Life on the beat - - Wednesday
WEDNESDAY
4:15 a.m.: You feel like death. That's the best way I can describe what it's like traveling on 90 minutes sleep for the second game of a back-to-back set. Not sure why I booked this 6:10 a.m. flight months ago - - price or fear of blizzard - - but I'm basically comatose until I get in my seat on the plane. Thankfully, I'm able to sleep off-and-on the whole way back to Salt Lake City.
The No. 1 thing I've learned doing this job is that you never know how much you can do on zero sleep until you cover the NBA. I usually do at least one back-to-back each season where I don't go to bed, period. It's a dream job to cover the Jazz, but I think if most people tried out the schedule for a week, they'd say thanks but no thanks.
8:30 a.m.: There are moments all the time when you wake up and wonder: How did I get here? I'm back in Salt Lake City scraping ice off the windshield of my car. I'll be back at the airport in another 31 hours for the flight to New Orleans on Thursday. My wife is startled to see me home so early in the morning. I climb into bed and proceed to take a four-hour "nap."
4 p.m.: I get to the arena three hours early for the second game of a back-to-back. I need the extra half hour to get caught up. There's a larger-than-usual contingent from the D-League's Utah Flash at the game and public relations guy Kent Partridge pulls up a chair to talk about how Morris Almond and Kyrylo Fesenko are doing.
There's been some chatter that Fesenko has a good chance of being included on the Jazz's playoff roster if they need a third center for a matchup against somebody like Shaq. Not sure who would get left out, but with Fesenko at the arena, it seems like a good direction to go for the notebook, with not a lot else happening.
Fesenko has two children's books (including a version of "Marley and Me") in front of his locker. I think this is some strange way the Jazz have of improving his English. Turns out, Fesenko is going to read to a group of kids next week and is taking the books home to practice beforehand. Kind of cool.
Fesenko says he hasn't been told about the playoff roster possibility - - "If somebody will tell you that, I will share my happiness with you. But right now, I don't hear nothing" - - but he does volunteer that his mother is soon to be joining him in Salt Lake City and that he has set a goal of playing in the All-Star rookie/sophomore game next season.
It definitely makes for good notebook fodder. As for the lowdown on the Jazz's two rookies - - which came from another person than Partridge - - Almond is said to have improved 100 percent in his time with the Flash and rounded out his game as far as defense, rebounding and passing.
Fesenko has had more ups-and-downs - - I guess he tried some self-pass dunk in one game - - and has been sick a bunch. They think it was a respiratory infection or bronchitis; Fesenko couldn't shake it with the Flash on the road and said it really caught up to him at the All-Star Game in New Orleans.
7 p.m.: It's a mad scramble trying to get the notebook as close to done as possible before heading out for the opening tip. I have to file a version for the state edition at halftime and can rewrite for the city edition. If necessary, I can condense the Fesenko stuff and add a note or two after the game.
8 p.m.: "Wrong team, wrong night," I say with the Jazz getting pummeled in the first half. The Pistons lead 5-0, 11-2, 28-14, 46-28 and 53-42 at halftime. The Jazz go through a stretch in which they commit three successive turnovers and hear boos from the crowd.
We sit above the tunnel by the Jazz bench. There've been a couple of issues with a fan in recent games, so I actually have to get up with 6:22 left in the second quarter to go find the Jazz p.r. staff and try to deal with the situation. We've reached the point where something has to be done.
You have this schedule, your patience with things runs out very, very quickly. I'm back in my seat for the second half.
9:45 p.m.: I'm not sure what the biggest victory of the Jazz's season has been, but Wednesday's game ranks right up there with drilling Golden State on opening night, beating the Lakers minus Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer and knocking off the Spurs at home and Nuggets on the road.
The Jazz have won a lot of games this season, but they haven't had a comeback like they did Wednesday. As part of his postgame talk with the team, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan brought up the need to believe in themselves as contenders and play like it every night. It was that big of a win.
There's a lot of ways to go with the game story, but I'm struck by the fact that it seems like the Jazz could have gone one of two directions Wednesday. They could have made Tuesday's loss to the Timberwolves worse and gotten routed by 30 by Detroit, ending their 14-game home winning streak.
Instead, they found a way to move forward. They regrouped to beat a team that had won 13 of 15 games coming in. Sloan talks regularly about the need for the Jazz's young players to experience all the situations the NBA can throw at you. Wednesday's game was a perfect example.
(It also was a game in which Sloan turned to his bench when a lot of people might not have after the Minnesota game. When Deron Williams came out with 10 seconds left in the third quarter, I thought there was a good chance he was going back in to start the fourth. Williams had taken over in the third quarter.
(When Carlos Boozer threw the ball into the backcourt looking for Ronnie Price, I thought Williams was coming back with 10:48 to play. Same thing during the timeout with 8:52 left. But Williams didn't return until the 8:04 mark. Sloan went back to the lineup with Mehmet Okur and four reserves that gave up a big run against the Timberwolves.)
Sloan also had a great quote afterward about the Jazz being a good team but needing to be willing to "pay the price" to get there. It might have been his strongest quote all season. Not sure what I have leftover for Friday's paper - - the Jazz are taking Thursday off, as expected - - but tonight was a heck of a game to get to write.
11:30 p.m.: After tweaking the notes to include an Okur quote, a couple of us stragglers leave EnergySolutions Arena. I'm running on fumes, but tonight was actually one of the easier back-to-backs. It's amazing to think that my day started more than 20 hours ago waking up in Minneapolis.
--Ross Siler
4:15 a.m.: You feel like death. That's the best way I can describe what it's like traveling on 90 minutes sleep for the second game of a back-to-back set. Not sure why I booked this 6:10 a.m. flight months ago - - price or fear of blizzard - - but I'm basically comatose until I get in my seat on the plane. Thankfully, I'm able to sleep off-and-on the whole way back to Salt Lake City.
The No. 1 thing I've learned doing this job is that you never know how much you can do on zero sleep until you cover the NBA. I usually do at least one back-to-back each season where I don't go to bed, period. It's a dream job to cover the Jazz, but I think if most people tried out the schedule for a week, they'd say thanks but no thanks.
8:30 a.m.: There are moments all the time when you wake up and wonder: How did I get here? I'm back in Salt Lake City scraping ice off the windshield of my car. I'll be back at the airport in another 31 hours for the flight to New Orleans on Thursday. My wife is startled to see me home so early in the morning. I climb into bed and proceed to take a four-hour "nap."
4 p.m.: I get to the arena three hours early for the second game of a back-to-back. I need the extra half hour to get caught up. There's a larger-than-usual contingent from the D-League's Utah Flash at the game and public relations guy Kent Partridge pulls up a chair to talk about how Morris Almond and Kyrylo Fesenko are doing.
There's been some chatter that Fesenko has a good chance of being included on the Jazz's playoff roster if they need a third center for a matchup against somebody like Shaq. Not sure who would get left out, but with Fesenko at the arena, it seems like a good direction to go for the notebook, with not a lot else happening.
Fesenko has two children's books (including a version of "Marley and Me") in front of his locker. I think this is some strange way the Jazz have of improving his English. Turns out, Fesenko is going to read to a group of kids next week and is taking the books home to practice beforehand. Kind of cool.
Fesenko says he hasn't been told about the playoff roster possibility - - "If somebody will tell you that, I will share my happiness with you. But right now, I don't hear nothing" - - but he does volunteer that his mother is soon to be joining him in Salt Lake City and that he has set a goal of playing in the All-Star rookie/sophomore game next season.
It definitely makes for good notebook fodder. As for the lowdown on the Jazz's two rookies - - which came from another person than Partridge - - Almond is said to have improved 100 percent in his time with the Flash and rounded out his game as far as defense, rebounding and passing.
Fesenko has had more ups-and-downs - - I guess he tried some self-pass dunk in one game - - and has been sick a bunch. They think it was a respiratory infection or bronchitis; Fesenko couldn't shake it with the Flash on the road and said it really caught up to him at the All-Star Game in New Orleans.
7 p.m.: It's a mad scramble trying to get the notebook as close to done as possible before heading out for the opening tip. I have to file a version for the state edition at halftime and can rewrite for the city edition. If necessary, I can condense the Fesenko stuff and add a note or two after the game.
8 p.m.: "Wrong team, wrong night," I say with the Jazz getting pummeled in the first half. The Pistons lead 5-0, 11-2, 28-14, 46-28 and 53-42 at halftime. The Jazz go through a stretch in which they commit three successive turnovers and hear boos from the crowd.
We sit above the tunnel by the Jazz bench. There've been a couple of issues with a fan in recent games, so I actually have to get up with 6:22 left in the second quarter to go find the Jazz p.r. staff and try to deal with the situation. We've reached the point where something has to be done.
You have this schedule, your patience with things runs out very, very quickly. I'm back in my seat for the second half.
9:45 p.m.: I'm not sure what the biggest victory of the Jazz's season has been, but Wednesday's game ranks right up there with drilling Golden State on opening night, beating the Lakers minus Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer and knocking off the Spurs at home and Nuggets on the road.
The Jazz have won a lot of games this season, but they haven't had a comeback like they did Wednesday. As part of his postgame talk with the team, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan brought up the need to believe in themselves as contenders and play like it every night. It was that big of a win.
There's a lot of ways to go with the game story, but I'm struck by the fact that it seems like the Jazz could have gone one of two directions Wednesday. They could have made Tuesday's loss to the Timberwolves worse and gotten routed by 30 by Detroit, ending their 14-game home winning streak.
Instead, they found a way to move forward. They regrouped to beat a team that had won 13 of 15 games coming in. Sloan talks regularly about the need for the Jazz's young players to experience all the situations the NBA can throw at you. Wednesday's game was a perfect example.
(It also was a game in which Sloan turned to his bench when a lot of people might not have after the Minnesota game. When Deron Williams came out with 10 seconds left in the third quarter, I thought there was a good chance he was going back in to start the fourth. Williams had taken over in the third quarter.
(When Carlos Boozer threw the ball into the backcourt looking for Ronnie Price, I thought Williams was coming back with 10:48 to play. Same thing during the timeout with 8:52 left. But Williams didn't return until the 8:04 mark. Sloan went back to the lineup with Mehmet Okur and four reserves that gave up a big run against the Timberwolves.)
Sloan also had a great quote afterward about the Jazz being a good team but needing to be willing to "pay the price" to get there. It might have been his strongest quote all season. Not sure what I have leftover for Friday's paper - - the Jazz are taking Thursday off, as expected - - but tonight was a heck of a game to get to write.
11:30 p.m.: After tweaking the notes to include an Okur quote, a couple of us stragglers leave EnergySolutions Arena. I'm running on fumes, but tonight was actually one of the easier back-to-backs. It's amazing to think that my day started more than 20 hours ago waking up in Minneapolis.
--Ross Siler
1:26 AM
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1 Comments:
Another great piece, Ross. It is interesting to see how writers REALLY live during the season.
I especially like your thought about the fork in the road last night. The Jazz could have gone 2 directions, but they fought back for the W. This has the feel of one of those season-altering games. Maybe it just corrects the course a bit, but a great win for the Jazz.
John
http://jazz-talk.blogspot.com/
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