COLUMN: Fourth seed. low attendanc? The Jazz just aren’t the same
Twelve years ago, I never thought I would write a column like the one that will follow.
In the fall of 1989, as an eighth grader, I started catching Jazz fever. I started living and dying by the Jazz’s wins and losses. Since I was the only one of my friends with cable TV at that time, my house was always chosen as the venue for me and my friends’ “Jazz Parties.” Though my parents were weary of it, I stayed up late to either listen to or watch when the Jazz were playing in the Pacific Time Zone.
Those were the sweet old days of Darrell Griffith rainbow 3-pointers, Thurl Bailey hooks and Mark Eaton blocks. That was back when the words Stockton-to-Malone were becoming more than commonplace to Hot Rod Hundley. Those were the days when every attendance line in every Jazz box score read 19,911 – full capacity. That was back when Jazz was a religion.
Not anymore.
Now most Jazz box score attendance lines have been reading nearer the 17,000 mark, and interest is waning. No more Griffith, Bailey or Eaton. Now Jazz fans are entreated to a whole host of not career-long Jazzmen, but instead a number of players in their last NBA city who are in the twilight of their careers.
Those days were before strikes and serious squabbles over contracts. Those days were when players were out there more to have fun than to make money. Those days there were more NBA role models. That was when the Jazz continuously made the top-tier of the NBA playoffs. That was when the Jazz always had the opponents’ number in the Delta Center.
Now the Jazz have struggled to earn the fourth playoff seed in the West. Now lowly teams like the non-playoff-bound Boston Celtics can come in the Delta Center and have their way with the Jazz. Now the squad has just as many road losses as it does home losses.
Sure, things started to look up Saturday as Karl Malone and the boys whipped the Dallas Mavericks, who were then tied with the Jazz for fourth in the West. But only a few nights earlier it was the Mavericks whipping the Jazz – in the confines of the Delta Center no less.
I’ll admit – I’ve giggled while reading each headline of every Jazz loss the last two weeks. Dare I say it? The Jazz have lost their edge, and even though I’m a lifelong fan, I find it somewhat comical.
Let’s face it, the Jazz can’t get it done against the Western Conference powers, and the record proves it. The win on Saturday snapped the Jazz’s seven-game losing streak against playoff-bound teams. The San Antonio Spurs have dominated the Jazz this year, sweeping the season series, 4-0. The Jazz have come close, but still haven’t been able to effectively run with the Portland Trailblazers. The Jazz took one from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Staples Center in the second game of the season, but it’s been all Shaq and Kobe ever since.
After the win vs. the Mavs Saturday night, Malone said the Jazz were playing “Jazz basketball” again. Head coach Jerry Sloan said after the loss to the Mavs at the Delta Center the team wasn’t playing team ball.
Which kind of basketball will the Jazz play in the playoffs?
I don’t know, but at the rate the team is going, I think it may be more dignified to play the latter and take an early exit to save every Jazz fan the potentially long and drawn out heartache.
And until the Jazz start playing for fun again, this fan will keep on laughing.
Reuben Wadsworth is the assistant sports editor of the Statesman. He can be reached at reubwads@cc.usu.edu