Let me tell you something about the Utah Jazz.
25 years ago my grandfather passed away. He held a single season ticket in the nosebleeds. There were a few weeks left in the season when he died unexpectedly on a vacation so my mother and her sisters split up the remaining tickets to go watch the rest of the 1992 season. The usher noticed my aunt sitting in my grandpa's seat and asked when he was coming back and if he'd had a good trip. My aunt said that sadly he had passed away. The usher and my aunt wept together about the loss.
Two days later at the services, we were looking at the cards on the flower arrangements that family, friends, and neighbors had sent. "Who on earth would send such a large arrangement?" Asked another aunt, (coincidentally a flower shop owner). "The Utah Jazz," I joked. "Look at the colors, who else would send it?" And my mother opened the card and said, "You weren't kidding. The Utah Jazz sent us flowers."
The Utah Jazz sent the largest arrangement of flowers to my grandfather's funeral. He didn't sit on the front row, he was no titan of industry. He was a retired high school vice principal who sat in the nosebleeds.
The Jazz aren't fake and they aren't craven. They are run by honest, hard-working, decent people. Every city should be so lucky to have a team like the Jazz.
