Fanatic (noun): marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion
Today as I was listening to Locked on Jazz with David Locke (My favorite way to get my daily fill of the Jazz) David Locke said something that I wanted to highlight that I think it is so true. The link is here and it starts at 23:05 if you would like to listen for yourself.
Utah Jazz fans for a long time around the NBA world have been known as the loudest fans. Even the Jazz Bear holds up a sign at the games saying "Prove we are the loudest fans" during timeouts in the fourth quarter. The ESA can get up on any given night for any given game making it one of the most intimidating places to play for opposing teams. You know it is official when Wikipedia devotes a paragraph to our noise on it's Energy Solution Arena page.
From Wikipedia--
"The EnergySolutions Arena is well known for being one of the hardest places to play for visiting teams in the NBA. According to an NBA Players Poll taken by Sports Illustrated on February 11, 2008, the ESA is considered "the most intimidating arena in the NBA" with 20% of the vote made up of 240 current NBA players.[15] Many commentators referred to the arena as the "Decibel Center", a play on the name "Delta Center". During Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, a decibel meter installed at floor level had readings of over 110 decibels, close to the noise generated by a jet takeoff. Also, during the 1997 NBA Finals, Hannah Storm of NBC called the then-named Delta Center "one of the loudest places in sports"[16]"
Another point we ought to hit on is the fact that players love to play here because we as fans route for them on and off the court. Over the years we have had to many mentions to count of players expressing appreciation and gratitude for the fans here in Salt Lake. So many times we have been called the "best fans in the NBA". When we truly love our players simply because they are "ours" it makes Salt Lake a truly special place to play.
Now to my point. Over the years of my being a Jazz fan I have noticed a shift in us as fans. We have stepped away from our true role as fans and become analytic's, and crytic's of the team and players we love. One characteristic of the Jazz organization is that everyone works hard and does their own job. Coach's coach, players play, and the fans cheer.
It seems that recently every Jazz "fan" has a better idea of what to do with the team than the people who are actually running the team. We tend to hear a lot of this player needs to play more, the reason we are losing is because of this coach, our star player needs to carry more of the load. We have gotten away from being true Jazz fans. We feel like if the team is playing poorly it entitles us to care less.
Being the best fans in the NBA comes with a price, and the price is being actual fans.
Any player that dawns a Utah Jazz uniform ought to be cheered for with gusto. It should not matter if that players name is John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, Karl Malone, Mehmet Okur, Raul Lopez, Gordon Giricek, Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Deron Williams, Gordon Hayward, or Trey Burke. As a fan we should have our players backs on and off the court. It is us as fans that make the ESA a "great and terrible" place to play. Great for us and terrible for other teams. The team that the Jazz put on the court should make no difference to how we act as fans.
A Jazz fan boos loudly as the other team is introduced. A Jazz fan yells and cheers for every point we score. A Jazz fan dances crazy during the timeouts. A Jazz Fan boos the refs for a call against us whether it was right or not. A Jazz fan thinks the Jazz Bear is the best mascot in the NBA. Those are the things that make us Jazz fans. It is not the players that are put on the court or the win loss record at the end of the season. We are Jazz fans because we love the Utah Jazz.
I feel like it is way past time for Jazz fans to get back to doing what we do best and that is being Jazz fans. Listen to the analysis, the pre and post game interviews. Research the statistics, and the details of the game. But love the Jazz. Find a way to get into all of that without losing sight of what our job is. We as fans can make this a place that players want to come and stay. We as fans can make the ESA the best place to play in the NBA.
We are Utah Jazz.
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