Are you a Jazz fan?

Someone asked me if I was a Jazz fan recently. I told her, as I had my hand across my heart, that “they complete me.” Just kidding. I feared mentioning something like that due to the awkward silence that might have ensued. It was a casual question, that deserved a response, but I couldn’t tell her how I really felt about the Jazz—I don’t think she would’ve understood. You see, as a child I dreamed about one day making it into the NBA. I mean this was an actual option for me—and I don’t think I’m alone on this. Many kids go through a phase of thinking that they’re bound to be the next Michael Jordan, or in my case, John Stockton. I mean why not? I had already made it onto the Junior Jazz, that has to mean something right? (Isn’t the Junior Jazz some sort of pre-screening that the Jazz do before they select you on the team?)

Through my basketball career I slowly came to the realization that the NBA wasn’t really going to happen mainly due to the absence of Michael Jordan’s genes in my god-given physicality. However, for some reason, I made the high school basketball team every year, even though I hardly played. But I remained passionate about it. Maybe that’s why I made the team—I was their Rudy or something. Even though my obvious lack of skills and minimal athletic talent shattered my childhood dreams of playing professional basketball, I never stopped being a fan. These pro basketball players were guys that were living out my childhood fantasies. They were real-life superheroes with superhuman strength and power. They were doing what I could only dream about. How could I explain this to her? How could I explain my unwavering allegiance to my home-town superhero Jazz team? The only way I could do this was by explaining the Jazz. My team. I had to explain to her the history of the Jazz as well as their current situation. So, here goes:

The Jazz just beat the Houston Rockets in the opening round of the playoffs yesterday in a seven game series. Not one sports analyst had the Jazz going past the first round. I’ll admit I didn’t either, along with my friends and family. It’s not that we’re disloyal Jazz fans, it’s just that the Jazz’s last month of regular season play was lackluster at best. This is a team that barely missed the playoffs last year in a very strong Western Conference. Thus, this year’s expectations were modestly higher than last years. We, as in the Jazz management, made a few trades in the off-season and acquired our only veteran (Derek Fisher) to bring level-headedness and poise to a still fairly young team. We picked up some players in the draft (Ronnie Brewer, Paul Millsap) that looked to bring an immediate impact. And then the season began with a blitzkrieg start.

For the first couple of months the Jazz were the best team in the league, stockpiling an unusual amount of come-from-behind victories. As the regular season wore on the Jazz were humbled back to earth, as injuries mounted and other teams came into their own. But even then, down the stretch, the Jazz had a good chance to take the Division championship as well as a fourth seed with home-court advantage going into the playoffs. But, as previously mentioned, the Jazz began to implode by losing games to lesser teams due to selfish play and a lack of team cohesion. This resulted in losing home-court advantage to the Houston Rockets, which is an almost assured death nail in playoff advancement. The Jazz are an amazing home-court team because of the louder-than-life fans that bring enthusiasm and heart into every game. The Rockets had surged late in the season and looked pretty unstoppable, however. The media had been all over the Tracy McGrady angle due to his superstar status and the fact that he’d never gotten past the first-round in the playoffs after five tries. The other all-star was the Chinese player, Yao Ming, who some consider the best center in the game today.

And here were the Jazz; an up-and-coming team that couldn’t get media attention even if they recruited Paris Hilton. The dynamic trio of Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and Deron Williams had put up all-star numbers the whole season, but it was only Okur that would make it into the all-star game due to the fact that another player dropped out caused by injury. With a hodgepodge of international players that makes it look like a UN basketball training camp, little or no experience in the playoffs, and a coach that some consider past his prime the Jazz started the series.

They played their little hearts out in the first two games at Houston only to lose their half-time advantage—a trend they would continue throughout the series. It was clear by the time that they were down 0-2 that the Jazz had a fighting chance to win some home games, but to win the series seemed a little far-fetched at this point. Oh well, there’s always next year, I thought. They remained competitive in each of their losses, but the home-court factor seemed to be insurmountable. Game 3 proved to be a catalyst for the Jazz, as they completely dominated the Rockets. They carried that confidence with them into Game 4, which resulted in rare blowout for the Jazz. With the series even at 2-2 a glimmer of hope started to creep into some fans’ minds. But the Jazz needed to win at least one game in Houston in order to take the series, and this seemed impossible. Game 5 turned out to be a heartbreaker for the Jazz, as they lost only by four points at the very end of the game. They were right there—they could’ve take home-court away. Game 6 turned into a struggle as the frustrations of the series started to boil over, with technical fouls and hard-hitting physical play. Both teams knew the other inside and out at this point—both could exploit one another’s weaknesses. The Jazz would prevail, however, tying the series again at 3-3.

Before the start of the series every sport analyst picked Houston to triumph, but many of them said it would go to seven games. This meant that the two teams were pretty evenly matched. This was true. In fact, I would argue that this was the best series to watch in the first round, because of how close these teams were. But, of course it was being overshadowed by the bigger and more surprising stories of the eighth-seed Warriors taking down the top-seeded Mavs or the Baby Bulls sweeping the defending-champ Heat. The Jazz have never won on the road in a seven-game series before. In fact, it was a rare feat for any team to win on the road in Game 7, as only 18 teams have ever done it in the playoffs!

I went and watched the game at my brother’s house and there was a group of people that included males and females. It was obvious that the guys in the room were glued to the HDTV as if all their childhood hopes depended on this game, and in a way it did. The women were more interested in talking about baby names and other things, but I really have no idea because I couldn’t hear them—I could only hear the announcers and subtle roar of the crowd. The Jazz would play unbelievably good as they took an early 16-point lead. This lead would diminish some as they went into half-time, but they still looked like they could steal the game. However, the third quarter started with a thud, as the Rockets came out blazing hot and that unmistakable feeling of angst came over me, like it did in the previous three losses of the series. The Jazz were never able to maintain their composure down the stretch of the game at Houston and it seemed like they were destined for summer vacation. They even lost the lead at one point, but then something truly amazing happened. The planets were to align as the Jazz took back the lead. AK-47, who’s been especially erratic in this series, was to shoot a rare three and by the grace of Putin himself, it went in! Okur, who’d been great on defense in this series, but seriously lacking offensively, was to reclaim his “Money Man” title by hitting two other three pointers down the stretch.

Even with critical misses toward the end of the game by the team, Carlos Boozer (35 pts) was able to come up with some big offensive rebounds that would ultimately give the Jazz a much-deserved victory. They had done it! Jerry’s kids had gone on to win on the road in the seventh game. Most people thought it was impossible, but they proved all the naysayers wrong. Now, as the Jazz get ready to play America’s newly-minted underdog team (Warriors), they’ll have that home-court advantage that eluded them in this series, which will hopefully give them enough confidence to keep my childhood dreams alive a little bit longer.

I was about to explain some of this to the girl, but I prefaced it with, “Yeah, I love the Jazz. They’re my favorite team.” She quickly stopped me and said, “Oh, I meant jazz music.” “Oh, ok. I must have misunderstood the question.” But, who could’ve understood all of this anyway?