Just One Championship

Posted by Brian McCann on February 28, 2009

I’m a business guy, and ever since I was a little kid, I have loved to collect and trade things. When I was six years old, I started a rock collection because of a fascination I developed with precious metals. I dreamt about finding gold in the hills behind my house, and spent hours digging holes in my back yard that my dad spent hours filling in. When I was eight I moved on to coin collecting. At ten I moved on to comic books and cards (Superman and Garbage Pail Kids were my favorites). I dreamt about finding a copy of Action Comics #1 (the first ever Superman comic) in an old basement or attic somewhere (there is actually a copy of Action Comics #1 coming up for auction and it is expected to sell for several hundred thousand dollars because there are only around 100 known copies left in the world-my grandpa swears he had one, but says his mom threw it away).

When I was twelve, I moved on to collecting basketball cards and memorabilia. I would literally spend every cent I had on that stuff. I would do chores for hours so that I could go to the local card shop and buy as many packs of cards as possible. I would go over to my cousin’s house every day, and we would set up our own little trading floor. We would invite kids around the neighborhood to come over to take part. We would go off in our own corners and put deals together. Some kids traded for their favorite players, but I always traded for expected value. If I felt like a player was losing popularity, I would trade away their cards, no matter what their value was at the time. I still have most of my cards, including rookie cards of Karl Malone, John Stockton, Scottie Pippin, Reggie Miller, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Alan Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, and autographed jerseys of Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Michael Jordan among many others.

Over time, I became a lot less passionate about some of the things I use to care so much about. You just grow up I guess, and move onto other interests. The one thing that I still care about though, and have throughout all my phases of collecting the various things that I have collected is the Jazz. I still want a freakin’ championship. I would gladly give all of my collections away for one little championship. JUST ONE CHAMPIONSHIP. My wife asked me the other day what I would honestly do if the Jazz won it all. I told her I would cry. She looked disgusted because I am not a crier-maybe it is because she was an absolute wreck on our wedding day, and I never shed a tear, and now here I am saying I would break down if the Jazz got a ring, but I would. You might think that’s weird, but I don’t care. I have wanted the Jazz to win a championship for so long now, that I think when it finally does happen, I will absolutely lose it. I will take a week off of work and sleep on the steps of ESA. I will be the first person at the victory parade, and I will straight up cry with strangers that I have never met, as we talk about the journey we have had as Jazz fans. I will enjoy every single second of it. I will rock out to Queen and eat cake until I hurl. It will be the best week of my life.

It’s funny how the things that are most important to you in your life change. This one wont for me. You might think that I am just a fan, and that I can’t possibly feel like I personally have accomplished anything by the Jazz winning a ring. Well your wrong buddy, dead wrong. I have spent years of my life in complete devotion to this organization. You think that’s twisted? I don’t care. I’m not twisted, I’m a Jazz fan.

So here we go again-Spring is around the corner and with it comes Jazz fever. We are peakin’ at the right time boys and girls. I usually don’t read the New York Times because it is against everything that I find as good and decent, but this article was in it the other day, and it pumped me up. I’m ready for the playoffs. I want to see how far we can go, and I think we can do some damage. Let’s go Utah! Let’s finish out the season strong!! We have 24 games left to climb the Western Conference standings. We need to pass Portland and catch Denver. The time to make a move is now.

12 Comments

Levi on February 28, 2009 said:

Brian, good blog, and thanks for the link to that beautifully written New York Times article.

jessielou on February 28, 2009 said:

Brian, loved the blog. As for me, I think I would be too busy screaming and cheering to cry : ) Thanks for the link to the New York Times article, it was great!

DeronWilliamsforPresident on March 01, 2009 said:

I’d be right there with you, Brian. Box full of Kleenex, and all! Oh, and thanks for the link to the article. I got the chills reading it!

Linda McFarland on March 01, 2009 said:

It is a very good blog and I appreciated the chance to read the article. My only question is whether it was Boooooooze that came out the first night or Boooooo. If noone can tell then all the better. Booze is beginning to prove himself again and people seem happy now. I am too afraid to hope for the great things that can happen but who knows??!!???

justalars on March 01, 2009 said:

I would love nothing more than to believe in fairytale endings again! At least for a day. I love the Jazz because they let me get away from the real world and stresses of life, they are my release from life. My fantasy would be to finish as the 8th seed. Beat the Lakers on their Homecourt in the first round, beat the Spurs in 4 games, and have DWill own Chris Paul in the Western Conference Finals (Yes in that order). Then only to beat the Bulls in the Finals. (Hey its my dream!)

Kazi on March 02, 2009 said:

haha wow justalars! i totally agree, that would be the sweetest thing to happen ever!

Mal on March 02, 2009 said:

Aaaa! I got chills reading the linked article!!! Thanks for sharing Brian. Let’s go Jazz. Let’s make a run!

Boondock Saint on March 03, 2009 said:

Wow after reading the blog and everyone’s comments about chills and a wonderfully written Times piece I was like…hey….why haven’t I read this yet. So I read it. Yep….CHILLS. I’m feeling the whole fairytale ending like justlars said. A championship for LHM, for UTAH, for the JAZZ and all of us FANS….wow I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.

Boondock Saint on March 03, 2009 said:

Oh and Brian…I would cry too. See ya there.

xbyronx on March 03, 2009 said:

I too would cry. I would sob like a child. The second best part to winning a championship would be to finally silence all of the “how many rings does Utah have?” rebuttals we hear constantly! The offseason aftewards would be PURE BLISS!

Kait on March 05, 2009 said:

You know, if they go all the way this year, we Jazz fans are going to do what we do best-unite in our fandom. We could totally have the hugest fanfest ever at ESA. You know what I mean. With the huge screen and all of us who can’t fork out the dough required to trek to the playoff games could get together and have one heck of a celebration and watch all the games. And, as a life-long Jazz fan, I can really relate to what you’ve said. I think I would also cry if they pulled out with the title. It’d be truly sweet. And I would be attending every celebration parade there could possibly be in honor of our beloved team. It would be beyond words magnificent.

By the way, that article was wonderful. I would have never expected it to come from the New York Times of all places. It just goes to show you you can’t judge a book by its cover, or a paper by its front page, for that matter.

eZAy801 on September 18, 2009 said:

I feel the exact same way! lol. We as JAZZ fans are like CUB fans in a sense. I mean the CUBS are a hell of a lot worse position than us but our organization has been in business for 36 years or something and no CHAMPIONSHIP but sure a lot of SUCCESS and accomplishments. I’ll cry for LARRY and JERRY and STOCK and MALONE and all of the nights I’ve seen a team go through there up’s and down’s like a economic graph. I’ll cry cause finally the JAZZ you rep the 801, SALT LAKE CITY will finally be Immortalized to BASKETBALL history and have the RESPECT it deserves.

go JAZZ!!!!!!!!!!

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