The Most Difficult Time of Year

If there is one thing that Erica teases me about over and over - it is that all of my posts are about sports. That is not entirely true, but for some reason whenever I think about posting about sports I now hesitate. Let it be known to all who read this blog I love Erica much more than sports. There is really no comparison (how is that for brownie points? although it is true). With that preface, let me begin.
The Utah Jazz season is officially underway. It was nice to see them start the season with a win over the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night (wednesday morning for those of us on the East coast). Which brings me to the point of this post, being a Utah Jazz fan in NYC. The nice thing is I get to see them play live a minimum of twice a year (thanks to away games against the Knicks and Nets, given they don't play on a Sunday). The difficult part is that the majority of their games are played on the West coast, which makes for a very late night. For example, last nights game started at 10:30pm Eastern time. That means the game wont be over until well past midnight. How does one cope in such a situation? The answer is DVR. My routine for most of the games is simple. Set the DVR, go to bed, don't check text messages lest you want a spoiler from Hendu, Rett or Bodily, wake up one hour earlier than usual, watch the first three qtrs. quickly - mostly on a slower fast forward, watch the 4th qtr on normal speed over breakfast. You may think I am crazy, but it works for me. The only possible downside is when the Jazz blow a game they should have won, then I can be a little cranky for a few hours and that is not the optimal way to start a day. However, I have become much better. I have come to a realisation that the Jazz will never go 82-0 and I remind myself that a basketball game is really not that important. The playoffs - now that is another story - Erica doesn't care much for me during the playoffs. I am sure the other tenents in our building may not like me either due to a raised voice on bad calls (or Baron Davis).

I have probably lost most of you do to the length and content - but I will leave you with my predictions for the season - props to Hendu for the idea. Check out the Tyler and Stacy link to see his Jazz Predictions.

1. Jerry Sloan finally wins coach of the year.


2. Jazz games I will attend this year - 4 (Knicks, Nets, probably one at home, ???)


3. Regular season Jazz games I will watch on TV (thanks to DVR and NBA LeaguePass) - 82


4. NBA games I will watch that do not include the Jazz - 0


5. Games that Tim Tanner watches with me - 3


6. Games that Erica happily watches with me - 0


7. Games won by Jazz - 51


8. Jazz All-Stars - 2 (Williams and Boozer)


9. Ronnie Brewer - top three in voting for most improved player


10. The over/under on text messages from Rett containing questionable content - 25.5


11. Percentage of those text messages I show to Erica - 65%


12. The over/under on text messages from Hendu - 246.5 - (at least 3 per game)
13. Times I wish I were in UT due to my Dads access to tickets - 41