Watch the game!

Okay, this is more words.

But everyone should tune in and watch tonight's game.

The Jazz are tied 2-2 with the Lakers.

This is a best of 7 series. Tonight's game is in LA, the next one in SLC and if there is a game 7 it will be in LA.

We need to win at least one game in LA and the one at home. If we win tonight in LA we can finish this series in 6 games by beating them at home again.

So watch, cheer and support God's team.

Anonymous Comments

I'm giving in.

In an effort to encourage commenting, I am now allowing anonymous comments. (Thanks H2O for the inspiration).

This is so that all of the non google users who stumble across my blog, whether through random blog page turning, google searching about screaming slingshot monkeys or Thomas S. Monson and the Utah Jazz, or maybe just people who actually know me and look up my blog, can leave comments and tell me what they think.

I do, of course, reserve the right to delete any comments that I feel shed a negative light on my oh-so-popular blog, disagree with my (factual) opinions, or just piss me off.

But that's why it's my blog.

.

So welcome, Anonymous.

And hey, all of you non-anonymous bloggies, sign in once in a while, won't you?

As my bloggie friend Pikes Pickles put it, visiting my blog without commenting, is like coming over to my house when I'm not home, letting your self in, making yourself a sandwich and then going without leaving me a note to tell me hello and that I am out of mustard.

I'm glad to have you, but for crying out loud, announce your presence.

Let me know you care.

And thank you to those of you who already do.

Mustard is on the shopping list.

-Della

Jazz Update

For those of you who tune in to my blog for all of your Utah Jazz updates and information, you are really misdirected, there are a lot of better websites than mine for Jazz info.

But since you are here, I'll give you a quick rundown of recent events and current standings.

The Jazz beat the Rockets in the first series 4-2, (it's best of 7).

So they moved on to the next round, where they are now facing the LA Lakers.

The played the first game against the Lakers yesterday in LA and lost. They will play one more game in LA before heading back to Utah and playing 2 games there. The last 3 games, if necessary, will be in LA, Utah and LA again.

I think any true Utah fan has an inborn hate for the Lakers. If The Jazz have a rival, it is the yellow LA team. (Cat hiss).

The next game is Wednesday at 8:30 Utah time.

Tune in, cheer, wear a Jazz Jersey, paint your face light blue, white and purple, and write "Go JAZZ!" in 12" letters on your car windows. Or as much of those things as you feel comfortable with.

Or you could blog about it, in another effort to show your support.

-Della

Go Jazz!

CJ's Talk

CJ gave a talk in primary yesterday about following the prophet.

When he and I were planning his talk we found a poem in The Friend that he could read.

It was a good short poem about doing what the prophet said to do.

He wanted to just get up and read that and be done.

I told him he needed to plan something longer because the poem would not be long enough.

He said "What if I read it reeaalllly slooowww?"

He found a scripture too and read that. He did a good job.

I tried to get him to talk about last month when Thomas S. Monson stopped to talk to the Jazz players at a Utah Jazz game, (see Utah Jazz labels for further post on that), but he didn't want to look silly.

How am I ever going to teach him the important things in life?

-Della

PLAYOFFS!!!! One Team, One Dream

The Utah Jazz are playing the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets had home court advantage but lost it when the Jazz beat them in their own house on Saturday 93-82.

(I didn't see the game, I was at the vet with Toby).

Now, even if the Jazz lose every game in Houston, but win every one at home in the Energy Solutions Arena, they will win the series.

They play again tonight at 7:30 Utah time.

Tune in. Cheer. Get into it.

I love my Jazz.

If you need a little motivation to get into the game, or just want to see as much Jazz Jazz as you can, click >>>here<<< for a short but great Jazz promo. Go Jazz!!!

The Jazz are in the Playoffs

With their most recent win against the Spurs, the Utah Jazz have clinched a playoff spot.

For you non sporties, that means that even though the regular season isn't over yet, they could lose every one of their last 5 games and still have a spot in the playoffs.

But the better they do in those 5 games, the better their spot in the playoff line ups.

Why does that matter if they are allready in the playoffs?

Because the higher their seed is, or place in the rankings for the playoffs, the more likely they are to have home court advantage.

Many people wonder why home court advantage matters so much. And for some teams, it doesn't carry as much weight as it does with the Jazz.

But when you consider that this year Utah's record when playing at home, in the Energy Solutions Arena (formerly the Delta Center), is 35-4, the best home record in the NBA, and their road record is 16-22, you have to recognize that the Jazz just play better at home.

And seriously, if you have ever been to a Jazz game at Energy Solutions Arena, especially during the playoffs, you have to admit that there is energy and a power there that the fans share with their team. (Regardless of whether or not Thomas S. Monson is attending, but that has to help right?).

Even visiting teams recognize this and comment on it. They say SLC is a hard place to play, because the fans are amazing.

And having been to a couple Jazz away games, (against the Wizards in DC), I recognize that at least at the games I have been to, the other team's fans just didn't have the enthusiasm that I am used to getting caught up in at the ESA.

Let's cheer them on tonight when they play the Hornets in New Orleans. The Hornets have the best record in the West at 54-22, (Jazz record is 51-26), and it will be a tough game. Especially, as I have said, because it is an away game.

On another note, Jerry Sloan and the Jazz recently signed a contract extension keeping Jerry around for the 2008-09 season, making Jerry Sloan the longest tenured coach among any team in every major sports league in America.

He has been Head Coach of the Utah Jazz since 1988. (How old were you then?)

I am thrilled to have him for at least another year. Go Jerry!

Now what's it gonna take to get a Coach of the Year?

Go Jazz!

The Playoffs are coming, the playoffs are coming!

The Jazz have only 7 games left until the playoffs start.

They play the Timberwolves tonight and completely demolished the Wizards 129-87 in their last game. They hit a franchise high 15 three pointers and sent the Wizards home to DC with their worst loss of the season.

(Mwahahaa! Hear me cackle as they go).

Coach Jerry Sloan got some well deserved love as he was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for March.

That's great, and he deserves it, but until he gets Coach of the year I will continue to lose respect for those unknown NBA administrators who continue to pass him over for higher profile, lower class coaches year after year.

For now I will keep hoping that when Thomas S. Monson stopped to talk to the team at last week's game he gave them the blessing they needed to break through and bring it all home.

All, including a title and a Coach of the Year for Jerry.

Go Jazz!

(Do you know I had a hard time finding a good picture of Jerry Sloan with his mouth closed?)

Thomas S. Monson and the Utah Jazz.

The following blog was not written by me, but instead by my brother Mike (the one in Iraq).

He e-mailed this to me and I found it totally blog-worthy.

Enjoy.

-

Notes from last nights Jazz /Clippers game as found on Yahoo:

Chris Kaman got a technical foul for shouting at the officials on hisway to the bench after picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter.

Quinton Ross missed his third straight game with a sore left foot.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson, 80, stopped on the way to his seat inthe third quarter and said a couple words to a surprised Sloan and theteam during a timeout.

The Clippers signed former Univ. of Arizona standout Marcus Williams from the Austin Toros of the NBADL and released veteran Aaron Williams.

-

This brings many thoughts/questions to my mind.

1. I wonder what he said.

2. I hope he was cheering for the Jazz.

3. I wonder if this means that Sloan is a mormon (what a great rumor to start)

4. Do you think the prophet yells at the refs and boos the bad calls?

5. Does the prophet have a permanent court side pass at the EnergySolutions Arena?

6. Does the prophet pray for the Jazz to win like I do?

7. Is it eclisiastical bias for the prophet to recieve inspiration forthe Jazz and will this negativly effect members of the church who areLaker fans?

8. Do you think he told Sloan, "Verily verily, thus sayeth the Lord, put Williams and Boozer back in the game."?

9. Do you think he told Sloan, "Wo be unto you, thus sayeth the Lord,that if the Jazz do not repent, humble themselves, and listen to everyword that cometh from the voice of Coach Sloan they shall in no way achieve the play offs. But verily I say unto you if they do these things, they shall achieve an NBA Championship and a good endorsement deal from Nike, Subway and Deseret Bank."?

10. Am I about to be struck by lightning for writing this email?

My Jazz, update

The Utah Jazz have the number one home record in the NBA at 31-4.

They are still number one in their division with a total record of 47-25.

They haven't yet clinched their playoff spot, but so far are the number 4th seed.

Root for them when they play the LA Clippers tonight.

Again I sigh and remember that the second biggest downside of leaving Utah, (after moving so far from family), was giving up our recently aquired season tickets.

At least I can say I was a season ticket holder.

But it's okay, we are where we are supposed to be, and there were a lot more upsides to moving than downsides. -Just my family, and (sniff) my Jazz.

We do get NBA Season Pass from Dish Network so we can see all of the games anyway. And of course we were able to go to DC and watch them kill the Wizards.

Go Jazz!

-

Quick quiz: Can you name all 5 of the players in the above picture? (No cheating).

-

Update: Jazz won 121-101.

New standings: 48-25

Jazz Update

My Utah Jazz are rocking the court this season. With a record of 45-24, they are first in the NorthWest division and have already locked in a spot in the playoffs.

The competition is hot with a few teams that are really causing a stir.

The Boston Celtics are number one in the NBA with an unreal record of 54-13.

The Jazz beat them last week when the 2 teams met up, so I have a little bit of confidence there.

Still, even though the Pistons are super hot, (49-19), the Celtics are being picked to take the East.

As for the West, the Houston rockets recently ended a 22 game win streak, even without their 7 ft+ star Yao Ming.

And tonight the Jazz will face their number one nemesis, the hated LA Lakers, who are number one in their division at 46-21.

So root for the Jazz tonight and in the upcoming playoffs.

I've gotta add that Jerry Sloan is an absolutely amazing coach, and it's bull that he gets passed over year after year for Coach of the Year.

Go Jazz!

Utah Jazz

The Jazz had about a week off for the Allstar break, but played again last night.

They played the Warriors at home and beat them 119-109.

Jazz win

The Jazz beat the Supersonics last night, 112-93.

Somehow Carlos Boozer had never gotten a triple double before. (For my non sporty readers, that means he scored double digits in 3 stat categories).

He got his first triple double last night with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

That makes their record 34-19.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz beat the Bulls on Saturday, 97-87. Their season standings are 33-19, placing them first in the northwest division. Next game is Wednesday.

Win streak ends

Sadly I must report that the Jazz lost to the Kings last night, ending their 10 game win streak. That's okay, they play the Bulls tonight and will have a chance to start a new win streak.

10 win streak

The Jazz won again last night. They beat the Nuggets in overtime.

Deron Williams scored 29 points and Korver got 27.

Thats 10 in a row.

Jazz Update

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Utah Jazz' most recent win.

It was last night against the New Orleans Hornets. Final score 110-88.

This was win #9 in a row for the Jazz and their 10th win in a row on their home court at Energy Solutions Arena, (formerly the Delta Center).

The picture above is Kyle Korver shooting one of the 6 3 pointers he drained for the Jazz. (the Jazz had 12 3 point shots go down, a franchise record for one game. Generally the Jazz are not big 3 point shooters, preferring a pick and roll with a drive or pass into the paint. But it was working last night.

Korver was a mid season pick up for the Jazz as part of a trade with the 76ers.

Good move.

More pictures from our trip

Me giving Chris a Good Luck Jazz / Happy Birthday kiss right before the game started.

We actually sat next to 2 other Jazz fans. One of whom graduated from Provo High in 1986, (9 years before me). His name was Byron. I actually knew his little sister Luella Laws (I think that's right), who was a year behind me. Small world, huh?

The Jazz won by 9. The final score, if you can see it, was 96-87. That was especially nice since they lost by 1 point last year when we went to the game. Let's hope for a win next year too.

We plan on making a tradition out of this trip.

This is a baptist church downtown. I think it is a homeless shelter or soup kitchen too. It was a beautiful building and really stood out from the modern buildings all around. I couldn't stand far enough back to fit the whole church in the frame.