Long Distance Love

Posted by James Seaman on October 17, 2008

I received a letter from Cox Cable in the mail the other day informing me that they would automatically renew my NBA League Pass subscription unless notified otherwise. Why did they even waste the printing and postage cost? Like any long distance relationship, living 2,000 miles from one’s beloved teams requires a special type of commitment. I can’t wait for the NBA season to start because, while I love living in New Orleans, seeing Jazz games helps me feel closer to home.

In addition to the League Pass, which allows me to catch every Jazz game on channel 600-something, I recently invested in a Slingbox so I can watch University of Utah football. This absurd piece of technology lets me watch my buddy’s TV—which sits in his living room on 2nd East and 5th South—through my computer all the way in Louisiana. Frighteningly, I can actually control his cable and could change the channels on him if I really wanted to.

I have armed myself with all the technology I need—and all that I can afford—to maintain this cross-country love affair with the Jazz and Utes. Sometimes I stop and think about the ridiculousness of it. These are just teams that play meaningless games over which I have absolutely no control, yet I invest a significant amount of my happiness in their favorable outcome. Even more insane, after I had made the gut-wrenching decision to leave my family and the Wasatch Mountains for a few more years to live in a swamp, I actually reconsidered because the Jazz went so deep into the 2007 Western Conference Playoffs. I remember asking myself if I really wanted to leave during a period in which the Jazz could legitimately win their first NBA Championship. Allowing one’s fan status to influence major life decisions? How crazy is that? Yet as I watched Utah perform a miracle two Thursday nights ago, somehow pulling one out of the fire against Oregon State, all I could say to myself was, “There’s no place in the world I’d rather be tonight than in Salt Lake City.”

Cox Cable can have my money, as can the makers of that devious device that slings images from my pal’s TV onto my computer screen. I consider these small sacrifices in order to show my teams that, while I left them, I will always love them.

4 Comments

Jared Conger on October 17, 2008 said:

i need a slingbox to control the wifes tv habits while i’m at home.

i can see it now…. “oh i wonder whats happening on girls next door…. is espn on channel 59 now? maybe i’ll switch to rock of love… is espn on vh1 too? what is going on here? i’ll just watch cnn … NFL updates? this is no debate coverage”

ahhhh….. now thats refreshing.

Linda McFarland on October 18, 2008 said:

Great blog!!!! If there is an “out of town” super fan you certainly fill the bill. I wish my son in LA had your fancy stuff. We are planning to go there for Thanksgiving and it is killing me to think I will miss seeing a couple games. Sort of sad when the love for a team and a group of guys that make $millions sort of take over our lives for a season!!

JayD on October 18, 2008 said:

I like your article , I have also left the state of Utah to live , away from my love for all of Utah sports . I have a hard time getting very many games . I probably only seen maybe half their games last year . I am sure that it will be the same again this year . Maybe even worse , since they may not have very many on the alternates like they did last year . I sure wish that I could get KJAZZ here in Idaho . I may have to look into this NBA Pass that you are talking about , especailly now that I have a 46 ” television coming . This is going to be fun watching those games on it .
Here’ s to the success of the season , go Jazz !!!!!

Linda McFarland on October 19, 2008 said:

JayD…check the different programs you might get. Here in Lava we had to take a lot of stations that we didn’t really want in order to get KJAZZ and FSN IDAHO and pay more but it is worth it.

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