Not time for Jazz to hit panic button
While Danny Ainge got lucky this year, I think it is premature to panic as Gordon Monson suggests Jazz management do by making some blockbuster trade. Look at what happened to both Dallas and Phoenix: They both got worse. It is difficult to fleece another team. The truth is if the Jazz had been allowed to guard Kobe Bryant in the same manner that Boston was allowed to, and Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, and even Deron Williams weren't getting mauled with no foul called, the Jazz would have easily beaten the Lakers. That plus-50 free-throw differential for the Lakers in the first two games tells the story.
I also think Sloan and Deron need to pay more attention to who is hot, rather than continually feeding the ball to someone who is shooting 4-for-20 that night. I think C.J. Miles is worth keeping; basketball is such a head game. Should anyone be surprised that after Miles scored 29 points and did not get in subsequent games that he didn't keep it going? This is not a successful way for a coach to get the best out of a player.
Performance on the floor should be rewarded, not punished. But the biggest thing the owners could do in the offseason would be to get rid of officials who have statistics like Dounaghy.
SCOT MORGAN
Salt Lake City
Baseball
Angels Utah's team, not Rockies
So the Colorado Rockies think they can win new fans from Utah by showing games on FSN Utah. Not this baseball fan. I'm a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, and I cheer on the Arizona Diamondbacks, since I spent 11 years in Arizona. But what team do I look for in the sports section every day without fail? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Utah has the privilege of being home to the AAA-Pacific Coast League team of the Angels, the Salt Lake Bees, and of the Pioneer League Orem Owlz. What better way to get behind a major league team than to watch the players as they are making their way up to The Show?
I comb the box scores to see how Chone Figgins, Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis, Howie Kendrick, Casey Kotchman, former Buzz Torii Hunter and others did the night before. Who pitched? Joe Saunders? John Lackey? Did Francisco Rodriguez get another league-leading save? I remember his pitching during the Stingers' 2002 playoff run, after which he went to the Angels and helped them win the World Series.
Major League Baseball, and first-place teams to follow, are right at our fingertips. Go watch a Bees game at Franklin Covey Field in person. Check out SLBees.com. Get involved in your local team first, and see where that leads you. Probably not to the Rockies, even if they are on TV.
LISA BROTHMAN
Cottonwood Heights
Bees
Banner in the sky
in poor taste
I'm sorry to see that the Salt Lake Bees has resorted to dragging a banner behind an airplane to stimulate ticket sales. Utilizing this form of advertising only diminishes my interest in the Bees as it adds a disturbing new dimension to the already overwhelming onslaught of advertising that we're subjected to on a daily basis, and shows a blatant disregard for the local air quality and spiraling fuel costs.
PAUL BRUNO
Salt Lake City
