[爆料] [舊聞] Utah still feels no NBA love

[tonometer (被風化的FreeBSD)]

Hello, free agents. Remember us? We're Utah. You know, crowded schools,
confusing liquor laws, mild inferiority complex.

We're back.

Can we talk about this over a caffeine-free Diet Coke?

It's that time of year when teams are allowed to talk with free agents. Raja
Bell notwithstanding, the Jazz generally do a good job of keeping players
already here. Tuesday they agreed to sign their own free agent, Matt
Harpring, to a reported multi-year, $25- million deal.

It's attracting players from outside Utah that's a problem.

Under current salary-cap rules, many teams have limited means for acquiring
players, so it becomes more recruiting than bidding. If several teams have
only cap exception money available, that can make it tough on the Jazz.

As one NBA player -- or was it Jim Bridger? -- once said, 

"YOU go live in Utah."

In a recent Sports Illustrated player poll, Utah was listed as the
least-favored destination for NBA players by a whopping margin. The poll
showed that 27 percent of those surveyed consider Utah the place they would
least like to play, far outdistancing No. 2 Toronto (16 percent), Atlanta (10
percent) and Milwaukee (6 percent).

All that work on the Olympics, all those smiley volunteer shifts, and we're
still at the bottom of the food chain.

That's what we get for inventing a slogan that said, "A Pretty, Great State."

Getting players to come to Utah has always been work. It's true they follow
the dollars like a cat follows tuna, but with salary- cap constraints it
sometimes comes down to preference. Do you want the beach or the desert?
Rugged mountains or sprawling flatlands? Colonial New England or Southern
hospitality?

Do you prefer Gloria Estefan or Pearl Jam?

One thing seems certain: Players don't like Utah. Just ask Derek Harper. He's
the former Dallas Maverick who said on ESPN, "YOU go live in Utah."

And he was one of the nice guys.

Ronnie Seikaly, LaPhonso Ellis, Mario Elie, Sam Perkins and others rejected
Utah, citing varying reasons. Truth is they didn't want to be here, or they
would have been. Meanwhile, the Jazz are hoping for the chance to one day do
a Sally Fields acceptance speech: " . . . I can't deny the fact that you like
me, right now, you like me!"

We Utahns already know about our image. Nightlife, Jerry Sloan's stubbornness
and, of course, religion are all factors. So is the fact there are few
African-Americans in Utah. That's not to say Salt Lake has no diversity. Its
Hispanic, Asian and Polynesian populations are significant.

Who knows, maybe people have been scared off by watching "Big Love" on HBO.

The SI poll came after years of what Utahns thought was progress. We put on a
heck of an Olympics and actually thought the world had come to like us. The
NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake was a smash. Even when a blizzard blew in, the
city had trucks out catching snowflakes before they hit the ground.

We've hosted the NBA Finals, international soccer, national figure-skating
and cycling championships, and numerous other global winter-sports events.

We have the Sundance Film Festival, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, good
flight connections and one of the biggest parades in the country. Ethnic
restaurants are springing up all over Salt Lake.

Even Mick Jagger agreed to come here a couple of times -- for a night.

So how come nobody in the NBA likes us? Every city has drawbacks. San Antonio
-- the highest-rated destination -- has a metro population similar to Salt
Lake's, but it's more out of the way. Miami -- the No. 2 destination -- has
Pat Riley. Sure, he's a coaching legend, but he's as demanding as Sloan --
and a diva, too. Indianapolis -- the ninth most popular choice -- is as tame
as Salt Lake but a lot flatter. Memphis is smaller, Charlotte just as
religious. New York is fun, but playing for the Knicks isn't.

Sacramento put its arena in a field.

Meanwhile, out here in the sticks we just keep trying.

Can we get you some ice cream while you think it over?


--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 111.240.211.123
推 semicoma:鹽湖城很多韓國人
→ xjazz:XDDD
→ ChrisPaul03:爵士退休球員有身敗名裂的嗎？ 么午好幾個!
→ mules:有在監獄的吧
噓 pc009732:有菊花爆裂的....
噓 AK3pt:"YOU go live in Utah."
噓 Actus:Jim Bridger 是第一個目睹大鹽湖的白人
噓 semicoma:靠 最好很多美國人會知道Jim Bridger啦 這梗太艱深了
→ Stockton:什麼梗，願聞其詳＠＠？？