Confessions of a Junkie: Where am I? And How did I Get Here?

We all know one. They are everywhere. The junkies are easy to spot. The scabby elbows, the constant itching that starts in May, and goes till the next hit, (which is generally the Draft or the Draft Selection Show). The hardest part of being a junkie; are the long nights between the Draft and opening day of training camp.

You may suffer from the typical junkie thoughts. You know the ideas that slowly seep into your mind ideas like: the thought that you can actually change the outcome of a game by where you sit/stand in your TV room, the small agitation when you see a Laker fan, the automatic love for people name Jerry.

It could be a brother, a parent, or a close friend. If you are reading this, you most likely see one every morning when you get out of the shower. If you look long enough, you will start to see it in the glossy eyes of the reflection in the mirror. You are one of us.

You know the feeling...scouring the internet...looking for anything to get your fix...Youtube videos...obscure articles from Turkey...funny pictures of "our guys" doing normal stuff over the summer...basketball reference binges... Then it becomes too much... It consumes you... You can't take it anymore. You finally fall back to your crutch...the DVR. The hell that is the DVR, with hours and hours of games and highlights.
You know what your family/spouse will think, and you don't care.

You resort to rewatching games, even the loses. It is a horrific state to be in. You are rewatching games that you know the outcome to. Not only do you know the outcome, but you act like you don't. You lie to yourself, to relive the moment, the moment that has already happened. You are pretending that the past hasn't happened. I know this, because Spencer knows this.

Hi my Name is Spencer Campbell. I am a Utah Jazz Junkie.

Like most junkies, I started young, very young. I remember my first hit very clearly. It was a "triple" line that gave me a high till my next fix.

It was October 28th 1988. Like most middle class families, we couldn't afford a dishwasher. So, my parents made babies...I was the dishwasher. I can vividly remember the ugly linoleum that covered the kitchen floor. It had a gold trim around the top and was peeling at the edges. There was huge black mark near the stove where something had melted the floor. I had just finished the dishes when my dad asked if I wanted to go to a Jazz game at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. It was all my Dad's fault as seen in the video below.

I don't remember specifics. I just remember watching four of the top twenty basketball players of all time (Karl Malone, John Stockton, Magic Johnson, and Kareem) go head to head. This initial high was fantastic, 18,000+ fans cheering on the Utah Jazz. As with many memories that I have when I am high, I don't remember where we sat, or exactly what happened, but I will never forget the feeling I had. It was amazing. You have to remember, this was before all of the Lakers fans got flushed out of LA, and moved to Utah. It was an entire crowd of Jazz fans.

Less than a month later, I sat in the Orem Recreation Center Gym with my Junior Jazz team watching John Stockton shoot free throws. It was surreal.

This was shortly followed by a Utah Jazz game in the Historic Salt Palace. We were lucky enough to get tickets to a game where they handed out something for free, Schick shaving kits. It was filled with a toothbrush, mouthwash, shaving cream, and a Schick razor. Looking back, the idea of giving five thousand fans, specifically 8-16 year olds razors, was a very bad idea. You knew that razorblades would somehow make this post right?

I/We took that bad idea to another level. At halftime, my Junior Jazz team went into the bathroom and helped me shave off my eyebrows.Yes my eyebrows, and yes, both of them. I don't know any nine year old that has facial hair. So, we did the next best thing, we shaved off the only facial hair I had...my eyebrows.

My eyebrows eventually grew back, but the scars of being a junkie still remain.

Within a two month period I had three experiences with my new found addiction, the Utah Jazz. It was simple really, get them while they are young and you will get them for life.

It has been nearly 25 years, and I have been an addict for every single one of them. I know that some of you are like me. You crave it. You want it. You need it. Over the coming months I will try and provide a fix for other addicts like myself.

The goal is to take the best Utah Jazz information from the web the previous week, and put it into one simple place for your Sunday binge session. This is the first edition of "The High Notes". If you find something good tweet us and let us know.