe, Shaq and Kidd bring to the table – but this vote of confidence worries me as a Jazz fan. Let’s just hope that D-Will and company don’t read the papers.
February 21, 2008 at 10:42 AM
I know you guys have a conspiracy to keep using experts in scare quotes, just to drive me crazy.
I remember the Jazz a bit differently. One year in the 1990s I remember a preseason prediction of the Jazz and Hawks in the finals. When they were top seeds they usually underperformed compared to the predictions rather than over-performed. Sloan never got enough credit for their success, but since I’ve been a Jazz fan it seems that they been about as good or worse than predicted. That’s just my memory, though–we could look all this up if we wanted to.
February 21, 2008 at 10:59 AM
“Remember the ‘96 playoffs? Utah wasn’t even supposed to get past the upstart Lakers before making them look like a High School JV team.”
98 playoffs.
February 21, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I felt pretty good when smart basketball people started saying Utah would make it to the Finals, but then I remembered that Hollinger also said that the Miami Heat would make the playoffs this year and I suddenly lost all confidence…Opps!
February 21, 2008 at 1:57 PM
It’s true, colatina, that in the early ’90s the Jazz were often rated higher than they finished. But I don’t think I’m being paranoid in thinking that the combo of Jerry Sloan’s coaching style, the state of Utah (enough said), the low-profile of their 4 biggest stars of the last 3 decades (coincidentally, two PG’s and two PF’s) have rendered the Jazz consistently over-looked.
I know this is a well known theme among Jazz fans. We’ve heard it for years. But I really think its true. Even experts seem to go weak in the knees for a team with star power. Case in point: Detroit Pistons get no respect. Its not just Utah.
On the other hand, Utah has never won it all. Maybe the year they finally get cred is the year they deliver.
February 21, 2008 at 3:04 PM
Part of it has to do with the fact that few, if any, sportswriters want to cover an NBA Finals in Salt Lake City, as Hollinger has pointed out. They want the glitzy limelight of Los Angeles, Miami, or even, dare I say….Boston. I believe because Utah is such an obscure place in the NBA, few people want to believe it could actually house the world champions of the basketball world.
February 21, 2008 at 3:28 PM
“They want the glitzy limelight of Los Angeles, Miami, or even, dare I say….Boston.”
Is that why they’ve been picking the Spurs for years? I hope not, since SLC is better than San Antonio.
The Hollinger pick was really bad–I admit that as a Hollinger fan and a Miami hater–but a lot people were delusional about the Heat.
I think the writers this year are giving them a bit too much credit. They’re still 5th in the West. There are 3 or 4 teams they didn’t mention that could all possibly beat the Jazz in the playoffs.
February 21, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Sure SLC may be better than San Antonio, but that’s subject to ones own opinion. San Antonio isn’t glitz and glamour, but it’s been unwise to pick against the Spurs in the past, whereas the field seems to be wide open right now. It’s now trendy to say that the Lakers, despite Bynum and Kobe’s injuries, will win the West this year. Boston and Phoenix, despite not even getting to the Conference Finals this year, have been getting a ton of support as well.
I agree, however, that the Jazz have been getting too much credit this year. They’ve played really well as of late, but they’re still not one of the top three teams in the West, in my opinion. If they have homecourt advantage in the first round, then I may change my tune.
February 28, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Colatina said, “I know you guys have a conspiracy to keep using excepts in scare quotes, just to drive me crazy.” Just think of Chris Farley playing Bennet Brauer on Saturday Night life (Maybe I don’t “own a toothbrush” or maybe I “eat my own dandruff”) and the “scare quotes” won’t bug you so much. In fact, if you’ve seen the DVD you’ll probably start laughing spontaneously.
February 28, 2008 at 4:46 PM
If ESPN is the equivalent of Wal-Mart, then TMB is the equivalent of Natalie Portman’s character in Where the Heart Is, who lives in Wal-Mart and has her baby in there. Just like she’d sleep on their cushy pillows and drink their milk, we like to decorate our site with free pics and other images generously (generous to ourselves) lifted from their site. Wal-mart never noticed because their stores are like that cavernous pit of hell. When it comes to resourcefulness, we’re the “experts”.
The YouTube rule is pretty good though–leave them up until their lawyers tell us we have to take it down.