T-Minus Two Weeks

Posted by Bryan Hickman on October 16, 2008

‘The Ever Essential League Pass’

That’s right, people, only two weeks left before the start of the season. Less than that, actually, but, even though the two-week mark was technically yesterday, I’m still calling it two weeks today. Deal with it. No one likes a nit-picker.

Anyway, as the Jazz are using these last few weeks to get in shape, fine-tune the rotations, and work out those Olympics-induced bad habits, I too am in training for the upcoming season. I’ve learned over the last few years that, over the course of a grueling 82-game schedule, even the most ardent fans can suffer from the rustiness and fatigue brought on by a lack of preparation and conditioning. I, for one, plan on having a good year and, in no small part, it’ll be due to my preseason training.

Here’s just a few of the exercises and work-outs I’ve been doing to get ready for October 29:

– I’ve been staying up really late (see: my previous post about NBA 2K9 on the Xbox 360) . You see, I live on the East Coast, which, for the time-zone impaired, means that the games start later for me than they do for most Jazz fans. Of course, unless the Jazz are playing on the West Coast (I hate, hate, hate the Lakers) or on ESPN (I hate, hate, hate, Hubie Brown), living in the East means the Jazz games usually start at 9pm, which isn’t all that late. But, you see, I’m not a young man any more — I’m 30. Over the summer, I get used to a sensible night’s sleep. If I’m gonna regularly stay up past 8pm on weeknights, I have to train myself.

– I’ve been calling my local cable company every day to ask if I can sign up for NBA League Pass. Each time, the response I get is something like: “It’s not available yet, call back closer to the start of the season.” This response made sense back in July when I first started calling, but, now that we’re two weeks out, you’d think they’d have more precise information. But, what can I say, cable company reps are callous and ill-informed. Who knew?

– I’ve been responding to my wife’s proposals for weekend plans with, “Sorry, sweetie, there’s a Jazz game.” This, of course, isn’t true right now. But, I need the practice, and frankly, so does my wife.

– I’ve been spending nights sleeping on the couch. This may or may not be related to the previous exercise.

– I’ve been starting conversations around the water cooler at work by saying “Hey, did you catch the Jazz game last night?” This, of course, is usually met with flabbergasted looks of confusion among my coworkers, but, that’s what happens during the regular season. So, this is pretty much the equivalent of game-speed preparation.

You should all get a pre-season repertoire going. We don’t need any Ostertag-like fans showing up out-of-shape and unprepared for a long season. Don’t blame me when you don’t have prepared excuses for leaving work early to go to a game or when you forget to sedate your kids so that they sleep through the fourth quarter. Championships don’t just happen, people. They require preparation and discipline. I suggest you get started.

1 Comment

Darren Williams on October 16, 2008 said:

Very Funny.My pre-season warm up consists of trying to catch Deron in Champaign,Il tomorrow night vs the Bulls and get my picture taken with him or an autograph.