How did you become a Jazz fan?
by Basketball John
on Aug 4, 2008 12:46 PM MDT
Quick, tell me the predominant religion in Utah. Wrong.
The Jazz have been the de facto religion of the residents of the Beehive State for nearly 30 years (even soaking in fans from neighboring states). There have always been religous, political, college football, and other differences, but the Jazz have been the one thing that most can rally around.
I would venture to guess that a majority of today's Jazz fans were that way from birth (save a few Laker fan apostates). By that I mean either you grew up in a family that already liked the Jazz or you were born in Utah
I fall into this category. I grew up in Salt Lake and Idaho. When I started liking sports and wanting to follow teams, the only outlet I had was the local television stations (no cable and I didn't get SI). So the only NBA news I would see was about the Jazz. I've wondered if I would have had a different favorite team had the internet, 24/7 ESPN, and other mediums been part of my life at the time.
But just like the state's "other religion," the Jazz may now have more fans outside the state than in it. Utah been adding and converting fans throughtout the rest of the US and the world. Of course I can't back that up. But we know we at least have the entire countries of Turkey and Russia thanks to Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko respectively. We now have some fans from deep in Jordan country (Illinois) thanks to Deron Williams. And we have all of the NBA female fans with Kyle Korver. The membership numbers are rising.
It's always interested me how fans outside the former Deseret came to be Jazz fans. Utah certainly has never been the "cool" team. We've never had a megastar (although Williams is getting there). It surprised me when I would see Jazz hats or other paraphernalia on television. I've heard people like the Jazz because of Sloan, Stockton & Malone, the Olympics, etc.
So all of this leads up to my question, how did you become a Jazz Fan? Did you grow up a fan? Were you converted from another team? Have you openly rebelled against your Jazz fan family and gone with another team? What did you first hear about the Jazz?
I've put up a poll, but I would guess that most might select "other."
0 recs |
25
comments
Read Related
Email
PrintComments
I voted for “Liked one of the players”, but that’s only part of why I started liking the Jazz. I grew up in the Bay Area, so I’m a born Sacramento Kings fan. I remember playing basketball video games with my uncle in the mid/late 90s, and he would always pick the Kings (of course), so I needed to find another team to play as. John Stockton was one of my favorite players from another team, so I began to play as the Jazz as my alt team. From there, I got into the entire Jazz team and started watching them on tv when I could (especially the two Finals runs).
Now I guess I hold dual fanship with both teams, but I definitely lean to the Jazz side. Thanks to NBA League Pass I’ve been able to watch all of their games from the past few seasons.
by Vromanite on Aug 4, 2008 1:11 PM MDT 0 recs
Born & raised in Utah.
It was that simple.
Of course, it helped that my mother was really into the Jazz after she moved here from India (her love for the Broncos, on the other hand, didn’t carry over).
Now if only there was the presence of a MLB/NFL team in Utah…
The Utah Jazz. The Jazz... duh.
The best NBA team in Utah... no doubts about it!
Playing For Pride. Pirates, Utes, Panthers, and more...
Because, in the end, only one team can "win it all".
by UtesFan89 on Aug 4, 2008 1:21 PM MDT 0 recs
Stockton and Malone
I’m a die-hard Magic fan, but I also like the Jazz. It’s more sentimental than anything else. When I started following basketball intensively, the Stockton-and-Malone Jazz were at their peak, and I enjoyed cheering for them. Stockton remains one of my favorite all-time players, but Malone’s defection to the Lakers, not to mention his character issues, have made me sour on him.
My love for the Jazz was such that I had replica jerseys of both Stockton and Malone, complete with matching shorts. The only time I ever sat courtside for a Magic game was when they played the Jazz, as a gentleman with a courtside seat saw me in full Jazz regalia on the concourse and invited me to join him, just behind the Jazz’s bench (with my father’s permission, of course; I was 8.) The Jazz lost, which stunk, because it appeared to me that Malone had converted what would have been the overtime-forcing basket just before the buzzer. But it wasn’t all bad: after Jeff Hornacek hit a key three-pointer late in the game, the Magic called timeout. As he jogged to the bench, I shouted, “Nice shot, Jeff!”
I swear he said “thanks.”
by Ben Q Rock on Aug 4, 2008 1:34 PM MDT 0 recs
From Elko
I hit the “other” button. I grew up with the Jazz in Elko, NV, where Jazz games were the only sports games to come in regularly over the networks. We received our networks channels from Reno and Salt Lake.
I’ve kept up with the Jazz as my favorite NBA team even after living in D.C. and Seattle. It helps that the Jazz have always been good unlike the Wizards and the Sonics. It’s still a shame to see the Sonics stolen by Clay Bennett and company.
I’m waiting to see someone hit the “like coach Sloan” button. I can’t think of a more unlikeable curmudgeon. Damn fine coach though.
Also, go Broncos!
by Dizzo on Aug 4, 2008 1:46 PM MDT 0 recs
Born a Jazz fan...
I was born in Utah and started to intensely follow the Jazz when I was about 8, which was about the same time that Stockton/Malone really started to turn into bonafide NBA stars. I grew up idolizing them both, but particularly Malone. He was Superman to me.
I guess there was something about the Jazz being the only professional sports team in Utah that instilled a sense of pride in me. I loved all the Jazz coverage in the media.
However, I continue to loath the Rockies and Broncos for the same reason. I can’t stand all the regional coverage for those two teams.
Whitewater In The Morning
by neff on Aug 4, 2008 2:28 PM MDT 0 recs
I was born in Utah as a Jazz fan, and I will die as a Jazz fan
John Stockton will forever be my all-time favorite player, although D-Will is getting there. That’s it, and that’s all.
I'll make it.
by Shums on Aug 4, 2008 2:33 PM MDT 0 recs
Addict
Simply put i have followed the jazz since i can remember. i remember going to a few games at the salt palace in the days where a giant roamed the paint and i thought he was so cool cause he had i think a beattle and to drive it he had to take the front seat out and drive from the back seat. the delta center where two of the best now stand permenantly but i love sloan and the rest of the gang i’ve lived in a few states and thankfully to the cable gods i can still watch the Jazz play the whole season. My wife was converted over from bein a laker fan…she loves the team effort the Jazz show. one thing i would like to see is the jazz goin back to the old school logo..with the new colors of course. but anyway i am a 4 lifer as far as a Jazz fan goes.
by UtonganKidInCali on Aug 4, 2008 2:55 PM MDT 0 recs
Glad to see you brought her back from the dark side.
by Basketball John on
Aug 4, 2008 3:03 PM MDT
up
0 recs
Totally Agree
I would love to see the old school yellow, green and white uniforms. I know the colors aren’t as marketable, but we should go back to our roots. At least the roots I remember.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
by clarkpojo on
Aug 4, 2008 3:42 PM MDT
up
0 recs
I'm with you on the logo...
The old school music note “J” logo is awesome! I would love to see them go back to that while keeping the colors. At least give us a throwback uniform that can serve as an alternative to the normal unis. They need to bring back the green ones with the yellow font. Let’s get on this!
Whitewater In The Morning
by neff on
Aug 4, 2008 3:43 PM MDT
up
0 recs
i think a beattle and to drive it he had to take the front seat out and drive from the back seat.
Wasn’t that Hightower?
by Basketball John on
Aug 4, 2008 3:49 PM MDT
up
0 recs
it was a special on Mark Eaton
i remember it faintly but it was on Mark. they had a special on him that he was into fixing up old cars and he had a beattle or something maybe a gremlin hahaha but police academy must have got the idea from that special..i know how big the producers are on watching the utah newscasts ;) be nice to find that in an archive somewhere!
on another J note:
the old school Jazz uni as a 2nd alt home and maybe away would be sick! I need to get into the office and pitch some ideas.. i’ve seen folks rockin the old school jersey all over the states.
by UtonganKidInCali on Aug 4, 2008 4:24 PM MDT 0 recs
Born and raised in Utah
...but didn’t become a serious Jazz fan until I was about 12. The earliest soul crushing defeat that I can remember was game 7 against Seattle in the WCF in 96. Since then, I have lived and breathed the Jazz. I am notorious here in school (near Chicago) as being a die hard Jazz fan.
by Scrum on Aug 4, 2008 4:33 PM MDT 0 recs
Malone in the Olympics
The first time I ever watched basketball was the Dream Team in the ‘92 Olympics. I can’t explain why I just liked Karl more than any of the other guys on the team. So by the time the regular season started in ‘92, I was a Jazz fan. And have been a diehard, obsessed, fanatical fan Jazz fan ever since.
by moni on Aug 4, 2008 8:05 PM MDT 0 recs
So far,
I’m the only ‘convert’. And an ex-Laker none the less! Haha. I just love the Jazz so much and though I get a lot of crap from my family, I know that the Jazz love me back and that one day they will win it all and I will SO be at that parade.
by DaniellelovesKK on Aug 4, 2008 10:19 PM MDT 0 recs
Down in New Orleans...
(Sorry for the long post.)
I moved to NOLA in 1988 – no basketball. I was a Bird fan (DIE HARD) back then. I came out to the U for school and met my wife. She was a big fan, but I couldn’t stand Karl Malone because at that point in his career (championship years) he was no longer the slam-it-through force like I wanted to watch. He shot fade-away layups and cried to the refs for support. So I disparaged him endlessly to SJZ (wife). She, in turn, listened to KFAN all day and regurgitated their crap back to me. I thought (not knowing she had the help of talk radio) “This woman is awesome! She is so into sports!” Anyway, watching Malone in those championship years, I really came to respect his game. He was old, so he got smart and learned how to hit from 15, how to get fouled and hit free throws… I never got to watch him when he was throwing the ball down – you know, the LA GEAR days – but I came to respect him in those later years. After SJZ and I married, we moved to Nashville for three years. Back to Utah in 2003 and I’ve been hooked ever since. I love DW the way I loved Bird. I love Sloan’s offense (though I wish he’d let the dogs out sometimes). I love the vague connection to NOLA. I don’t get the bear…but whatever. Stanford has a damn pine tree. (Go UTES, BUCKEYES, COMMODORES, SAINTS, BRONCOS, DODGERS, but most of all, GO JAZZ!)
Funny story: I teach school and happened to teach the son of an extraordinarily tall ex UCLA player who is famous in Utah. So he ducks into my room for parent teacher conferences and I tell him, “Hey, I grew up with a poster of you on my wall – the secretary of defense.” He chuckled. But here’s the funny part. My dad brings me this poster of a giant white guy in a suit sitting behind a presidential desk with flags on both sides and the nameplate says, “secretary of defense.” Very clever poster. Except that I was about 9 years old and didn’t have any idea who he was. I thought my dad had brought me a poster of the secretary of defense! (Compare that poster to Daryl Dawkins’ “Chocolate Thunder” poster… Maybe a good off-season blog topic is “Posters you had in your childhood bedroom”, or on second thought, maybe that would get weird.)
My team is on the floor.
-Norman Dale
by MTN on Aug 5, 2008 1:25 AM MDT 0 recs
Oh yeah...
I almost forgot to say that learning of the deep antipathy between the Jazz and Lakers made it easier to “convert” to Jazzdom.
My team is on the floor.
-Norman Dale
by MTN on Aug 5, 2008 1:26 AM MDT 0 recs
Chocolate Thunder
Let me know if the link doesn’t work.
My team is on the floor.
-Norman Dale
by MTN on Aug 5, 2008 1:36 AM MDT 0 recs
As usual, I'm the strange one.
I didn’t really get into sports until I was ten years old. But I eventually did, and it came time for me to pick teams. I didn’t go for the local teams, because I live in South Dakota, and we don’t have any. The Minnesota teams were the closest, but five hours away might as well be on the other side of the moon when you’re a kid. So I was left to my own devices. I eventually latched onto the Cubs, Packers, and Penguins after stories as pointless and uninteresting as the one I’m about to tell, but that’s not why you’re here.
To illustrate how little I knew about the NBA at this point: my favorite team was the Harlem Globetrotters, until the sad day when I looked at the NBA standings and discovered they weren’t in there. My other teams of choice were the teams that the other kids liked, because I’d heard of them. The main two were the Lakers and Bulls (I decided pretty quickly that I didn’t like the Pistons or Celtics.) So there I was, looking at game results and things, when I see “Utah.” And I was all like, “There’s a pro sports team in Utah? Really?” I thought that was cool, and they joined the pantheon of ‘teams I like.’ After some time, I decided that the Jazz were my favorite team.
Of course, I knew about as much of the state as I did of the team. I don’t think I even knew what a Mormon was back then. (I have some since. For the most part, they’ve been pretty cool.)
So, yeah. That’s basically why…the novelty. Good thing I found all sorts of other awesome things about the team after that novelty wore off.
Before each game, please remember to feed the bats.
by Cool Hand on Aug 5, 2008 3:22 AM MDT 0 recs
Other
I grew up a fan of all things San Franciscan. My Old Man was from around that area, so I loved the Giants and Niners. However, as we lived in St. Louis, basketball wasn’t a sport I ever followed. Though, that city should have a team. In any event, I kinda liked the Pistons as a child. I really just liked a player from that team. But, I stopped following it in any form as I got older.
Then, I moved to Utah. My buddy was a huge basketball fan, and I started watching games with him. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought, so I started watching without him. I became interested. I’ve been a fan ever since. Each year I find myself caring more and more.
Funnily enough, I am a huge baseball fan, and I always wanted to get my buddy into baseball. He didn’t have a team here, much as I didn’t have a basketball team in St. Louis, so he was never interested. I tried getting him into it, and he eventually would. However, the guy would become a fan of the Dodgers. What’s that about?
"Liberal is to the media what the 2008 San Francisco Giants are to good baseball."
-My Father.
by thecrippesking on Aug 5, 2008 3:17 PM MDT 0 recs
My mom's from Salt Lake
So it’s always been the Jazz, despite living in LA all my life. Luckily, most of my friends weren’t big sports fans, so I didn’t have to deal with too much evil most of the time. Unluckily, this is LA, so “fans” come out of the woodwork every May and June.
by jaffa on Aug 6, 2008 1:46 AM MDT 0 recs
My earliest memory of the Utah Jazz
has to do with Thurl Bailey. I grew up in Los Angeles, and supported the Lakers, so I thought of old Thurl as some kind of evil James Worthy from an alternate dimension, because they played the same position, had similar builds, and wore goggles.
I’ve always admired the Jazz and their balance of rugged and polished play, embodied by Stockton and Malone. And I’ve always wanted the Lakers to be a little more rugged themselves and emulate the Jazz.
I have to root for the Lakers when they play the Jazz, but I pull for the Jazz against every other team.
"I've hacked into your brain. You're throwing a party and no one's showing up."
by ignign*kt on Aug 6, 2008 3:43 PM MDT 0 recs
Born a Jazz fan...
As a young boy I had the opportunity to go to a lot of Jazz games at the old Salt Palace. I remember walking through long winding halls just to get to the arena. Sitting court side where Jazz players walked in and out I was able to get my hands on a lot of autographs that would include Frank Layden, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Bobby Hansen, Mark Eaton, Darrell Griffith, etc… I still have an old #32 wrist band that I pulled off the Mailman’s wrist as he exited the game. Remember Karl’s big bad looking Chevy truck? I do. I do miss the live band that would play during the games at the Salt Palace. There was nothing better then going under the stands where the band was playing during “Great Balls Of Fire” and waiting for balls to drop through the cracks. I can’t tell you how many balls we got over the years. It was the electricity in the crowd and the intensity of the players that got me hooked on what Utah Jazz basketball is today. The humor of Layden to take a comb out and slick his hair back while Riley watched with a big smile on his face. Watching fans take a huge towel Portland fans were waving during a playoff game and ripping it to shreds, watching the Jazz take it to the Lakers on Christmas Day at the Salt Palace, and having a beer spilled all over me when a drunk fan couldn’t keep a good hold of it. There were many great moments in the Salt Palace that I’ll never forget, just as there are many great moments I’ll never forget in the Delta Center (aka ESA) either. Being 6 rows off the floor during the NBA Finals in 97 and 98 was something I’ll never forget. Watching John Stockton hurl a pass all the way down the floor to an open Mailman for a layup to all but seal the deal in an NBA Finals game. Sitting court side when Stockton broke the all time steals and assists are moments I’ll never forget. It’s amazing to see how quickly the Jazz rebounded from the Stockton and Malone era. The emptiness I felt when Michael Jordan raised up right in front of me in game 6 of the 98 NBA Finals. So many emotions, so many memories; it’d definitely be a travesty if the Jazz were moved out of Utah like Seattle was this year. All my best wishes go out to the Miller family and a full recovery to Larry. I love the Jazz and I’ll be a life long fan no matter the wins or losses. Go JAZZ!!!
by TWSSO on Aug 12, 2008 8:58 PM MDT 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
New FanPost
Dial The Dunk
Blogs