Pre-Season Politics

Posted by Annie Whittaker on October 20, 2008

‘Choices and Decisions’ (EPA)

When faced with the choice of watching the last presidential debate, or the most recent Utah Jazz pre-season game, it was easy to conclude that neither contest matters in the long run.  Maybe I should have written an overdue Jazzbots post instead of watching t.v.  It’s not like the final outcome for the Jazz or the two candidates running for president will be affected too drastically by the goings on from a few nights ago.   Still, by Memo’s beard; I couldn’t not watch.  I resigned to flipping the channels, and was pleasantly surprised to get the bonus viewing minutes due to the Jazz overtime.

At my basketball game the next morning, it was obvious that I wasn’t alone in my opinions, nothing had changed in the eyes of my friends.  Nobody suddenly changed their mind about who they were voting for despite the best efforts of the candidates the night before.  None of them had differing opinions of players or coaches than previously.  The thoughts that I took away from the Wednesday night duels were that both events offered some very similar themes which kept it interesting enough to stay tuned.  Both featured the contrast of youth vs. experience, attempts at the “big play,”and the prominent display of a few weaknesses.

The great thing about pre-season games is that we get to see some combinations of players that we will never see during the regular season unless something bizarre were to occur–and even then we’re more likely to see something like oh, I don’t know–Andrei Kirilenko at point forward.

Deron Williams is looking absolutely fabulous right now.  He’s no longer on the youth side of things, definitely the experience end.  Denver is actually a good looking team.  They have plenty of experience.  And I actually think I saw Carmelo Anthony play some defense!

As in the debate there were attempts at a few zingers, some of them hit the mark, like the Koufos three pointer at the end of the game.  Some of them were as ill fated as the C.J. Miles last ditch effort at a drive to the basket in overtime.

There is one person who stands out in my mind from viewing the other night, who got a lot of mention,  and no it isn’t the very popular vice-presidential candidate, even though she does make us all so very proud–no,  it is our own Kyle Korver.  This guy is the real deal.  I’m not talking about the exciting three point shooting, or the storied good looks, I’m talking about the huge improvement in his all around game.  All of the young guys have made a great impression this year, with much promise for this season, but the one I’m really going to be watching, is double K.

In closing, (they do this in the debates) I’d like to turn to Coach Sloan’s post-game remarks.  While it was a pre-season game, the Jazz still had over 20 turnovers during regulation time alone.  Sloan summed it all up by saying that instead of going for the big play, the players should just keep it simple.  Remember the popular buzz phrase? The KISS principle?  Kenyon Martin’s tattoo artist must know it well.

Yet still in closing, I would finally like to say that even though this was just a pre-season game, I am reminded of how much the Jazz need to figure out how to win on the road.  We don’t want a repeat of last December.  As for the debates, one of these candidates has got to figure out how to get this country back on track.  We don’t want a repeat of the last….well, you’ve all heard how that ends.

1 Comment

Aaron Allen on October 20, 2008 said:

“By Memo’s Beard!” I love that line. As for the debates, maybe during Jazz games they could sit a group of “uncommitted” fans in a room and monitor their feedback. That way during the games we could see the instant graph of what the uncommitted fans like and dislike. I’m sure Memo’s beard would sway additional votes the Jazz’s way.

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