Superdome/Salt Palace/Delta Center/Energy Solutions Arena memories

I went to my first 8 games or so as part of the Junior Jazz group. The first game I ever saw was when the Jazz beat the Philadelphia 76ers led by the “round mound of rebound.” But my favorite memory was when I was about 15 years old and the Jazz were playing the Houston Rockets. Two drunk Houston fans right by me were taking turns yelling the names “Barkley” and “Olajuwon” over and over. Only they were so drunk that they could hardly say the names right. They seriously sounded like they were doing Barney impersonations from the Simpsons. Now whenever I see Charles or Hakeem, I think of those two guys, yelling their names.

I went to an LSU game in the Superdome when they had Shaq, Vernel Singleton, Stanley Roberts and Chris Jackson – I think it was 1992. Coach Dale Brown blamed youth and inexperience on their Sweet 16 exit. Meanwhile Duke won the whole shebang with a sophomore named Christian Laettner and a Freshmen named Bobby Hurley (and Grant Hill, etc…. good times).

Anyway, the point of my story is this: we were seated SO HIGH in the superdome that we couldn’t tell if it was Shaq or Stanley Roberts at any given moment. Those are the two largest men to ever play college basketball and our seats were so ridiculous that we couldn’t even tell them apart. I think we paid $7 for those seats.

I also saw Michael Jordan play an exhibition in the Superdome about that same time period. That’s one to tell the grand kids.

play at the old Salt Palace when I was in Junior Jazz. I remember we had seats in the upper section, mid-court right above the railing. They were awesome seats, and I was enthralled with the score board that showed extremely blocky pictures of the players in yellow-ish lights during the introductions, and would have funny animations after each and every bad call by the ref. This was also waaaaay before The Bear and the Jazz Dancers, so they only form of timeout entertainment was from the Jazz band sitting above one of the tunnels. I don’t remember who the Jazz played that day, or who won, but man I remember lovin’ the Salt Palace.

Of the best Delta Center/ESA games I’ve seen it was probably the February 3, 1992 game against the Chicago Bulls. My parents had quarter-season tickets for seats waaaay up in section WW. Through luck of the draw we managed to get the Bulls game that year, and we went to the Delta Center expecting a great game, but we weren’t expecting it go into triple overtime! The Mailman matched Jordan’s 34 points, Stockton chipped in 19 pts (along with 12 assists) and my favorite player of the time, Blue Edwards (Bluuuuuuuuuuue!) added 25 points. But, what made the game perfect was Jordan being ejected for bumping the referee and exclaiming “Do you know who I am? You can’t call that foul on me!”

I’ve only been a few road games, a couple on Oakland, and one in Seattle during the 1994-95 when they played in the Tacoma Dome while the Key Arena was being renovated. My brother, mom and I all went to the game completely decked out in Jazz colors with a giant Utah Jazz banner that I made in my high school art class. We sat in the lower bowl, and cheered relentlessly for the Jazz. We were so loud and boisterous the ushers came over to ask us to calm down, and to confiscate my banner. The Sonics fans were beside themselves booing us, but in the end the Jazz came out the victors. I swear I saw Stock look up at us and give an approving nod when they walked towards the tunnel at the end of the game.

but I was lucky enough to catch the Jazz play the Blazers at the Rose Garden in Portland. It was the final season of “Stockton TO MALONE!”. Good times.

Was attending a home game at the Delta Center with my Junior Jazz group. They played the Cavaliers with Mark Price, Craig Ehlo, Larry Nance, and Hot Rod Williams… It was a tight game throughout and the Jazz won after Malone tipped in a Stockton miss at the buzzer. I was so excited to be at a game like that, and to be in the presence of the likes of Stockton and Malone.
My lasting memory, unfortunately, was Game 6. Yes, THAT Game 6. I have never been in a more electric atmosphere in my life. And then once Jordan pushed off and hit that jumper, all of that electricity and excitement was sucked out of the arena like a vacuum. It was so incredibly depressing. The Jazz still had a chance to win, but I think everyone came to the conclusion that it wasn’t gonna happen. I didn’t recover from that experience for years, but I now realized that I was able to witness one of the greatest moments in sports history in person. I’m not sure if I hate Jordan less now because I’ve come to terms with the experience, or if it’s because of Kobe exists. I’m thinking it’s the latter.
Speaking of the Delta Center/ESA, I love that arena! The fans are right on top of the action, and the concourse is nice and open. You can have a bad seat, and still feel apart of the action. I went to the Suns/Jazz game in Phoenix this past year when D-Will and the boys took it to Nash and Shaq. The arena concourse was so cramped. It felt like you were walking down a narrow hallway in a mall. And even though we had decent seats, we felt like we were too far away from the action. LONG LIVE ESA!!!