A Quick Background on Utah Jazz Games I’ve Attended
Growing up just 10 minutes north of Salt Lake City, I became a Utah Jazz fan at an early age. Unfortunately, I was the eighth of nine children in a blended family with seven teenagers at once. So, needless to say, I wasn’t attending many games at the Delta Center.
As the years have passed, I’ve slowly been able to afford closer seats. In my late 20s I was able to finally sit lower bowl at a game. And at the ripe old age of 31, I was able to sit on the fifth row for the 2019 opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That being said, I had no idea what was in store for me as I rode in the car with my brother to the November 6th game against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.
As we drove, he turned to me and said “Well, I’ve got good news. I was able to upgrade the tickets to court-side…”
I immediately began to shake out of excitement/nervousness. This was something I’d always dreamed of, but would it live up to my expectations?
My Rocky Road to Sitting Court-side at a Utah Jazz Game
Now even though we didn’t have a lot of money, I was a super lucky kid. Every game could be seen on local channel 14, or KJZZ as it was more commonly known.
Another reason I was lucky was the fact that every kid who played Junior Jazz got to go to a game with their team. The seats were always at the very top of the nosebleeds, but it was still my favorite day of the year.
I can still remember the old jumbotron with the grainy screen. I remember the Jazz Bear skits that would play on that screen, one in particular where he had a demolition derby with the Sacramento Kings mascot.
I even have parts of building surrounding me as I type this… Four of the old green seats now live in the Utah Jazz Fan Show studio.
What is it like sitting on the front row of a Utah Jazz game?
We arrived at Vivint Smart Home Arena around 5:45 PM, more than an hour before tipoff. We were led to the Utah Jazz Courtside Club for dinner, which included way too much fish (I hate fish). BUT, the service was great, as well as the food that wasn’t garbage meat from the toilet sea.
We ate super fast and made our way to our seats to watch the teams warm up. These are some of the sweet views we got:
Finding Myself on TV While Sitting on the Front Row of a Utah Jazz Game
Eventually the game started, and I found myself sitting two seats from Joel Embiid multiple times throughout the night. I could also hear what was being said in the huddle, along with some expletives during a technical foul rant by PHI coach Brett Brown.
Most surprising was the amount of times I found myself on TV. How did I know that I was on TV? Everyone from my life reached out to tell me, whether I’d talked to them recently or not.
In Conclusion…
Is it worth it? My answer is A RESOUNDING YES.
I thought about it the entire next day after not sleeping the entire night because I was too busy reliving the experience in my mind.
I’m honestly not sure how I could possibly top it in my basketball watching career. I just pray it’s not the first and ONLY time in my life that I get to do it.
Really, when it comes down to it, if you love the Utah Jazz, and can afford it, I’d highly recommend it. But that’s for everyone to decide on their own.
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