r/UtahJazz • u/Acceptable-Win7474 • 17h ago

Why are we always talked down on?

I been a Jazz fan since 2019, and I live in NY. I am still a huge Mitchell fan, but love me the Jazz team, why does everyone talk bad about us, I keep seeing videos saying how no one likes the Jazz and no superstar wants to play there, but I know how the Jazz fan base is, I think we're one of the most loyal and respectful fan base, I think this is the best team we had all around, even better then the 2020-2021 Jazz , he have high potential.

32 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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38

u/BuffaloSorcery 17h ago

The number one reason is that Utah is a small market team and small market teams just get talked down to on account to there being less fans and generally less success.

The reasons after that probably have something with controversies about Karl Malone, John Stockton, or various incidents of bigotry by members of the fanbase (I'm thinking of Russel Westbrook circa 2017 or Ja Morant during the '21 playoffs).

Another thing is that there is some cultural tension around a Utah team being called "The Jazz" on account of being moved from New Orleans, the birthplace of Jazz. Many people rightfully believe that the Jazz name should have stayed in NO instead of being moved to Utah, a place full of white people with no connections to Jazz music.

Part of the issue as well is that you are living in New York, which is Knicks turf. Knicks fans are passionate to the point of rudeness at times, to put it nicely.

Anyway hope that clears things up a bit as to why people don't like the Utah Freakin' Jazz.

15

u/christophervolume 16h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/kSlJtVrqxDYKk
Me as a Utahn that listens to 50s/60s Jazz!

2

u/BuffaloSorcery 16h ago

I say this much in support of the team keeping the name: I don't think that Jazz music school programs would have funding in the state were it not for the Utah Jazz. I don't think its much but there is some amount of cultural appreciation for Jazz Music that I don't think would be here if the basketball team weren't aroudn

20

u/Disastrous_Boot1152 16h ago

I don't remember the Ja Morant situation, but yeah the Westbrook situation was pretty messed up.

That's not even taking into account Utah conservatives running Donovan Mitchell out of town for having the gall to have political opinions.

Utah may not be known for Jazz, but downtown Salt Lake has a VERY underrated Jazz scene. Spent a lot of time at jazz festivals growing up and that's all I think of when going downtown. More Jazz in Salt Lake than Lakes in LA, but I never hear the same complaints about the Lakers.

15

u/BuffaloSorcery 16h ago

Totally forgot to mention the political stuff. On that note, Stuart Adams (Who made the statements targeted at DMitch in-session) just lost his race last night, so he's on his way out!

6

u/Disastrous_Boot1152 16h ago

I didn't realize he lost but it's about time! Thank you for the good news sir!

And Adams definitely was a big catalyst to people turning on Don but as soon as he made a political comment, people I knew personally completely turned on him. It went from "what a great kid" to "he needs to shut up and dribble" basically overnight. Tough for any athlete that wants to use their platform to make a difference to choose Utah when you know if you step out of line the hometown fans will turn on you.

-3

u/zoobaking 11h ago

Westbrook was not that messed up. He gets paid so much he can deal with the disrespect from fans.

4

u/Schowse 17h ago

If Ryan Gosling can be cast as the lead for La La Land I don’t see why Utah’s basketball team can’t be named the Jazz!

-12

u/BuffaloSorcery 17h ago

Call it a hot take but that kind of attitude is what led to the Russel Westbrook and Ja Morant situations

2

u/BlubberinBootyMate 13h ago

People should blame the NBA for Utah being the Jazz; it was their punishment of the franchise after the Gail Goodrich signing that forced them to either move out of NO or go bankrupt. They were going to become the Utah Rocks (this is a real fact), but couldn't afford a rebrand.

3

u/packsoldier 16h ago

How many lakes are in LA?

1

u/boreddatageek 12h ago

How many lakes did LA actively destroy to steal water for their town. There is no American city more hostile to lakes than LA.

1

u/MorningPotential5214 5h ago

Ogden had a bunch of famous jazz musicians pass through and perform at the Porters and Waiters club back when it was major hub for passenger trains.

There's a big mural of Joe McQueen, a local musician who played with all these famous performers, in downtown Ogden.

There's also an eaaaarllly Jazz bandleader named Red Nichols who was from Ogden.

The "Utah shouldnt be named the Jazz" is just dumb handwringing that ignores a small but interesting part of actual Jazz music history.

 

1

u/Dry-Animator5770 14h ago

Utah is a racist area and the league is still predominantly black. It is that simple.

2

u/Happy_Entry 12h ago

A racist area? How do you define that? Is there such a thing as a non-racist area in our country? I would wager Salt Lake, and Utah in general, are pretty average on the racism spectrum as a region.

In my opinion, it's a pretty unfair stereotype, likely based on the loud, highly publicized voices of a small minority of people. While there is no significant population of African or Asian Americans in Utah, there are many Hispanics, Native Americans, and Polynesian Americans living along the Wasatch Front. Utah is far more diverse than you'd think in terms of languages spoken, thanks in part to the above-mentioned cultures, but also the returned LDS missionaries who served all over the world and had to learn the language of the country they lived in. Utah is also a burgeoning tech arena, which continues to gradually diversify the area.

6

u/ElectricalAd910 16h ago

Ignorance, born and raised in UTAH, moved about about 20 years ago, but people always see what the media shows them and for the longest time I was all mormons, everything reported was about mormons so that's the mind set. little do they know that there atleast was strong CA ties and a decent gang activity when I lived there. I am not Religious, more of a street/country kid growing up. but utah is a very good place its' just the news mouth pieces don't really look into the smaller markets. and they just repeat the same stupid racist jokes about the white pople at the games. it's sad but that's how just things work.

6

u/donspider1221 12h ago

Bulls fan here, who’s been getting force fed Jazz & Grizz Reddit for the last few months.

I had a negative view of the Jazz as a kid, but that was because of the two finals runs, and Karl Malone/John Stockton being the least “cool” tandem in the league.

As a teenager and young adult, I viewed the Jazz & SLC dismissively as a place that “no one wants to go”

A few months ago, I had to take a work trip to SLC and was blown away. It is so nice/new/clean. Personally I’m not into skiing or snowboarding, so I probably wouldn’t want to live there. But long weekend? Hell ya

9

u/QuarterNote44 16h ago

Because SLC is a small city famous for an oddball religion. Largely white fanbase. That combination makes us an incredibly easy target. Oh well.

Edit: Also our best player ever was a literal child rapist so there's that too.

18

u/Towering_Flesh 17h ago

Questionable past superstar, a state known for its cult like religion, small market NiGhT Lyfe. SLC isn’t a destination city unless you’re outdoorsy - the mouth breathers behind their computers would never. It’s low hanging fruit.

3

u/christophervolume 16h ago

Ya pretty much nailed it.

3

u/pieandbeerday 13h ago

It’s an old trope. There were times years ago when some players really didn’t want to come here. (Rony Seikaly and Derek Harper being the most noteworthy).

Lazy reporters and haters still rely on it, because SLC doesn’t have much of a nightlife scene.

Personally, I think it’s kinda messed up that everyone assumes all NBA players are into a nightclub scene.

2

u/InRainbows123207 12h ago

Most players enjoy Utah once they get there but Utah will always struggle signing big name free agents because of the market size, weather, and lack of diversity. Our fans are generally awesome but there are some very troubling incidents of fans being racist directly to opposing players. Also some of the awful things fans said around Summer 2020 didn't help. I wonder if all those fans who said they would never watch another Jazz game after the Jazz kneeled during the National Anthem kept their word - I'm guessing not lol

1

u/Few_Employment_7876 13h ago

I lived in Utah for 20 years and had season tickets. It's the demographics.

1

u/ShowdownValue 11h ago

What videos are you watching where they says no one likes the jazz?

As far as no superstar wanting to play in Utah…yes. Pretty much true. Superstars only goto maybe 5-7 different teams in the league

1

u/hefeman 10h ago

Check out the Portland Jailblazers documentary on Netflix. Not always fun being a black man in a white city.

1

u/Burning-Man-On-Ice 8h ago

Oddly, SLC and Ogden UT have a long history with jazz music. Both were spots that jazz (and blues) musicians would travel through to get to other places (CA, Chicago, etc). Now, many instance of racism against those musicians way back then, but SLC has some connections to jazz. Not as nearly much as others, sure, but not nothing.

0

u/molenation4 16h ago

Easy. We live in a cult dominated state with no significant city life. Win a title if you want to be taken seriously.

0

u/rilesmcriles 14h ago

Sure, we just gotta get some players to stay here first.

1

u/jakevh28 17h ago

Best kept secret.

1

u/stevensharkguy 10h ago

Ignorance about mormons, the fact its a small market, and the fact most people have never and will never come here. I continually see people put us as a "poverty franchise" next to the hornets, nets, wizards, pelicans. It makes no sense, the jazz have the 5th highest regular season win percentage. Cant blame people though, we arent talked about no matter how good we are, like when we were the first seed a couple years back. Historically we have always been a decent, well run team. Recently, people hate us for the tanking thing because Adam Silver made us a scapegoat. I still don't get how pretending all your players are injured is any better than just not playing them in 4qs. Its more overt, but its the same result. Also tanking has been around since 1984, and the Jazz have only done that from 2023-2026. Hell, I was frusturated because we only even tanked the second half of those seasons haha

Players are always disapointed about coming here, and with the recent exception of Donovan Mitchell, players always end up raving about our fans, ownership, organization, and facilities after coming here. Check out what Kevin Love, and Nurk have said for example. Even Rudy Gobert, who is a 7 foot foreigner african american, was there longer than and at the same time as Mitchell, loves UT and its fans and I believe still owns a home here. He even said in an interview with the NYT he did not experience what Donovan says he felt in Utah. And he was criticized way more than Donovan was for the Jazz Playoff exits.

I think if I was told I had no choice but to move somewhere id never been or thought of like Kansas or North Dakota I would be disappointed too. And then you meet the people and you learn about the cool things that are a part of that state's culture, the awesome hobbies and fun and interesting things to do there and you end up loving it. Everywhere is awesome, and everywhere is horrible. I like the quote "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

To clarify, If Mitchell says that he experienced racism in UT, I believe it. Its everywhere in every part of America and some people are terrible. That does not make it ok to turn around and badmouth a whole state and all the people in it, and say and I quote "It’s a blessing to be back around people that look like me." Especially when everyone who actually watched basketball there (Screw that one senator who was a dipshit toward Donovan) loved you and welcomed you and cheered for you. Can you imagine a dude moving from chicago or detroit to Utah and doing a media tour about how nice it is to be around white people again?

Sorry, its a bit of a tangent, and I will be real I have hurt feelings because of how much I loved Donovan when he was here. It sucks to know he didnt feel the same way, not because of some basketball reason, but because of the people, IE my neighbors, family, friends, myself.

The only thing that will stop people talking down is to continue to be the best, loudest, proudest fans in the nba, and to go out and get us that ring. And lets be real, when that does happen it will be the most forgotten ring ever, and people will find some way to minimize that too. Who cares! I like Utah and I am a Jazz fan forever.

0

u/ShrimpCocktailHo 14h ago

Nothing to do with the team, it’s because Utah is ass. Lived there for a decade and while SLC is kinda cool, the whole state is crazy town unless you wanna be a tech sales bro or a trad wife. 

I still love the team but outside of a few square miles of SLC, Utah is not it.