I Got Paid to see a Lakers-Jazz NBA Playoff Game

Just a brief amount of Utah Jazz history. First, there's no jazz music scene in the state of Utah. Second, they've changed their jersey colors a lot. It started out white, bright purple, yellow, and green. Then it became light purple, teal, white, and black (in the 80s, of course). Now it's navy blue, baby blue, and white (kind of BYU meets UCLA). I guess you sell more stuff if you change the look often.

The game itself was great. There are more Lakers fans in Utah than any other out-of-state NBA team (for the NFL, it's the 49ers). It's all the California transplants. This means that Laker-Jazz games always provide a lot of rivalry energy. Each side had signs for Game #4. Utah fans showed "The Only Good Laker Is A Salt Laker". A Los Angelan group threw up "All Roads End In L.A." (where the Jazz will likely eventually lose the 7-game series). And as this was the first Jazz home game on a Sunday in 4 years (Wow!), there was a sign dedicated dually to Carlos Boozer and alcohol stating "We Love Booz! Even on Sunday." (with a similar signed for "Brew", or Ronnie Brewer). It WAS funny seeing the kegs getting rolled past me on their way to different food stands. Sadly, there were all too many "Bryant" jerseys, which makes for a lot of pitifully lame people. The Jazz fans retaliated with "MVP" chants every time hometown favorite Deron Williams made a basket. And both teams' fans were guilty of women sporting their teams' jersey in white-and-pink, a terrible new crime against Sport that is ever-growing in popularity. Besides which, the Lakers aren't the only team with a rapist as a hero; Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone impregnated a 13-year old girl back when he was a sophomore in college at Louisiana Tech (can you say "Statutory"?). http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080507
And yes, there were a bunch of fistfights after the game (Of course! It went into overtime and people had a bunch of pent-up emotion to let out). A couple of split lips, but no major injuries requiring transport or hospitalization.

You know, I don't go to near enough professional sporting events. The state of Utah is starting to come together. They've got the NBA Jazz, the semi-pro basketball Flash, the MLS Real Salt Lake, the arena football Blaze, the semi-pro hockey Grizzlies, and the semi-pro baseball Bees. Utah's not a huge pro-sports state, but it is growing.