Betrayal of Jerry Sloan

What happened today between the Utah Jazz and Jerry Sloan is infuriating. I'm not going to talk about what I think of his coaching style or whether he'll win a championship, because I don't think that's relevant.

A coach who has been here for 23 seasons and over 1,000 wins should not be disrespected this way. I'm sure there was more to it than Deron Williams calling his own play in the game against the Bulls, but I'm also sure that Deron's attitude didn't help. Maybe Deron didn't love Jerry's style, but guess what...it worked for John Stockton. Stockton's stats didn't suffer because of Jerry Sloan, they were incredible...because of Jerry Sloan. Maybe Sloan wasn't going to take the Jazz to a title, but the current roster isn't going to do that no matter who the coach is. There are a lot of factors that go into a team's success or failure, and everyone involved knows it, which is why it is so disappointing that the Jazz management and the players would allow a storied, hall of fame career to end this way.


Jazz fans aren't going to like it, this is not going to help Deron's image, or Greg's image or improve loyalty to the team. Jazz fans don't buy tickets or watch games religiously because of any one so-called super star. The Jazz have always represented the down-to-earthness of Utah residents. We don't put up with diva players (the reason why players like Stockton, Hornacek, and Matt Harpring are the most talked about...not people like Boozer or even Malone). We value hard workers who are going to stick around and get the job done. Jerry Sloan represented the best of that, and for him to leave with anything but a standing ovation is a travesty.

Saturday, November 5th - Oy

Twas the hour before kickoff and all through Rice Eccles

All the fans had donned black and prepared their best heckles

The Horned Frogs were coming, ranked number three

We hoped the Utes would emerge victoriously

The crowd was in place, the fight song had been sung

We were ready for our team to tackle, pass and run

The ball was kicked off and the crowd seemed to swell

And then that dumb game went completely to…..

Normally I keep my sports thoughts to my sports blog...but this post isn't going to be focused on the game (because I'm still not really ready to talk about it). It's more a Philosophical musing about large sporting events and why we attend (like lambs to the slaughter in some cases).

The game last week allowed me to get a little perspective on the strange customs and rituals that are such a part of our sporting experiences. For example, by the end of the third quarter there was clearly no hope for a comeback (no matter how many bad habits I insisted I was willing to give up for a little divine intervention) and an interesting thing happened. The crowd seemed totally separated from the team on the field. Normally at these games it feels like we're all on the same team, willing the people who actually play on with our yells and dances and chants etc. 

Then, the 'Crazy Lady' (picture here) got up to do her dance that she always does and for the first time, she literally seemed crazy. I sat there and realized that this was actually just a woman, dancing in front of 40,000 people, just because she always does.In the context of a football game it always seemed like a cool tradition....sort of the older generation of fans (her) reaching out and showing the new kids (the MUSS) how its done. But on Saturday, by the time she got up to do her thing, there really wasn't a game going on, and I found myself sitting amidst a bunch of strangers watching an old lady dance. 

I suppose it was more realistic this way. Normally we have some illusions about our importance as fans, and our involvement in the wins, and we have a feeling of being a part of 'the team'. But in this game there were no such illusions. There was all this pent-up energy and nowhere to use it (except for booing our quarterback and yelling at the coaches and walking back to our cars).

A Gem of a Book and Its Average Cover

If you haven't heard of Susan Boyle or seen her performance you've got to check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Her story is at once both a representation of triumph over preconception, and disturbing evidence of the lack of depth currently existing in humanity. No one who saw Susan Boyle was expecting what came out of her mouth, no one. We took our opinions about her external self and extended them to a judgment and dismissal of her as a human being.

Now why did this woman become a worldwide sensation, over 50 million views on Youtube, virtually overnight? Because she conquered the obsession with packaging. People like Susan Boyle give us hope in the idea that good is good, no matter what form it's in. She gives us hope that being good is good enough, that beauty and charisma are not necessary to succeed when every day we are presented with evidence to the contrary. She reminds us that we need to be willing to see positivity and goodness wherever it is, without some preconceived notions of what it should look like. Susan Boyle was and is a symbol of something we all want to believe in...that covers really don't have anything to do with the quality of the books, you never know what ugliness an attractive cover is hiding or what beauty an unappealing cover is protecting.

An Announcement, a Request, and an Opinion

I've not been a responsible blogger over the last few months, I've been an infrequent poster, and my blog has not only been lacking in quantity but quality as well. So, in an effort to remedy this situation I've decided to take a break from school this semester. Instead I plan to work full-time and in my spare time I will hopefully be a more productive blogger. The problem is, I don't think these two things will fill all the hours in my day, so I'm looking for a good hobby. I thought about starting a pedigree circus rat breeding business, however I haven't been able to find any evidence that circus rats actually exist. (Note: The rat pictured here is just your average everyday rat with no circus talents.) Then I thought and thought and thought...and then I gave up. I am now counting on the readers of this blog to decide how I will use my newly gained free time...find me a hobby!



Well....for now this is my hobby so I'm just going to keep writing. I don't intend to turn my blog into my political soapbox, however I do just want to weigh in on the Obama inaugural address. I agree with many people in that his speech Tuesday was not the best we've heard from him in the last year. But the emotional, soaring rhetoric of his campaign speeches wouldn't have been appropriate in this speech. He needed to bring people back to reality a little bit in terms of their expectations of him and the country for the next four years without killing the hope that he tried so hard to create. He had to portray a stoic optimism, and I think he did by openly and bluntly acknowledging the challenges we are facing, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of hard work in making America's dream or any American's dreams possible.

Keys to the Game

We're about 7 hours away from kickoff here in New Orleans so it seems that now would be an appropriate time to list my 'Keys to the Game' for Utah. What makes me qualified to do this? Almost nothing, but hey, this is my blog and I think after the game it will be evident about how right I am.

First and foremost, we MUST prevent our offensive and defensive lines from being totally exhausted by the 3rd quarter. There has been a lot of talk about the size of the 'bama line in comparison to ours. Well, true it's nice for us that the Outland Trophy winner Andre Smith is suspended. However, on average the Alabama linemen outweigh ours by 50 lbs, on AVERAGE! Also, there is Terrence Cody, the man they call Mount Cody, partly because it's a place and partly because he is huge. He anchors their defensive line at 365lbs, yes that's right, a defensive lineman who weighs 365lbs. Our center weighs 305lbs and he's supposed to block a mountain all on his own? It's going to be tough. Oh, and did I mention they sometimes like to bring in Mount Cody as a blocking fullback just for kicks? A 365lb blocking fullback!

The second key is to make sure Brian Johnson gets into a passing rythm right from the get-go. Our first series should be nothing but passes, mostly short slants and into the middle stuff. Our offensive line is not going to be able to give him much time so he's got to be able to step up and make quick accurate passes. Ludwig has got to call plays at the beginning of the game which will build his confidence and put him in a good rythym.

The third key is for us not to force the run up the middle. Our linemen are going to get tired trying to block the mountain and all his buddies and if we continue to run right at them we're not going to last the whole game. I understand that we've got to get something going on the ground just to keep their defense honest and keep our pass options open, however the direct snap to the RB or the I-formation run straight up the middle is not the right way to do this. We've got use end-arounds, options, and whatever creative trick-plays Ludwig has up his sleeve to take advantage of the speed of some of our skill players against their sheer girth.

The fourth key....our secondary will have to play better than they have all year. Pass-rushing is going to be very difficult this game so our secondary has got to help pressure their QB by taking away his receivers and making sure no one is open.

The fifth and final key will be getting in Louie Sakoda's range. If we can consistently get into 40 yard field goal range we absolutely have a chance to hang around. Our offense has got to be able to do this.

Here's hoping we can pull off the upset against the rolling Crimson Tide....GO UTES!

Year of the Ute

I don't have much to say about today's game, what could I say? BYU put up a good fight, they made some big mistakes but I think Utah earned this win. There was no better place to be today than Rice Eccles Stadium. I am proud to be a Ute fan, I look forward to our BCS game in January, and...Go Utes!

Hoods - Rain Protection We Can Believe In

Today was a rainy day, not in the figurative sense but literally a day with heavy precipitation, and when the rains came down the umbrellas came up. Unfortunately the manners that are necessary for the proper handling of these bumbershoots were totally absent. I am one of those who prefers toughing it out with a good hood covering my head rather than bothering with the cumbersomeness of umbrellas, but today it seemed that I had to put up with their incommodiousness without actually reaping the protective benefits. While walking around campus I was already pushing my luck trying to avoid objects, people, and puddles in my path with my hood seriously limiting my peripheral vision. I did not think to worry about the potentially eye-poking, or even blinding, spokes or the streams shooting off the edges of other peoples' umbrellas, and apparently neither did they! After a day full of unfortunate umbrella encounters and full of hope for the change this new administration will bring, I plan to petition for ethical umbrella use laws, one of which will be an absolute ban on the spinning of said umbrellas while in use. At the very least I will push for umbrella wielding licenses which will only be issued to those who can prove they have a good sense of common courtesy and self-awareness. We hooded people hope we have found our candidate of change in President Obama and look forward to his umbrella reforms.

Another Take...

I cheer for the Chinese gymnasts, I am happy to see them succeed. Yes, I know that most are clearly underage, and yes, I know that they've gotten quite a bit of help from the judge, and yes, I know that they are the consistently favorites. But I have also heard the story of Cheng Fei.

She is one of the few Chinese gymnasts who actually looks her advertised age, 20. When she was 3 she was 'recruited' to the Chinese gymnastics program, most likely because at that age she could bend her and contort her body better than other 3 year-olds. She was taken from her family, part of being 'chosen', and has been allowed to see them once a year since. She comes from a working family, and her success as a gymnast was there chance to make it. While she spent seventeen years of her life in a gymnastic sweat shop, her family counted on her to ensure that they didn't spend their lives working in a sweat shop. At one point she called home, begging her parents to let her quit, but they would not, probably could not, allow her to quit. She has clearly been successful, and the Chinese government has rewarded her by building a house for her family, which she got to see for the first time a few months ago.

When she cried over her mistakes in the vault and floor event finals, I have to believe it was about more than just medaling in the Olympics. Gymnastics has been her life for seventeen years, to an extent that almost no other athletes can claim, and for all the work to culminate in under-performance would be more than a little disappointing. To say nothing of the undeniable pressure from the government, and the pressure from her family. Did she earn the bronze medal with her two vaults? Maybe not, but I think she deserves it.