You get the impression that torch and pitchfork sales are spiking around here, too.

Cleveland is preparing for a two-hour boo-a-thon when the Jazz bring former Cavalier Carlos Boozer to town this week, the culmination of eight months of vitriol finally allowed to escape like steam from a tea kettle. The former Cav, still hobbled by a strained right foot, isn't likely to be in uniform for the game, but that's only a minor disappointment. Ever since Boozer either a) betrayed a team and a city with his back-stabbing greed, or b) made a level-headed business decision to maximize his earnings, a call that anyone in his situation would have agreed with - since that day, Clevelanders have been gathering wood for the verbal bonfire.

"It will be a decidedly unfriendly welcome," said Joe Tait, the Cavs' longtime radio voice. "There are still a lot of people in the stands who are angry at Carlos, and Clevelanders will let him know it."

Yet eight months after the young forward walked away from Cleveland and its $40 million contract to accept Utah's $68 million deal, the sheer anger toward Boozer here seems to have lost much of its momentum, much like Boozer's first season with the Jazz.

In other words, Cleveland may not ever forgive, but they have already begun to forget.

"I don't even think about him. The team is better off without him," said Jermane Price, a teenager from suburban Middleburg Heights outfitted in a LeBron James jersey, who said he once met Boozer at a basketball camp. "He got his money, and we're going to the playoffs. Guess everyone's happy."

Not happy, maybe, but not exactly ballistic anymore, either. The Jazz's free fall into last-place oblivion has given rise to a collective smirk among Cleveland fans, particularly since Cavs general manager Jim Paxson so smoothly recovered from Boozer's defection. Paxson acquired Drew Gooden from Orlando to fill Boozer's power forward role, netted Anderson Varejao, easily the team's second-most-popular player, in the same deal, and watched James develop into one of the league's top five players. The Cavs are 32-27 and likely headed to the postseason for the first time in a decade; Utah is 20-41, its worst season since the year after Boozer was born.

Boozer's departure "has been a lot easier to swallow than if the [teams'] records were reversed. People say, 'He got exactly what he deserved, good riddance,' " said Neil Bender, host of WTAM's Cavs postgame show. "Gooden is essentially averaging a double-double, so people are starting to realize how much LeBron had to do with Boozer's success. . . . I still talk to guys who absolutely hate Boozer, but now that the season has played itself out this way, there are a lot more fans who say they couldn't care less anymore."

The passage of time has changed perceptions of just about everything having to do with Boozer. A year ago, he was one of the most admired athletes in Cleveland's history, an underpaid overachiever who was visible in the community, did lots of charity work, and even showed up for Browns football games.

"He really had made a home for himself here," Tait said. "The fans felt like he was a blue-collar hard-worker. He was one of them."

Then came free agency once Cleveland failed to trigger a one-year minimum-salary extension, and the mountain of criticism heaped on Boozer for what was largely perceived nationally as a treacherous act. It didn't matter that any prior agreement with Cleveland would have been illegal; Boozer took the brunt of a remarkably negative media storm.

"That had to have left some scars. [Boozer] seems like a strong guy, but he's young," an executive from another NBA team said last week. "You wonder how much of an effect that had on him."

It didn't seem to have any effect on the floor, where Boozer averaged 22.2 points during the season's first 10 games. But as the Jazz's season was swept away under a relentless current of losses, so too was Boozer's effectiveness. He scored only 12 points per game from late January to early February, and was stung when Jazz owner Larry Miller publicly questioned his toughness and effort.

Boozer hurt his foot two games later and hasn't played in a month. He endured persistent reports that the Jazz actively shopped him at the trading deadline.

"It's [amazing] what has happened to his reputation in a year," the NBA executive said. "He went from 'hard worker' to a guy who doesn't give his best every night. He went from 'man of the people' to a greedy guy with no ethics. He went from part of the foundation to journeyman. A year ago, you wouldn't have put him in the same sentence with Drew Gooden. . . . I'm not saying all that [stuff] is true - matter of fact, I'll be surprised if he doesn't have a big season next year - but man, talk about a guy whose public image has taken a beating."

Nowhere more than in Cleveland, of course. Boozer is no Art Modell, who moved the Browns to Baltimore, or Albert Belle, who antagonized Indians fans with boorish behavior. But as he will be reminded Tuesday, Cavs fans don't like to feel forsaken, either.

"Their fans are a little different. They're football fans, they're aggressive," said Matt Harpring, who played one season with the Cavs. "They're hard-core, and if they think [Boozer] betrayed them, they're not going to let it go."

Security will be beefed up around the Jazz bench, the team has been told. And if Boozer doesn't play, considered likely but not absolute - the Utah forward said last week he would like to be in uniform for that game especially - "we may have to make a decision about whether to leave him at the hotel or locker room," said Jazz trainer Gary Briggs, who held the same job with the Cavs for 18 seasons. "There's enough drinkers in the stands to cause trouble."

Tait, however, said there is nothing to worry about. "They've booed plenty of players they didn't cotton to, but that's all it will amount to," the broadcaster said. "I expect if Carlos can play, he will. He's never been the type of guy, in my experience with him, to duck problems."

"You've got to be something special if you're on their minds that way," said Jazz guard Raja Bell. "Carlos is big enough to go in there, take it like a man, whether he's playing or not, and let them get it all out so everyone can move forward. I think [fans] will realize afterward that they didn't get as much satisfaction out of it as they were hoping to get."

pmiller@sltrib.com