If you haven't noticed the Thunder get A LOT of praise for how amazingly awesome their fans are. They have Thunder Alley, they wear matching shirts in the playoffs. They have the most loyal, saint of a player that has ever existed in the NBA. Things are good for the Thunder and its fans.
A few weeks ago during the Thunder-Lakers series a Jazz fan who is not much younger than me said that they couldn't remember Jazz fans ever supporting the Jazz like Thunder fans do their team. I was sad at hearing this from a fellow Jazz fan. I wondered how many other Jazz fans felt the same way and didn't have memories of the Jazz at their prime.
The last year and a half have been bizarre for the Jazz.. Fan support (maybe not in tickets sold) has wavered, it is odd to see so many empty green seats in the arena. It was especially strange to see empty seats at a playoff game this season.
Everyone in our Jazz online community is old enough to remember the D-Will-Boozer era. Fans were great. We loved our team and went to the games. One of our greatest moments as fans during that era was the 2007 playoffs. Game Two of the second round shows this support probably more than any other
I went with the home video (found on youtube) to show how truly loud it was. I still get chills watching when Fisher returned. The Jazz last summer did a special where they ranked the top 10 moments of Jazz history. Fisher's Return came in at #9 (watch here)
We were great fans, still tops in the NBA. We however couldn't compare with Jazz fans while the Jazz were at their peak in the 90s.
Today is the 15th anniversary of " The Shot", thanks to the official Utah Jazz twitter account for the reminder
I remember "The Shot" like it was yesterday. I was home (just got back a week earlier from a study abroad in Mexico), watching with my dad in the basement. My mom would not allow us to watch upstairs with the rest of the family, she said we were being too negative and not fun to watch with. I was crouched down on the floor in front of the TV (I got that way when Stockton did his amazing thing to even bring the Jazz back into the game), my heart pounding faster than it had ever pounding in its life. Then Stockton took and made the shot. I jumped up, my dad jumped out of his chair we were hugging, screaming as loud as could be. The rest of my family came running down the stairs and joined our celebration. We heard our neighbors outside, so we gathered with everyone who lived on our circle, screamed, danced around and finally set off fireworks.
Fans from all over Utah and the world celebrated that shot. Years and years of frustration and disappointment washed away with one 'gentle push and mild arch and the old cowhide globe hits home'. Utah was catching Jazz fever
Thanks to @Jazzbasketball1 for the great video. So fun to see and remember when the Jazz were at their best and to see how the fans loved the Jazz.
The 90s were very good to Jazz fans we were the best fans in the NBA. The Jazz gave us great reason to support them. I look forward to once again experiencing Jazz fever.
Please share your story of seeing "The Shot" or your favorite Jazz memory.