The Downbeat - 16 August 2010 - #294 - The Golden Griff Edition

  Good to see the Golden Griff.  My earliest recollections as a Jazz fan were of him and the rainbow-arching three in addition to the dunks.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

I'll be at the Fan Fest tonight, tweeting away.  Anyone have any leaks of the jerseys yet?

  I'll be a writing a bit more on it (couldn't watch it live), but this tweet from FreeDarko nails it,

This is like if you took Jordan's speech and turned it inside out.

  Deron Williams on KFAN (click play button to play or right-click to download)

Some notes,

• He doesn't live in the SLC during the summer anymore.
• Doesn't sound like he's going to actually play in the dodge ball tournament this year until the last game citing sore arms for the reason.
• Thinks they're going to be better this year than last.
• Said that Jefferson looked like he had just got out of basketball prison at his press conference and commented on how he was sweating bullets
• (Like everyone else in the league not named LeBron), he was sick of people asking him what LeBron was going to do. (Hope he gets used to everyone asking him what he's going to do in a couple of years)

   Great exchange between a fan and Karl Malone at the HOF weekend,

We mostly left the celebrities alone, but damn, Karl Malone: 

He ended up being insanely nice. And weirdly funny. Here's the exchange between Ben and him:

"Mr. Malone, I know you're probably tired of signing autographs, and I apologize for not being 8-years-old, but is there any way I could take a picture with you?"
"Sure. Just don't stand behind me. That's how Jesse James got shot."
"I wouldn't dream of it. I don't have a gun."
"You don't?" (pats pant leg, smiling) "I do."

We're 99% sure he was kidding, but that dude who looks like Chuck Daly was definitely packing heat.

  So is Jordan being the focal-point of NBA2K11 (including the cover), going to preclude you from buying it? The Jazz obviously show up in a many of his career moments that you'll be able to play as him.  My question is, can you play the opposition and try to stop him?  Can we put refs in that will call a push-off?