Frank Layden, 1932-2025

In 1947, the Minneapolis Lakers were founded, so named because Minnesota is "The Land of 10,000 Lakes." In 1960, they moved to Los Angeles, which has the Pacific Ocean, but not much in the way of lakes.

In 1974, the New Orleans Jazz were founded, so named because New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. In 1979, they moved to Salt Lake City, becoming the Utah Jazz. Utah's idea of music is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Osmond Family. If you like either one, that's okay. But there's not much in the way of jazz in Utah.

Frank Layden once suggested that the franchises should switch names: Utah Lakers, because of the Great Salt Lake; and Los Angeles Jazz, because L.A. is the leading jazz city in the Western U.S. Neither team, nor NBA management, would go for it.

Francis Patrick Layden was born on January 5, 1932 in Brooklyn, where he went to Fort Hamilton High School. Other alumni include Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bernard King and his All-Star brother Albert King; baseball player Julio Lugo; actress Lana Parrilla; Bruce Johannesson, who became C.C. DeVille, lead guitarist for the band Poison; former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; and Letitia James, the Attorney General of the State of New York who convicted Donald Trump of fraud.

Frank went to Niagara University in Buffalo, then became a high school coach on Long Island. He returned to Niagara as head coach in 1968. He remained through 1976, when the Atlanta Hawks hired him as an assistant. In 1979, when the Jazz moved to Utah, he was named their general manager. In 1981, he named himself head coach.

In 1984, he got the Jazz into the Playoffs, and was named the NBA's Coach of the Year and the Executive of the Year. He remains the only man to win both in the same year. And this was before he drafted John Stockton in that year's NBA Draft, and Karl Malone in the next year's. He never got the team beyond the Western Conference Semifinals, and stepped down as head coach in 1988, giving the job to his assistant, Jerry Sloan, and remaining as general manager.

He said, "Sometimes, in the NBA, you feel like a dog. You age seven years in one. The pressure in the NBA is intense." The pressure led him to overeat, and he topped 300 pounds, saying, "I once got on a scale to have my fortune read, and it said, 'Come back again alone.'" In 1986, he managed to lose 86 pounds, but not through exercise: "I don't jog, because I want to be sick when I die."

He remained GM, and oversaw the building of the team that won the 1997 and 1998 Western Conference Championships, but lost the NBA Finals to the Chicago Bulls both times. Although Layden never played a minute in the NBA, Jazz owner Larry Miller retired the team's Number 1 for him.

When the WNBA was founded in 1997, all the charter franchises were operated by the NBA teams in their cities. Miller founded the Utah Starzz -- note the matching Double-Z's at the end -- and had Layden coach them in the 1998 and 1999 seasons. But Layden was tired, and retired as both Jazz GM and Starzz head coach.

Miller tired of owning the Starzz, and sold them to the San Antonio Spurs' owners after the 2002 season. They were moved, and became the San Antonio Silver Stars. By 2018, when WNBA teams were no longer necessarily owned by NBA teams, the team was sold again, to Mark Davis, who was in the process of moving the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas, and he moved the Silver Stars to become the Las Vegas Aces.

Frank and his wife, Barbara, remained in Salt Lake City. They had sons Mike and Scott, and daughter Katie. Scott was an assistant coach for the Jazz, and later the general manager of the New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Frank Layden died yesterday, July 9, 2025, in Salt Lake City, at the age of 93.

Corporate Competition

I hate corporate names on sports venues. The only one I've ever liked was the one that was on the ballpark of the minor-league Trenton Thunder from 2012 to 2021: Arm & Hammer Park. If you're going to have a company's name on a ballpark, it should be one that suggests strong pitching and heavy hitting.

It led me to ask: Has there ever been a finals in any of the "Big Four" major league sports in North America whose venues' naming rights were owned by companies in direct competition with each other?

It's never happened in the World Series. It came close this time: The Arizona Diamondbacks play at Chase Field, named for a bank; while the Texas Rangers play at Globe Life Field, named for an insurance company. It's never happened in the Super Bowl. And it's never happened in the Stanley Cup Finals.

But in the NBA, it has. In 1997, and again in 1998, the Chicago Bulls, of the United Center, beat the Utah Jazz, of the Delta Center -- both arenas named for airlines. And I had completely forgotten about this: In 2006, and again in 2011, the Finals was between the Miami Heat, whose arena was then named the American Airlines Arena; and the Dallas Mavericks, whose arena was then, and still is, named the American Airlines Center. The Heat's arena is now named the Kaseya Center: Kaseya is a software company.

If only corporations competed with each other for customers, and their customers' rights, as well as sports teams do.

How to Be a New York Basketball Fan In Utah -- 2022 Edition

The Brooklyn Nets go to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Jazz this Friday, February 4. The New York Knicks will follow on Monday, February 7.

Before You Go. We think of Utah, we think of the Wild West. Desert. National Monument Valley. We forget that it's also in the Rocky Mountains. I flipped out when I heard that it was chosen as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Winter? Utah? But it's got mountains, and it's got snow. For years, the license plates even said, "Ski Utah." Now, they say, "Greatest Snow On Earth."

The Salt Lake Tribune, the State's largest newspaper, is predicting the high 30s for daylight next Friday, and low 20s for the evening. Bundle up.

Utah is in the Mountain Time Zone, 2 hours behind New York. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.

Tickets. The Jazz averaged 18,306 fans per home game in 2019-20, before COVID shut everything down. That's officially a sellout. So getting tickets might be a problem.

In the Lower Level, the single-digit and double-digit sections, seats are $196 between the baskets and $157 behind them. In the Upper Level, the triple-digit sections, seats are a considerably cheaper $54 between the baskets and $31 behind them.

Getting There. It's 2,174 miles from Midtown Manhattan to downtown Salt Lake City. In other words, if you're going, you're flying.

Because, driving, you'd have to get onto Interstate 80 West in New Jersey, and – though incredibly long, it's also incredibly simple – you'll stay on I-80 for almost the entire trip, getting off at Exit 306 for downtown Salt Lake.

Not counting rest stops, you should be in New Jersey for an hour and a half, Pennsylvania for 5:15, Ohio for 4 hours, Indiana for 2:30, Illinois for 2:45, Iowa for 5 hours, Nebraska for 7:45, Wyoming for 6:45, and Utah for 1:15. That's almost 37 hours, and with rest stops, and city traffic at each end, we're talking 2 full days.

That's still faster than Greyhound and Amtrak. The station serving both, Salt Lake Central Station, is at 300 South 600 West, 5 blocks from the arena. But the Greyhound trip averages about 49 hours, depending on the run, and will require you to change buses twice, most likely in Pittsburgh and Denver. Round-trip fare is $502, but can drop to $370 with advanced purchase.

On Amtrak, you would leave Penn Station on the Lake Shore Limited at 3:40 PM on Tuesday, arrive at Union Station in Chicago at 9:50 AM Central Time on Wednesday, and switch to the California Zephyr at 2:00 PM, arriving at Salt Lake City at 11:05 PM Mountain Time on Thursday, about 20 hours before tipoff. Getting back, the California Zephyr leaves Salt Lake City at 3:30 AM on Sunday, arrives in Chicago at 2:50 PM on Monday, and the Lake Shore Limited leaves at 9:30 PM and arrives in New York at 6:23 PM on Tuesday. Round-trip fare would be $487.

But not this time. Amtrak seems to have canceled the Lake Shore Limited for the time being. Instead, you'd have to take 3 separate trains, so it really isn't worth it. Forget Amtrak this time.

Newark to Salt Lake City is a cheap flight this week, and you can get it nonstop, if you're willing to leave early in the morning, as low as $337.

Once In the City. Founded in 1847 by Mormon leader Brigham Young (who famously found what he thought was the right spot for his followers and said, "This is the place") and named after the Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City is the smallest anchor city in North American major league sports, except for Green Bay, Wisconsin: 199,000.

But it has a metropolitan area population of about 2.6 million and rising, which makes it larger than NBA markets San Antonio, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Memphis; and MLS markets Kansas City and Columbus -- and not that far behind Vancouver.

The State House

Society in the State and the City remains dominated by "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," a.k.a. the Mormons. So, in Star Trek IV, when James T. Kirk, having traveled back in time with Spock, tells a woman that Spock was in Berkeley, California in the 1960s and "did a little too much LDS," it was a mistake on his part (intentional on the writers' part), not a reference to Spock being a Mormon.

Despite it being a Western university, I don't think there were very many Mormons at the University of California, Berkeley in those days. They were much more likely to have attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah State University in Logan, or, especially, the school named for their faith's leading figure, Brigham Young University in Provo.

Nevertheless, like Austin in Texas, Little Rock in Arkansas, Atlanta in Georgia and Lincoln in Nebraska (but definitely not the suburbs of any of those), Salt Lake City is an increasingly liberal capital city in an otherwise very conservative State.

I put it this way: In Salt Lake City, Mitt Romney, America's most famous living Mormon, is regarded as "severely conservative"; in the rest of Utah, he's "Massachusetts Moderate Mitt." (As Dick Smothers would say, "That was not a compliment." Dick and his brother Tom probably also had a few things to say about Mitt's father, George, Governor of Michigan and a Presidential candidate in the 1960s.)

Salt Lake City has the most confusing street names I've ever seen. In place of numbered streets, such as "West 6th Street," they have "600 West," then divide them along the other access, so it reads as "South 600 West." I suppose that if you've lived there all your life, this would be second nature to you. Or North 200 Nature to you. But it would drive me bananas.

At any rate, Main Street is the east-west divider, with State Street taking the place of 100 East, and West Temple -- not "West Temple Street" or "West Temple Avenue" or anything like that, just "West Temple" -- taking the place of 100 West. There's also a North Temple and a South Temple, but not an East Temple. South Temple is the north-south divider. The exact centerpoint is Temple Square. Interstate 215 forms a partial "beltway."

ZIP Codes for Utah begin with the digits 84. The Area Codes are 801 (overlaid by 385) and 435. Rocky Mountain Power runs Salt Lake City's electricity. Salt Lake City was 91 percent white as recently as 1970, but is now 66 percent white, 22 percent Hispanic, 8 percent Asian, 3 percent black and 1 percent Native American.

With so few black people -- the joke is that they all play for the Utah Jazz -- Salt Lake City has had very few racial issues. But on February 27, 2016, the police shot a 17-year-old Somali refugee named Abdullahi Omar Mohamed, after he got into a fight with another man as the result of a drug deal gone wrong. People began to throw rocks at the police, and a riot squad was called out. Mohamed barely survived, and served a little time in jail. 

With their history as the site of the union of Eastern and Western railroads, with the famous 1869 "Golden Spike" ceremony at Promontory Summit, you would expect Utah to have good rail service. The Utah Transit Authority runs buses and TRAX light rail. Routes numbered 001 to 199 run east-to-west, 200 to 299 run north-to-south, 300-399 are express, 400 to 499 are intercounty, 500 to 599 are neighborhood routes, 600 to 699 are Weber/Davis County routes, 800 to 899 are Utah County Routes, and 900 to 999 are Ski Service/Seasonal routes.

A TRAX train at Gallivan Plaza

A square bounded by Temple on the north, 200 East on the east, 500 South on the south, and 400 West on the west, plus the State Capitol, Salt Lake Central Station and Old Greektown Station, are a Free Fare Zone. Otherwise, within Salt Lake City, a one-way fare is $2.50, and a Day Pass is $6.25.

The "sales and use tax," as it's known in Utah, is 4.7 percent for the State, and rises to 6.85 percent in Salt Lake City.

Going In. The Jazz' arena opened in 1991 as the Delta Center, with the airline having bought the naming rights. It became the Energy Solutions Arena in 2006, and was changed again in 2015, to Vivint Arena, as the naming rights were bought by the private home security system. Yet another thing about Salt Lake City that's confusing, along with the street addresses, the combination of desert and snow-capped mountains, and the liberal City in the conservative State.

The official address of the arena is 301 West South Temple. It's downtown, within walking distance of most hotels. The Gateway Mall, including the old Union Pacific Railroad depot, is across North 400 West. Parking is available all around, including underneath the Salt Palace Convention Center, across 300 West from the arena. I can't find any reference to how much parking costs in these lots, but metered parking is $2.00 for 2 hours, and free after 8:00 PM (in other words, in the middle of the game).

The Larry H. Miller Court, named for the late Jazz owner (whose company still owns the team and the arena), is laid out southwest to northeast. The building was used for figure skating and short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics. (Because the Olympics prohibit corporate names on venues, it was officially known as the Salt Lake Ice Center for the duration.) The WNBA's Utah Starzz played there from 1997 to 2002, when they moved to become San Antonio Silver Stars.

It was home to a pair of minor-league hockey teams, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles from 1991 to 1994, and the Utah Grizzlies from 1995 to 1997, winning the Turner Cup in 1996 and '97. It's hosted NCAA Tournament games, although the NCAA is now committed to holding them in domed stadiums with at least twice this arena's capacity of 19,911.

In 2008, Sports Illustrated took a poll of 240 NBA players, and the building was chosen by 20 percent (hardly a majority, but a plurality) as the most intimidating arena in the NBA. It could be due to the high elevation in this Rocky Mountains city, as much as to the noise of the fans.

Food. The arena has some new additions to their traditional concessions:

* Chick-fil-A: located on the main level between portals R and S

* Cupbop: located on the main level between portals K and L

* Authentic Korean Tacos: located next to Cupbop between portals K and L

* Swig "Dirty Soda": One location on main level between Portals L and M, another on level 5 between MM and NN

* Frank's Dogs and Sausages: One location on main level between portals B and C and another on the main level between portals X and Y

* Salt City Panini: Located on the main level between portals X and Y (One option for healthier foods like chef salads and fruit dippers)

* Tom's Smokehouse BBQ: Located on the main level between portals X and Y

Unfortunately, in addition to Chick-fil-A, they also serve Papa John's Pizza. Which isn't that good even if Papa John Schnatter himself wasn't a right-wing asshole.

The Squatters' Tavern is on the arena's southeast side, and the Coors Light Champion Club in the west corner. 

Team History Displays. The Jazz began as an expansion franchise in 1974, in New Orleans, and moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. "New Orleans Jazz" made sense, but "Utah Jazz" doesn't. Former coach Frank Layden suggested that the team swap names with the Los Angeles Lakers, who started in Minnesota, "the Land of 10,000 Lakes," because Utah has a big lake, while L.A. is the West Coast's leading city for jazz. Neither Commissioner Larry O'Brien nor Lakers owner Jerry Buss (both now deceased) went for the idea. Still, the Jazz' note-shaped J logo is pretty sharp. Definitely not flat. It looks completely natural.

Sam Battistone, the team's majority owner at the time of the move, said there wasn't time to get the name officially changed before the 1979-80 season, and that nobody came up with a better name: "The names that came in, nothing seemed to fit." He sold the team to Larry Miller, Utah's most successful car dealer, in 1985, and he didn't change the name, either. Nor did Gail Miller, his widow and successor as owner. Nor has Ryan Smith, the billionaire she sold the team to. 

The Jazz won the Midwest Division in 1984, 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998 and 2000. They've won the Northwest Division in 2007, 2008, 2017 and 2021. They've won the Western Conference in 1997 and 1998. They have banners for each of these achievements, doubling up for '97 and '98. (There is no notation in the arena's rafters for the 1971 ABA Championship won by the Utah Stars, who also reached the ABA Finals in 1974, losing to the New York Nets.)

For a franchise so young, and without an NBA title, the Jazz have a very high number of honorees for "retired numbers": 11. Although Pete Maravich only played 17 games for Utah after the move, before being traded to the Boston Celtics, the Jazz retired his Number 7 for what he did for the franchise in New Orleans, even though he wore 44 when he started with them. The New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans also retired 7 for him, even though he never played for them.

From the 1984 Division title, they honored coach Frank Layden with 1, forward Adrian Dantley's 4, guard Darrell Griffiths' 35 and center Mark Eaton's 53. From the 1989 Division title, they honored Dantley, Griffith, Eaton, guard John Stockton's 12 and forward Karl Malone's 32. From the 1992 Division title, they honored Eaton, Stockton and Malone. And from the 1997 and 1998 Conference titles and the 2000 Division title, they honored Stockton, Malone, and guard Jeff Hornacek's 14.

As yet, no one is honored from the 2007 and 2008 Division titles. With as many retired numbers as they have, it seems silly to retire Carlos Boozer's 5, Deron Williams' 8 and Mehmet Okur's 13 when they didn't win a title.

Straddling the eras, they have banners honoring owner Miller, broadcaster Rod Hundley, and head coach Jerry Sloan. Hundley, who'd been a star player for the Lakers in the 1960s, is represented by a banner with the number of games he broadcast, 3051. Miller, for whatever reason, has Number 9, while Sloan's banner has the number of games he won as Jazz head coach, 1223.

Miller made his name as a car salesman and then a dealership owner throughout Utah and Colorado, and built a media empire, even buying Salt Lake City's Channel 14 and renaming it KJZZ for the team. He bought the Jazz and built the arena. He also owned the WNBA's Starzz, the IHL Golden Eagles, and the Pacific Coast League's Salt Lake Bees. Although he never went to college, as a Mormon, he donated heavily to BYU, and they named their baseball complex Larry H. Miller field for him.

In addition, the Jazz have statues of Stockton and Malone outside one of the longer entrances. The two of them, and Maravich, were named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and also to the 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.

The Malone (left) and Stockton statues

Basketball Hall-of-Famers associated with the Jazz are Maravich, Dantley, Stockton, Malone, Sloan, Gail Goodrich (3 seasons in New Orleans), Walt Bellamy (1 season in New Orleans), Elgin Baylor (ditto, as coach), Spencer Haywood (the last season in New Orleans) and Bernard King (the 1st season in Utah).

Zelmo Beaty, Ron Boone, Jimmy Jones and Willie Wise of the Stars were named to the ABA All-Time Team. Beaty was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

For geographic reasons, the Jazz' biggest rival is the Denver Nuggets. The Jazz lead the rivalry 135-99 -- 153-123 if the New Orleans years are counted. They've played each other in the Playoffs 5 times, with the Jazz winning in 1984, 1994 and 2010, and the Nuggets winning in 1985 and 2020.

Stuff. The Fanzz Jazz Team Store is on the northwest side of the building.

There aren't many books about the Jazz. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Blind Side, wrote: To the Brink: Stockton, Malone, and the Utah Jazz's Climb to the Edge of Glory after their 1997 and '98 Finals appearances. Nate LeBoutillier contributed the Jazz' entry in the NBA's A History of Hoops series. Stockton wrote an autobiography, Assisted. Malone, nicknamed The Mailman for his ability to "deliver," was profiled in Clayton Geoffreys' bio Karl Malone: The Remarkable Story of One of Basketball's Greatest Power Forwards.

Don't count on finding any Jazz DVDs, not even a 20th, 25th or 30th Anniversary video (1999, 2004 or 2009). The only one available on Amazon.com is of Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, and they lost that one: Michael Jordan's "Flu Game."

During the Game. A November 13, 2014 article on DailyRotoHelp ranked the NBA teams' fan bases, and listed the Jazz' fans 9th: "Regardless of a team that hasn't made it to the Playoffs in years, the fan base in Utah are a dedicated and loyal bunch."

The Jazz' biggest rivalries are with the Nuggets, the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers. They don't have any special animus for either the Knicks or the Nets. They are not going to bother you.

Then again, a 2008 Bleacher Report article called Jazz fans "The Most Disgusting Fans in the NBA." The author has a point. I thought Boston Celtics fans were bad, but they've never been this bad. But that was 10 years ago, so it may no longer aply

Neither of the New York teams' visits this season will feature a promotion. The Jazz hold National Anthem auditions every September for the entire season, instead of having a regular singer. A group called the Basketball Rockers has recorded a theme song for them, based on the Mortal Kombat video game series. There are no notable Jazz fan chants.

Dan Roberts has been the team's public address announcer since they arrived in 1979. Before that, he was the P.A. announcer for the University of Utah, including when their arena hosted the 1979 NCAA Championship Game. In nearly 40 years, he's missed 10 Jazz home games. His son Jeremy Roberts, the regular announcer for the Jazz' farm team, the Salt Lake City Stars, has filled in for him on those occasions.

The team's mascot is Jazz Bear. He rides onto the court on a motorcycle, wearing a Jazz uniform with Number 00, and a headband. He was named NBA Mascot of the Year in 2008 and 2018, and he's been elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame. But he looks like a ripoff of Squatch, the mascot of the now-moved Seattle SuperSonics.

Apparently, that's a bear.

After the Game. Salt Lake City is one of the safest cities in the NBA. You should have no trouble getting back to your car or your hotel all right.

If you want to go out for a postgame meal or drinks, the Squatters' Pub inside the arena might still be open. The Gateway mall across North 400 West may have some places open. As far as I know, there are no bars or restaurants anywhere near Salt Lake City that are known hangouts for New Yorkers.

If your game in Salt Lake is during the European soccer season (which this one is), there's one place that shows up whenever you look up area soccer bars: Fiddler's Elbow, at 1063 East 2100 South, 5 1/2 miles southeast of downtown, in the Sugarhouse area. Bus 209, then a 3-block walk east on 2100.

Sidelights. Aside from the Jazz, Salt Lake City doesn't have much sports history, but may still be worth a visit beyond the game.

* Salt Palace. There have actually been 3 buildings with this name, but only the 2nd is connected to sports. Opening in 1969, it hosted minor-league hockey's Salt Lake Golden Eagles from 1969 to 1991; the ABA's Utah Stars from 1970 to 1975, including their 1971 ABA Championship; and the Jazz from 1979 to 1991. The Beatles never performed in Utah, but Elvis Presley sang at the Salt Palace on November 16, 1971 and July 2, 1974.

For most of its history, it seated a little over 12,000 people. By the time the Jazz got good in the mid-1980s, among the NBA's 23 teams, only the Milwaukee Bucks had an arena with a smaller capacity. It was time to build a larger arena.

On of the last events there was an AC/DC concert on January 18, 1991, at which fans rushed the stage, and 3 of them were trampled to death. It took 20 minutes for someone to get word to the band about what had happened, and they stopped the concert. Most likely, you didn't hear about this (unless you were a fan of the band or a Utah native) because the Persian Gulf War had started 2 nights before, and that was all that TV news wanted to talk about. A lawsuit was filed against the arena operators and the band, and was eventually settled out of court.

The Salt Palace was demolished in 1994. The Salt Palace Convention Center was built on the site, and includes the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and a concert hall, Abravanel Hall. 100 South Temple.

* Smith's Ballpark. This 15,411-seat ballpark, one of the largest in the minor leagues, has been the home of the Salt Lake team in the Pacific Coast League since 1994, known first as the Buzz, then as the Stingers starting in 2001, and as the Bees since 2006. They are currently a farm team of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

It was built on the site of Derks Field, which had been home to area baseball since 1947. The original Salt Lake City baseball team played from 1911 to 1984. As the Bees, they won the Pioneer League (then Class C) Pennant in 1946, 1948 and 1953, and the PCL Pennant in 1959. As the Salt Lake City Angels, they won the PCL Pennant in 1971. As the Salt Lake City Gulls, they won the PCL Pennant in 1979. But the current Bees have never won a Pennant, last making the Playoffs in 2013.

The Salt Lake Trappers won Pioneer League (now a Rookie League) Pennants in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1991, making a total of 10 Pennants for Salt Lake City teams. En route to the 1987 Pennant, they won 29 straight games, to set a North American professional baseball record. In 1994, the Trappers moved upstate to become the Ogden Raptors. 1365 South West Temple, 2 1/2 miles south of Temple Square. Ballpark station on TRAX light rail.

* Rice-Eccles Stadium. Home to University of Utah football since 1998, this 45,807-seat stadium was the centerpiece of the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was built on the site of the previous Rice Stadium, built in 1927. It hosted Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake from 2005 to 2008, and a U.S. soccer team win over Costa Rica on June 4, 2005. 451 1400 East.

* Jon M. Huntsman Center. Home to University of Utah basketball since 1969, it was originally named the Special Events Center. It was renamed for a major university contributor, the founder of Huntsman Chemical Corporation and the father of a former Governor. Jon Huntsman Sr. died on February 2, 2018, but Jon Jr. is still alive.

Most notably, it hosted the 1979 NCAA Final Four, including the legendary Final, won by Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Michigan State over Larry Bird's Indiana State. It has hosted 81 NCAA Tournament games, 2nd only to the University of Dayton Arena's 91.

Both the stadium, at 451 1400 East, and the Huntsman Center, at 1825 East South Campus Drive, are about 3 miles east of downtown, and can be reached by TRAX light rail at University Campus South station.

Utah State is in Logan, 83 miles north on U.S. Route 89. It is not easily reachable by public transportation. BYU is in Provo, 45 miles south on I-15. TRAX does extend to Provo Central Station, taking about an hour, and then you can transfer to the 830 or 831 bus to the campus.

* Rio Tinto Stadium. Home of Real Salt Lake since 2008, including its 2013 MLS Cup season, this 20,213-seat soccer-specific stadium has also hosted 4 U.S. soccer team matches, 3 of them victories, but the most recent game is a 2017 draw with Venezuela.

The U.S. women's team has a perfect 4-0 record there, and the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League have begun play there as well. 9256 State Street in the suburb of Sandy. TRAX to Sandy Expo Station, a 48-minute ride. The Royals were moved to Kansas City after the 2020 season.

* Maverik Center. Originally known as the E Center, this 12,500-seat arena hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic hockey tournament. The East Coast Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies have played there since it opened in 1997. (Yes, I know: Utah is on neither the Pacific Coast nor the East Coast. I didn't name these leagues.) 3200 Decker Lake Drive, in the suburb of West Valley City. TRAX to Decker Lake station.

Don't count on Salt Lake City ever getting a team in a sport other than the NBA and MLS. Its metro area population would rank it 30th in MLB, 27th in the NFL, and 23rd in the NHL. For now, the closest teams in those leagues are in Denver, 523 miles away.

And yet, while the Denver Broncos are Utah's favorite NFL team, and the Colorado Avalanche its favorite NHL team, it doesn't hold true in baseball. According to an article in the April 23, 2014 edition of The New York Times, Salt Lake City's vast distance from any major league team means that its favorite teams are the teams it's used to seeing on TV: The Yankees and Red Sox each got 17 percent in a poll, and the next-closest in the poll was the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a mere 7 percent. It's not until you get to Uintah County, 160 miles east of Salt Lake (and 320 miles west of Denver), that you get to definitive Colorado Rockies territory in Utah.

Utah has never produced a President. Mitt Romney, born in Detroit and living most of his life in Boston, but having a home in the Salt Lake suburb of Park City, was nominated for President in 2012, but didn't come all that close to winning. So there's no Presidential Library or Museum nearby. Romney has moved back to Utah, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, having lost a Senate race to Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts in 1994.

The most famous Utahan remains Mormon leader Brigham Young, and his home, The Beehive House, is a Salt Lake City landmark. The spot where Young told his followers, "This is the place" is now the This Is The Place Heritage Park, a "living history" park, a "Mormon Williamsburg" if you prefer. 2601 Sunnyside Avenue South. It is part of the University of Utah campus, as is the Natural History Museum at 301 Wakara Way. Like the This Is The Place. Both can be reached by Bus 3 from Temple Square.

As I mentioned, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art is part of the new Salt Palace complex. The Museum for Speed includes exhibits about the speed records set at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. 165 East 600 South. Bus 200 from Temple Square.

Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorates the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads to form the 1st transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Interestingly, both of the locomotives shown in the famous photo were made within a reasonable drive of us: Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey built Union Pacific No. 119; and Schenectady Locomotive Works of the Albany area built Central Pacific Railroad #60, a.k.a. Jupiter.

6200 North 22300th Street West (no, I checked, that address is not a typo), in Corrinne, 86 miles northwest of Salt Lake City and around the Great Salt Lake itself, up I-15 and Utah Route 83. Ironically, it's not reachable by train. Nor by bus: You'd have to rent a car to see it. It's about 32 miles southeast of the actual location, usually referred to as Promontory Point, but actually named Promontory Summit, near Brigham City. ("Promontory Point" is a different place.)

The tallest building in the State of Utah is the Wells Fargo Center in Salt Lake City, 422 feet high. (It should not be confused with the building of the same name that is the new Philadelphia sports arena.) Main Street and 300 South. But the most famous building in the State remains the Salt Lake Temple at Temple Square, the Mormons' "Vatican."

As the home of National Monument Valley, many of the films made in Utah have been Westerns, including Stagecoach, The Searchers, How the West Was Won, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- which gave its name to Kid portrayer Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival -- and the Wild West scenes from Back to the Future III. The beginning sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with 18-year-old River Phoenix playing a 13-year-old Indy, was said by the credits to take place in "Utah, 1912," and was indeed filmed in the State. The spot in Forrest Gump where Forrest stops running is on U.S. Route 163 in Monument Valley.

As for Salt Lake City itself, a scene from Legally Blonde 2 was filmed at the Jazz' arena, and another at the State Capitol. The High School Musical movies were filmed at East High School, 3 miles east of downtown. 840 1300 East. Bus 220.

But the most famous movie shot in Salt Lake was, ironically, set in a place we normally associate with filming locations: The Sandlot, set in California's San Fernando Valley in 1962. The houses of Scotty Smalls (played by Tom Guiry) and Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) are at the corner of Bryan Avenue and 2000 East, 5 miles southeast of downtown. Also Bus 220.

The actual sandlot, renovated for the film's 20th Anniversary in 2013, is behind 1386 Glenrose Drive South at Navajo Street, 4 miles southwest of Temple Square. Bus 516. Patrick Renna, who played catcher Hamilton "The Great Hambino" Porter, filmed another movie in SLC, The Great Unknown, in 1997.

A recent photo of the Sandlot

TV shows set and/or filmed in Utah include the late 1950s Western Union Pacific, Touched By an Angel (the angels' car went all over the American West but had Utah license plates), its spinoff
Promised Land, Everwood, and the Mormon-themed drama Big Love and reality series Sister Wives.

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Like a lot of cities, Salt Lake City can be a bit of an acquired taste. But it's a good basketball town, and it could be a good roadtrip for a Knicks or Nets fan.

Top 10 Sports Teams That Should Change Their Names (Following the Decision to Do So By the Washington Redskins)

Yesterday, with bigotry still very much in the news following the murder a few weeks ago of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, by an officer of that city's police department, the NFL's Washington Redskins released a statement announcing that their team name and logo, often considered offensive to Native Americans would be changed.

They are doing so in reflection of this atmosphere, but also noting that one of their minority owners is Frederick W. Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express, who owns the naming rights to their current stadium, FedEx Field. He said he would cancel his sponsorship of the team and the stadium if the name was not changed.

Smith is from Memphis, about to turn 76. When an old white man from the city where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed by (it is widely, but not universally, believed) a white supremacist says something is bigoted and needs to be changed, that says something.

Nike and PepsiCo have also urged the name change, and Target and Walmart have removed Redskins merchandise from their stores. Those companies, and also Amazon, have removed Redskins merch from their websites.

Daniel Snyder, who bought the team from the family of the late owner Jack Kent Cooke in 1999, said he wouldn't change the name, that it was too tied into the history of both the NFL and the Washington, D.C. area, and that there were Native American groups supporting the name.

Some changes had already been made. The 'Skins are one of the few NFL teams with a well-known fight song, "Hail to the Redskins." There was a line in it, "Scalp 'em," which was replaced by "Beat 'em." Many fans had gone to games wearing "Indian headdresses" and war paint, but this has decreased in recent years.

(So has the wearing of plastic pig masks and rubber pig snouts, as we get further away from the 1980s, when the team's excellent offensive line was known as the Hogs. The man who coached that line, Joe Bugel, died a few days ago. He had also once been the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.)

But such names have fallen by the wayside in recent years. In 1972, Stanford University dropped Indians as its name in favor of Cardinal -- the color, not the bird, so no S on the end. In 1974, Dartmouth College dropped "Indians" for a color as well: The Big Green. In 1996, Miami University of Ohio dropped Redskins for RedHawks.

And in 2018, after decades of disapproval, Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians dropped Chief Wahoo, a mascot with bright red skin (unlike the Washington Redskins' logo, which had dark red skin that at least resembled something biologically possible). Terry Pluto, the great columnist for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's largest newspaper, wrote last week that he expects the Indians to drop that name entirely after the 2021 season, as soon as it's contractually allowable.

(UPDATE: Pluto turned out to be right. In 2021, the Indians announced that their new name for 2022 onward would be the Cleveland Guardians. Because this was anticipated, I did not include them on this list.)

Some Native-themed team names don't face the same pressure. Florida State University has a working agreement with the Seminole tribe, so their Seminoles name and Chief Osceola live mascot are staying put. But the University of Illinois, which calls its teams the Fighting Illini, have had to alter their Chief Illiniwek mascot to make him more authentic, and still face calls for the character's retirement.

The National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks released a statement saying that their name honors Black Hawk, a Native chief of the early 19th Century, who waged war against the U.S. Army, but was considered an honorable warrior. The Kansas City Chiefs are the reigning NFL Champions, and they aren't dropping their name, because a Chief suggests leadership. Nor are the Atlanta Braves changing theirs, because "Brave" suggests a noble warrior.

It's been suggested that no one would put up with the name "New York Jews," "Philadelphia Paisans," or "Chicago Negroes." This is certainly true. But what about the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics? And there's an old joke: What do you call 6 black guys, 3 Italians and 2 Poles playing football? "The Fighting Irish." No organized group is telling the University of Notre Dame to drop that name.

And the NFL's Minnesota Vikings were named in honor of the Upper Midwest's large Scandinavian community. Should that name be changed? As the sign in this photo suggests, maybe not.

Disclaimer: I went to a junior high school in East Brunswick, New Jersey, which opened in 1961, around the time that Dag Hammarskjöld, the Swedish diplomat then serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations, was killed in a plane crash. So the school was named for him, and, in reflection of his nationality, the teams were named the Vikings. Nearby, South Brunswick High School is also the Vikings, but my alma mater, East Brunswick, is the Bears.

But the pressure on Snyder to change the Redskins name had grown intense. Accepting this, Snyder announced "a thorough review of the name." Yesterday, this announcement was made:

On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team’s name. That review has begun in earnest. As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward.

Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.

Dan Snyder and Coach Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years.

Almost immediately, this decision was praised by one of the biggest sports sponsors in the world, Anheuser-Busch Breweries; and ripped by the usual conservatives who get so easily offended while simultaneously talking about how liberals are so easily offended.

The Redskins name will stay throughout the 2020 season -- assuming, given the Coronavirus situation, there is one. The new name will be in place for the 2021 season. They will, however, be keeping the team's familiar burgundy and gold color scheme.

(UPDATE: Instead, they immediately dropped "Redskins," and became simply "The Washington Football Team." They didn't decide on a new name going into the 2021 season, and remained "The Washington Football Team." Similarly, the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos dropped their name, briefly becoming "The Edmonton Football Team," before adopting "Edmonton Elks," allowing them to express a sense of strength and the great Canadian outdoors, and to keep their "EE" helmet logo.)

Already, the favorites for the new name seem to be Redwolves and Redtails -- not least because it would keep the R initial. Redwolves suggests strength in the pack, and has connotations of being wild and independent.

A sample Redwolves logo

It would also be fairly easy to change the fight song: Instead of "Braves on the warpath," it could be "Beasts on the prowl."

Redtails is seen as a tribute to the planes flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black flying unit of World War II. But this would be a bad idea: It would make people think of an old sports term, "Red Ass," sometimes abbreviated to "R.A.," meaning a player who's always in a bad mood.

It also occurred to me that, once this name change takes effect, the oldest team name in D.C. major league sports will be the NHL's Washington Capitals. They've had that name since their inception in 1974. When the Montreal Expos moved to Washington after the 2004 season, they didn't take the name of the previous team that had moved in 1971, the Washington Senators. They became the Washington Nationals.

The NBA's Washington team began in 1961, as the Chicago Packers. But, given the rivalry between the NFL's Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, this was seen as silly. So, after just 1 season, they became the Chicago Zephyrs. But they lost money, and after just 1 more year, they moved to Baltimore, taking the name of that city's former NBA team, the Baltimore Bullets. It was alliterative, and spoke of speed and damage-causing ability.

But in 1973, they moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. In 1997, tired of hearing that Washington was "the murder capital of the world," dropped the name Bullets and became the Washington Wizards.

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Top 10 Sports Teams That Should Change Their Names

Dishonorable Mention: Every team in Major League Soccer whose "mascot" is simply "FC" (for "Football Club") or "United." I know it's hard coming up with a good one, but show some imagination.

Also, in many cases in England, where the practice began, calling a team "United" meant it was a merger of two different teams. That is not the case in any team currently in MLS.

Dishonorable Mention: The Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros and the New England Patriots. These teams' names have been forever tainted by the organization's blatant cheating.

10. Orlando Magic. I get it: The Orlando area is most famous for being the home of Walt Disney World, "The Magic Kingdom." But what was wrong with "Magicians"? The Washington NBA team hadn't yet adopted "Wizards," and even if they had, the existence in the NFL of "Raiders" didn't stop a football team in Florida from taking the name "Buccaneers." (More about that a little later.) Nor did the existence of the Baltimore Colts prevent the Denver Broncos, nor multiple names for cats and birds.

One of the offshoots of the Harlem Globetrotters was named the Harlem Magicians, but the Globies' organization, which also owns the rights to the name of the team's official usual opponents, the Washington Generals, didn't sue the USFL when it named a team the New Jersey Generals.

When the team name was announced in 1987, along with the other 1988 and '89 expansion teams, including their Florida arch-rivals, the Miami Heat, Rick Reilly wrote in Sports Illustrated that, given that the biggest star in the NBA at the time was Earvin "Magic" Johnson, there should be a player named Magic Orlando.

(He also joked about the Heat name: Instead of the very sharp logo of a flaming basketball going through a hoop, he said the logo might be a fat guy sunning himself on a beach. Also, he asked, What is one "Heat" called? He imagined a woman telling a friend, "I met the cutest guy. He plays basketball in Miami. He says he's a Hot.")

9. Brooklyn Nets. Renaming the American Football League's New York Titans the Jets made sense: It rhymed with Mets, and, for the foreseeable future, they were going to be sharing a stadium that was located near LaGuardia Airport.

Naming a basketball team the Nets, just so that it rhymed, was stupid. And, given that all 3 teams have been joke franchises -- since 1986, the teams are 0-4 in finals between them -- why would the NBA team want to be associated with the Mets and the Jets?

It was even worse with World Team Tennis, which began in 1974: The local team was named the New York Sets. This was dumped in 1977, in favor of New York Apples, since New York City is "The Big Apple." But the league folded in 1978.

8. Buffalo Bills. The AFL team that began in 1960 was actually the 2nd team with the name. The 1st was in the All-America Football Conference of 1946-49. At that point, there were still living people who remembered William F. Cody, a.k.a. Buffalo Bill. And the musical based in part on his Wild West Show, Annie Get Your Gun, included a song titled "Colonel Buffalo Bill."

But he got that name from hunting buffaloes. He had no connection to the city of Buffalo, New York, whose name also has nothing to do with buffaloes. It's an English corruption of "beau fleuve," the French name for the Niagara River. So calling a team "the Buffalo Bills" is stupid. So is the name used for their minor-league baseball team and for former teams in basketball and hockey: "The Buffalo Bisons."

7. Philadelphia Phillies. What the hell is a "Phillie"? It makes it sound like "filly," a young female horse. Even their longstanding Class AA team, formerly the Reading Phillies, has dropped that name, in favor of "The Reading Fightins," for the major league team's occasional nickname, the Fightin' Phils.

6. Indianapolis Colts. The name "Colts" belongs to Baltimore. Also, just as a "filly" is a young female horse, a "colt" is a young male horse. It suggests speed, but also immaturity. And, while we're at it...

5. Chicago Cubs. A young bear? True, it inspired the name of the football team, the Chicago Bears. That sounds strong and fearsome. "Cubs" does not.

4. Collectively, the Pirate Teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Whatever City They're In This Year Raiders. Pirates had to be tough just to survive. But they tended to be vicious killers and thieves. Not something to celebrate.

3. The Los Angeles Lakers. They started in 1947 as the Minneapolis Lakers, as Minnesota is "The Land of 10,000 Lakes." That made sense. But they moved to Los Angeles in 1960, and there's no notable lake anywhere near Los Angeles. The Pacific Ocean, yes; a notable lake, no.

2. The Utah Jazz. They started in 1974 as the New Orleans Jazz. That made sense, if you can get past the idea of ending a team name with a Z instead of an S, and being named after a form of music rather than something that fights and wins.

But they moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. Basketball has been compared to jazz by people like Woody Allen and Wynton Marsalis, because of its use of improvisation and quick thinking. Basketball star Bill Walton, a fan of The Grateful Dead, made an interesting comparison of them to a basketball team in his memoir, including the improvisation angle. But the only music acts Utah is known for are the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Osmond family. Great skill, but not much in the way of improvisation or individuality.

Frank Layden, who coached the Jazz from 1981 to 1988, noted that Utah has the Great Salt Lake, and Los Angeles is the West Coast's jazz hub, and suggested that the teams simply switch names: The Los Angeles Jazz and the Utah Lakers. Neither team's management took him up on it.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers. It was bad enough that team owner Walter O'Malley moved them out of Brooklyn in 1957. But he took the Dodgers name with him. Yes, it was the 2nd-most familiar team name in baseball at the time, behind the Yankees. But it was universally identified with Brooklyn. It was short for "Trolley Dodgers." What does anybody dodge in L.A.? The cops? Drive-by shootings by gangs?

Maybe we should call them "The Los Angeles Baseball Team." And if the Los Angeles Angels have a problem with that, well, they're in neither the City of Los Angeles nor the County of Los Angeles.

But then, in November 1986, I visited Orlando, and the football picks guy in the Orlando Sentinel referred to the "East Rutherford Giants" and the "East Rutherford Jets." He said, "It's funny how these East Rutherford teams always end up on television. It must be some town."

Jerry Sloan, 1942-2020

"Charlie Hustle" has died. No, not Pete Rose. This guy may have had the nickname first. Certainly, he never disgraced his sport, the way Rose did his.

Gerald Eugene Sloan was born on March 28, 1942 in McLeansboro, Illinois, in the southern "Little Egypt" part of the State, closer to Louisville than to St. Louis, never mind Chicago. He grew up on a nearby farm, in a place called Gobbler's Knob. If that name sounds familiar, it's because it's also the place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania where they keep the groundhog.

Jerry Sloan was 4 years old when his father died, Fortunately for him, he was the youngest of 10 children, so the burden of helping raise the family wasn't on him. But he did have to do farm work, and got up at 4:30 every morning to do them. Then he would walk 2 miles to school for basketball practice, starting at 7:00.

He was All-State at McLeansboro High School, and got a scholarship to the nearest big basketball school, the University of Evansville in Indiana. He helped them win the 1965 NCAA Division II Championship, and they retired his Number 52.

The Baltimore Bullets made him the 4th pick in the 1965 NBA Draft. He only played 1 season for them, and was taken in the 1966 expansion draft, the 1st pick ever by the Chicago Bulls, making him "The Original Bull."

By the standards of 1st-year expansion teams, they did pretty well, With Sloan, former Temple and Warriors star Guy Rodgers, 1960 Olympian Bob Boozer, UCLA National Champion and eventual 1972 Laker Keith Erickson, and eventual 1970 Knick Nate Bowman, and coached by Syracuse Nationals star and later Bulls broadcaster Johnny "Red" Kerr (who personally recommended Sloan to team management), the Bulls went 33-48, and made the Playoffs, although they got swept by the St. Louis Hawks.

Sloan made the NBA All-Star Game in 1967 and '69. He was named to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team 4 times and the Second Team 2 others. He was good on offense, too, with 4 seasons in which his points-per-game average was 15 or higher, peaking at 18 in 1970-71. He averaged 7.4 rebounds a game, and was a career 72 percent on free throws.

He helped the Bulls reach the Playoffs again in 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975, the last of these being the Bulls' 1st Division title, in that case the Midwest Division. The 1974-75 Bulls included Sloan, Norm Van Lier, Bob Love, and Hall-of-Famers Nate Thurmond and Chet "the Jet" Walker.

They won Playoff rounds over the Detroit Pistons in 1974 and the Kansas City Kings in 1975, before losing the Western Conference Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors, respectively. (They were moved to the Eastern Conference in 1980.)

Sloan retired as a player after missing the Playoffs in 1976. His college coach, Arad McCutchan, suggested that he return to Evansville as an assistant coach. This was a good program that had won 5 Division II National Championships between 1959 and 1971, including 1964 and 1965 with Sloan as a player. They were preparing to move up to NCAA Division I for the 1977-78 season.

But Sloan quit after 5 days. It was the best move he could have made, because tragedy struck: On December 13, 1977, on the way to play away to Middle Tennessee State, their team plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 29 people on board. McCutchan had retired as head coach, so he was not on board. His replacement, Bobby Watson, was. McCutchan was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, and lived until 1993.

One member of the team was not on board. His name was David Furr, out for the season with an ankle injury. Just 2 weeks later, he died anyway: He and his brother Byron were killed in a car crash near Newton, Illinois. As a result, his name is included with those of his teammates on the University's official memorial.

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The Bulls subsequently hired Jerry as a scout, and in 1978 made him an assistant coach. That same year, they made his Number 4 the 1st they ever retired. In 1979, he was promoted to head coach, but lasted only 3 seasons. He got them to the Playoffs in 1981, and beat the Knicks in the 1st Round -- the only time the Knicks and Bulls met in the Playoffs before Michael Jordan got to Chicago. But they got off to a bad start in the 1981-82 season, and he was fired.

He was hired as a scout by the Utah Jazz, then an assistant coach in 1985. When Frank Layden moved upstairs to become team president in 1988, Sloan was named head coach. With Karl Malone at power forward and John Stockton at point guard. the Jazz made the Playoffs 16 straight seasons. He won Midwest Division titles in 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2007 and 2008.

The Jazz always seemed to smack into tougher teams, including the Houston Rockets. In 1994, they lost the Conference Finals to the Jazz in 5 games. Game 5 was played in Houston on a Sunday, and a fan, citing Malone's nickname, "The Mailman," since he "always delivered," held up a sign saying, "THERE'S NO MAIL ON SUNDAY!" (Except in the British newspaper industry.)

In 1997, the Jazz finally broke through, beating the Rockets in Game 6 on a buzzer-beater by Stockton. But since the basketball gods have a sense of irony, they had to face the Bulls, Sloan's old team. Jerry may still have had the nickname "Mr. Chicago Bull," but Michael Jordan was now the face of the franchise.

The series was tied after 4 games, and the Jazz stood to have Games 5 and 7 at home, and Jordan was sick in Game 5. (Was it the flu? Was it food poisoning? Does anyone know for sure?) He still scored 38 points, at altitude, against the best defense in the league. And the Bulls won at home in Game 6. The Bulls beat the Jazz in the Finals again the next year.

In 2003, Stockton retired. Malone's contract ran out, and he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. And Matt Harpring missed most of the season due to a knee injury. It looked like the Jazz were played out, and some people predicted a historically bad season. But Sloan did some of his best coaching, and got them to a 42-40 finish, though not quite enough to make the Playoffs for a 17th straight season.

The 2004-05 season turned out to be a bad one, easily Sloan's worst at 26-56. But he got them back up to .500 at 41-41 the next year, and then got them all the way to the Conference Finals in the next, before losing to the San Antonio Spurs.

He retired in 2011, 2 years after being elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, in the same election as Stockton. Malone, who played 1 year longer, was elected the next year. Coaches can be elected if still active if they have coached at least 25 years and are at least 60 years old.

He finished his coaching career with 1,221 wins, 3rd-most in history at the time, and 803 losses, for a .603 winning percentage. To this day, that total has been exceeded only by Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich. Counting the Playoffs, he was 1,319-907, for .593. Also counting the Playoffs, 1,223 of those wins were with the Jazz, and, in place of a retired uniform number, they raised a banner with the number 1223 on it. In fact, he was the 1st coach to win 1,000 games with 1 team.

In his 23 seasons in charge of the Jazz, NBA teams changed head coaches 245 times, and 5 teams were expanded into existence: The Orlando Magic, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Toronto Raptors, the Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies and the Charlotte Bobcats (now the new Hornets).

In his NBA experience, he arrived in 1965, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson were still running the show, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had just arrived at UCLA under the name Lew Alcidor; and left in 2011, a year after LeBron James had taken his talents to South Beach.

To put it another way: Of the 9 teams in the NBA when he arrived, the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angels Lakers and the San Francisco (now Golden State) Warriors are still in the same metro area they were in then; but the St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta; the Cincinnati Royals have moved twice, and are now the Sacramento Kings; and his original team, the Baltimore Bullets, moved to Washington in 1973, and changed their name to the Washington Wizards in 1977.

Jerry Sloan was married to Bobbye, his high-school sweetheart, for 41 years, until her death from cancer. They had 3 children, including Brian Sloan, who followed his father as an All-State player for McLeansboro High School, leading them to a 1984 State Championship, and being named Illinois' Mr. Basketball for that year. He was a member of Indiana University's 1987 National Championship team under Bob Knight. Brian's son Grant Sloan now plays for IU's baseball team. (Or has played for it, and would be playing for it now, if not for the Coronavirus closures.)

In 2006, Jerry remarried, to Tammy Jessop, whose son Rhett became his stepson. Jerry and Tammy were married for 14 years.

In 2016, Jerry was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which would be bad enough, and Lewy body dementia. This is a terrible combination, one which led comedian Robin Williams to take his own life. Jerry stepped away from his front office role with the Jazz, and lived in retirement until his death today, May 22, 2020, at age 78.

Michael Wilbon of ESPN, who grew up in Chicago as a Bulls fan, watching Jerry: "There certainly have been greater backcourts, tag-teams that won more games or produced more highlights...but none were tougher than Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan. May the great #4 Rest In Peace."

Rachel Nichols, also of ESPN: "In a league that often values style, Sloan was substance. He was consistent, he was straightforward, and he was damn good at basketball."

Kenny Smith of TNT, a member of the Rockets' 1994 and '95 NBA Champions: "RIP #JerrySloan .. one of the greats! No player achieves greatness without great coaching. john Stockton projected as a good little backup and Karl Malone as a quality power forward before meeting Sloan and became Alltime greats! RIP"

Scottie Pippen of the Bulls teams that beat his Jazz in the 1997 and '98 Finals: "I loved everything about Jerry Sloan, from the way he played to the way he coached. He was a tenacious competitor who represented the Bulls of the 70s so well. Jerry became one of my favorite coaches when he was on the 1996 Dream Team staff and it was an honor to learn from him."

Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, who lost to Sloan's Jazz in the Playoffs in 1998, before beating them in 2007: "He was a mentor for me from afar until I got to know him. A man who suffered no fools, he possessed a humor, often disguised, and had a heart as big as the prairie."

Lori Lightfoot, Mayor of Chicago: "Before Chicago basketball had Jordan and Pippen, we had Jerry Sloan, whose death comes as sad news to all us die-hard fans. An original Bull, Jerry followed his All-Star playing career with a Hall of Fame coaching legacy. Our prayers are with his family during this painful time."

Gary Herbert, Governor of Utah: "Jerry was old school, a legend, and will be greatly missed."

He once said, himself, “There’s not a guy who goes to work at 8 o clock in the morning, that gets off at 5, that wants to read that basketball players are tired. I’m right along with them. I can’t live with the idea that we should be tired because we had to play.”

Jerry Sloan was an NBA lifer. And few people had a better NBA life than he did.

We Didn't Start the Virus

The Coronavirus, a.k.a. COVID-19, has, thus far, killed about as many Americans as our worst mass shootings. That number could rise to more than the 3,000 or so that were killed on 9/11.

That's the best-case scenario. What might happen if we had a government that gave a damn about its citizens. We don't. Donald Trump only cares about himself, so he's going to do whatever he thinks it will take to keep him in the White House and out of prison. And he has botched this thing six ways to Sunday.

And the stock market, the one thing that had been saving Trump, giving him free rein to say, "Re-elect me because the economy is great," is in free-fall. It's lost a net 4,600 points in the last 4 trading days -- and that includes a 900-point gain on Monday.

Actor Tom Hanks, and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, were in Australia, and feeling a little under the weather. They got tested. They've got it.

There has been some panic, and the idea of Hanks, one of America's most beloved actors, having this disease has freaked some people out. The scientists say that of the people who get it, maybe 2 or 3 percent will die, most of them older people and/or those with compromised immune systems. In other words, if you get it, you may feel lousy for a few days, but you probably won't die because of it. In this one way, it is like the flu, although it may take longer to run its course.

Thus far, New Jersey has reflected this: As of this writing, a little before 1:00 PM on Thursday, March 12, we have about 25 cases, but only 1 death, a 69-year-old man. Most schools in New Jersey are closed, and other States are likely to follow.

Last night, Trump gave a speech from the Oval Office, contradicting his earlier claims that the virus was a hoax to make him look bad and would go away quickly.

But in that speech, his face was oranger and puffier than usual, his right eye was squinting as if he couldn't read the teleprompter (an activity he had mocked Barack Obama for), he slurred some words (twice in a space of 30 seconds, he turned the word "relief" into "reliff"), and gave the impression that he was either sick or on drugs (Adderall is the most-rumored one).

The way that sports has handled it has varied. Before anyone in America realized it was going to be a problem, it was out of control in northern Italy, and Italian soccer games have been played in closed stadiums, with only people necessary to make the game happen allowed in. There is talk that the rest of Europe will do the same.

In America, the NBA has suspended its season, as 2 Utah Jazz players, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, have tested positive. Most teams have played about 65 of their 82 regular-season games.

Think about this: This NBA season has seen the collapse of the league's most recent quasi-dynasty, the Golden State Warriors; season-long, or nearly so, injuries to superstars Steph Curry and Kevin Durant; the injury-delayed arrival of super rookie Zion Williamson; and the death of league legend Kobe Bryant -- and none of those stories is the biggest story of the season. The biggest story of the season is that we don't know if -- and, if so, how, the season will be resolved.

Major League Soccer has suspended its season for the next 30 days, at which point it will reassess the situation.

The NHL office has announced it is continuing its season, but will watch for further developments.

The NCAA has announced that its basketball tournament, a.k.a. March Madness, would be played, but "behind closed doors." Suppose they gave a tournament, and nobody came? Conference tournaments, the last activity before the NCAA Tournament, have also been canceled.

Major League Baseball is, like the NHL, taking a wait-and-see approach. The only cancellation thus far has been the home opener series for the Oakland Athletics, and their hand was forced when Alameda County banned large gatherings.

What does all of this mean for my blog? Last September, due to a health scare and some other things going on in my life, I announced that I wouldn't do Trip Guides for the NBA this season. That turned out to be the right thing to do, as this disruption would have messed that up.

As for the NHL: I've done them for every team this season, except one, the Minnesota Wild. That one is due a week from today, on March 19, since the Devils are supposed to play there a week from then, on March 26. I still intend to do that one.

As for MLS: I can't do any more of those until I know what the league intends to do.

As for MLB: I will do those until the Commissioner's office changes its plans.

Somebody on Twitter wrote of yesterday, "Today was like if (Billy Joel's song) 'We Didn't Start the Fire' was a day." And someone responded:

Schools close, Tom Hanks, trouble in the big banks
no vaccine, quarantine, no more toilet paper seen.
Travel ban, Weinstein, panic COVID-19
NBA, gone away, what else do I have to sayyyyyy

We didn't start the virus. No, we didn't light it, but we're trying to fight it.

UPDATE: A few minutes after I posted this, the NHL also suspended its season. A couple of hours later, MLB suspended Spring Training, and suspended regular season games for the 1st 2 weeks of the season, at which point it will reassess. A couple of hours after that, the NCAA canceled both its men's and women's national tournaments outright.

And Arsenal revealed that manager Mikel Arteta tested positive. The Premier League postponed their match with Brighton & Hove Albion this Saturday, but hasn't suspended the season outright yet.