Thursday, March 26, 2009

The New Guy


Editor's Note: Last night's game against the Suns was so frustrating to watch, with so many missed free throws and layups at such a critical juncture in the season, that I'm pretending it didn't happen.

This past Sunday, Utah's second most popular daily newspaper ran a lovely feature story on new Jazz owner Greg Miller (apparently Gail Miller, Larry's widow and Greg's mom, technically owns the team, but for all intents and purposes he's running the show).   

A few intersting tidbits:
  • Miller the Son prefers suave leather jackets to beat-up green polo shirts.  Nice!  Score one for the new kid.  
  • According to Webster University Professor Patrick Rishe, professional sports teams are often handed down from generation to generation.  Rishe went on to describe the Steinbrenner family as "kind of cantankerous."  I couldn't find anything online about this, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Rishe won Webster's campuswide "Master of the Obvious" award last year, narrowly beating out Ron Boone (who was deemed such a great fit that he was considered despite having no connection to Webster).
  • Greg Miller said in the interview that he's committed to keeping the Jazz in Utah as long as they're profitable.  This is what's technically known in the PR business as "a TON of wiggle room."  Perhaps I'm getting nostalgic for the old days already, but I preferred LHM's "The Jazz will stay in Utah as long as I'm alive," answer to that question.  Score one for the old man.  
  • In a nice sidebar piece, Greg listed his favorite movies as "Brokeback Mountain" and "that one with that chick from Saved by the Bell where she dances around a lot on the pole". . . OK fine, that part isn't true.    
On a more serious note, does Greg plan to try to resign every Jazz free agent this summer?  Is he willing to go over the salary cap under any circumstances?  Will he rename the Salt Lake Bees the Salt Lake Buzz and finally return us to the double-z glory days of the late 90s?  

No real clues, unfortunately.  

8 comments:

Orlando said...

Webster University? Is that made up?

Anonymous said...

I am really scared for the Greg Miller era. I just hope we win the title before he sells the team to Tallahassee.

Pasty Gangsta said...

Webster University is not made up, nor, as is commonly thought, is it where Willis from Different Strokes went to college.

Rather, it is a prestigious institute for higher education located in St. Louis, Missouri:

www.webster.edu

Orlando said...

I agree with Torrey: Greg Miller gives off a bad vibe. And it's not just the goatee.

Tucker McCann said...

Greg is significantly sexier than Larry was.

Pasty Gangsta said...

The "as long as the Jazz are profitable" comment is not a good early sign. As countless owners throughout the years have shown, "making a profit" is an expandable term that is often code for, "I'd like to sell/move the team somewhere else."

As I've said before, I hope the Huntsmans are waiting in the wings somewhere. . .

Orlando said...

Here's a question: If the Jazz were to move to say, Kansas City, do you still root for them?

Pasty Gangsta said...

Definitely, because I love the Royals and, really, all things Kansas City.