Just ask Sister Michele Curtin, a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and one of the team's biggest fans. She will be glued to her convent television at Christus St. Joseph's Villa during the playoffs in a room where a Jazz blanket joins mostly religious decorations.
"We have Jesus, Mary and Joseph," smiled the native of Ireland, who has spent 60 years as a nun since entering the convent as a 15-year-old. "All the basics."
The native of County Cork Ireland came to the U.S. in 1948 and finished college at Sacred Heart Dominican College in Houston, which is the home of the Rockets, one of the Jazz's biggest rivals and its first-round playoff opponent. She has been in Utah for the last 20 years.
Why is she a Jazz fan?
"Because I live in Utah," she said. "This is my team. One thing you can claim in Utah is the Jazz."
How big of a Jazz fan is she?
She shares a birthday with the team's veteran coach, Jerry Sloan, though she's about a decade older.
"Better put that in so Jerry won't be insulted," she said.
Both her winter and summer nun habits happen to be the current Jazz colors - Navy blue in the winter and light blue in the summer.
She gets to one or two Jazz games each year at Energy Solutions Arena but almost always watches the team on television except when she must attend a school board meeting or Bible study class.
Sister Michele is especially fond of the Jazz Bear, who visits St. Joseph's Villa once a year to help seniors play bingo and has given her tickets on occasion.
"The bear comes to help residents and goes from table to table, chatting them up," she said. "He takes pictures with them. He's a lot of fun. I go and get a bear hug."
Her enthusiasm for the team helps her relate to the senior citizens she visits as part of her job as a parish visitor for St. Ann's Catholic Church. She gives the mostly homebound folks she serves communion and chats about religion, life and the Jazz.
While Sister Michele has never met a player, that doesn't keep them out of her prayers.
"You pray that they'll play their best and have good sportsmanship but you don't exactly pray that they will win," she said. "It's up to them to play their best. Whether they know it or not, each of them has a guardian angel. I lean heavily on their guardian angels to help them to the light and guide them to do the right thing." How high are her hopes for the team this year?
"My feeling is that they will make it to the top," she said. "They could win the championship this year. It's up to them. They have it in their power to do it if they can play well every game. And I wish that for them."
A little help from the angels couldn't hurt.
