Wherein I Anger Many Jazz Fans

This is the final installment in the epic retelling of the week of spring break. Find the other parts here, here, and here.

Meri's friend scored us free tickets to the Utah Jazz vs Portland Trailblazers NBA basketball game on Friday night. Super cool!

The Past

I'm a casual Jazz fan. I like it when they do well and enjoy attending a game occasionally... particularly when it is free! I have fond memories of their playoff runs when John Stockton and Karl Malone were in their prime.

The team I grew up watching was the Portland Trailblazers. Basketball was my Dad's sport and we were pretty into it when the Blazers were on.

I remember when the great Portland teams of the 80's played with Clyde the Glide and Terry Porter. I also remember some heartbreaking losses. Dad would cheer for the home team most often, but he liked basketball and would watch the playoffs even when they were eliminated. He always rooted for the underdog in those cases... a habit I picked up as well. This is one of my best memories of him.

The Present

Back to the now. I've enjoyed living in an NBA town. Energy Solutions Arena has been a great venue for many fun events including the Disney On Ice show we saw with the girls a couple months ago. And live sports are much more engaging and fun than watching on TV. I never attended a pro game growing up and it has been fun to take my kids as an occasional treat.

Mason and Chris were kind enough to be my companions on the trip. I guess the girls weren't too interested. Many next time... (insert hint here).

Our seats were pretty high (I think about 10 rows from the top), but there really aren't any bad seats in the arena. We could see all the action directly and the replays on the giant new screens they installed recently.

The Game

I, of course, cheered for MY home team in this case. I think Mason and Chris might have been A LITTLE embarrassed of me. I encouraged them to cheer for the Jazz. Utah is their home and the Jazz have a great legacy. They were kinda quiet though... maybe they didn't want to anger the old man. Not that I get fanatical about sports... okay maybe the Seahawks. You got me there.

There were a few other Blazers fans in the building that night, and none of us got too many stares of hatred... that I noticed. Very dignified bunch of Utah Jazz fans for sure.

The game was actually really great with several lead changes up until the fourth quarter when the Blazers really dominated. I toned down my cheers at that point not wanting to be a sore winner.

All in all, it was a very fun night out with my sons. Love these kids very much!

The Epilogue

After all the joking about having nosebleed seats, Mason got a nosebleed on in the car on the way home. Ah coincidence... you are a mysterious beast indeed.