How do you international fans get your Jazz fix?

[DelaneyRudd]

I'm just wondering since we aren't the bell of the ball when it comes to television. We do have some international guys who will likely make a few dates on TV. I also wonder if any of you chose the Jazz without a local favorite to root for.

Just some wondering on my part. I think it's great our little city can be world renown. And I think it's a wise choice to follow a stable, successful but non-trendy team. We will all feel a little more rejoice when our small market team gets the trophy than a big market bandwagon jock sniffer.

[schneiderjazz]

A few season ago, I'd just look at box scores and live scoreboards. There was about 1 or 2 Jazz games on TV all season here in Brazil. Last year, I bought the International League Pass and watched basically every Jazz game and I will likely do it again this year.
I used to watch some NBA games in Brazil back in 93 (there were a few on TV at the time), but I started really following the NBA in 97. I was living in Texas and I rooted for the Rockets, cause I lived near Houston. That was until the Rockets faced the Jazz in the WCF. I absolutely fell in love with Stockton's game and I was pretty happy when he hit the 3 to send the Jazz to the Finals. Have been a Jazz fan ever since.

[outerspacefella]

I guess you can blame Jerry Sloan and John Stockton mainly. You can add the Jazz organization as a whole. and of course Karl Malone was a huge grain of salt too... and Larry Miller's story is not one to minimize on this un-traditional, express era we live. In my eyes it was always obvious the Jazz transpires someting special about simplicity, work ethic, loyalty, acountability, family bussines... I'm from a tiny great country where people, while eager for all what modern life has to offer, still put a decent amount of concern about some good old fashioned aspects oh human behavoir.
There's some own family background Utah related too, since my parents used to work with LDS related caring activities when I was a child, and my father used to play basketball with the church team back in the late 60's and early 70'.... I'm not a religious person at all since I tend to bear a grudge with belief institutionalization (OT here: and I thought occidental world has found multiple and permanent ways to destroy, vandalize, or at least minimize any relevant aspect of human traditon...) but I can respect an organization that at least try hard to transpire the right kind of messages...
Some years ago we used to watch at least 6 to 8 NBA games a week by ESPN, TNT, air free channels that used to contract NBA (OT here too: we used to get like a dozen games a week with satelital with ABC-NBC-CBS prior to the "commercial censorship" satelite network ownerships and resellers use to impose in areas where the benefits just don't fit they plans...)
Later, there was kind of an sport wise obscurity age when the big networks started to "latinamericanaze" their signals (darn I really missed ESPN NHL games...) and it was hard to watch more than 1 or 2 NBA games per week...
Now all we have access to NBA TV, NBA League Pass... and we can thank the Internet pagan goddesses there's this thing called streaming that allow us to get NBA Broadband League Pass and even some free streaming instances...
Well... that's my story... sorry for the lenghty post on and off-season thread... I'm sport-bored...

[Batu7]

Thanks to Memo, around 15-20 Jazz games per season are aired on National TV in Turkey. I try to watch other games online or at least check the live boxscores. I'm not a hardcore fan, it's just that all my favorite players(John Stockton, Andrei Kirilenko, and Deron Williams) are Jazz players, and I started supporting the team somehow.

[Charlie_S]

I'm just wondering since we aren't the bell of the ball when it comes to television. We do have some international guys who will likely make a few dates on TV. I also wonder if any of you chose the Jazz without a local favorite to root for.

Just some wondering on my part. I think it's great our little city can be world renown. And I think it's a wise choice to follow a stable, successful but non-trendy team. We will all feel a little more rejoice when our small market team gets the trophy than a big market bandwagon jock sniffer.

Here I am. Started to really follow the NBA around 1992/93, when I was still a kid. Basketball was pretty much my whole life back then, and I used to play it with friends all the time, buy lots of magazines and jerseys, and watch as many NBA and European games as I could on satellite TV. The first time I saw a Jazz game, the way John Stockton played the game made me instantly a fan of them. During their best years I stayed up whole nights during the playoffs, and I think my mother still remembers how I woke her up with my screams when John hit that 3-pointer against the Rockets (or when MJ drained that jumper... ).
I kept following the team even when he and Malone left, because at that point I had grown attached to it and couldn't let it go. Plus, as time passed it became MUCH easier for a foreign fan to follow the NBA, to the point that now I can watch almost every NBA game I want... If I think about how different it was back then it really seems unbelievable.
Nowadays I still love the Jazz also because they play a different kind of basketball, closer to my idea of this game, compared to most other NBA teams.

[@ndrew]

I bet every russian fan is rooting because of AK. I started to follow the Jazz because of AK too, but then I fall in love in all organization and now even AK is gone I'm still going to root for Utah. SLC seems a nice place to live, because I don't like crowdy cities and everybody seems nice. I love Deron Williams and his style of play. I think every NBA fan should choose who's he wants to be on his team - DW or CP3. If his choice is CP3 he is going to be my enemy.
In the end I just love Jerry Sloan style of coaching and in that case I realized that even in basketball wins do not always matter. Because even in sports it's better to be a man like Jerry then a cat like Phil.
Jerry> Clint Eastwood.

[outerspacefella]

.... Jerry> Clint Eastwood.

That's incredible... I always thought Jerry was the Clint Eastwood of Coaches!
Darn thinking globalization!

[edfmx86]

gives me goosebumps reading how you all first fell in love with the Jazz because of Stockton's game...god damn i miss that guy

[Denizfeital]

I started to follow the Jazz during the 96-97 NBA Finals. I didnt know there was a team called Utah Jazz at that time (sorry for that my dear Jazz fellows). I watched the Finals because there was so much buzz about Michael Jordan, and I took a shoot and said "why not watch basketball for a change?". You know, here in Brazil soccer is pretty much what everyone follows.

Then I saw Malone and I thought I should root for the Jazz. Took a close look to Stockton and the rest is history. I did fall in love for the team. The Jazz, like some guys said here, is an organization that I admire a lot. No me-first guys, everybody trying to win as a team. Its simply amazing. I follow them since those finals. I am fortunate enough to have had a chance to visit Salt Lake just to watch them play. Remembering that year (2003) and being there... still makes my eyes water.

Jerry Sloan is probably one of the five people that I admire most in my life. He's achieved so much in life and yet a very simple guy, always giving credit to others. His speech during the Hall of Fame induction was one of a kind. What a diference between his speech and Jordan's.

I will probably follow the Jazz for the rest of my life, and I am very happy for being a Jazz fan.

And one other thing: I thank the people of this forum for bringing us such a nice info, some stories about the players that I would never find searching on the Internet. I thank you Jazz fans for that too.

PS. And yes, I also spent so many nights following the Jazz, some games here in Brazil start at 1:00AM ! And yet it didnt avoid me to follow the games. How I was able to go to work next day is something that I cant explain !

Regards.

[David Ginola 14]

I'm a Jazz fan from 1990...
I liked John Stockton....then in 1992 with the Olympic Gems in Barcellona I also discovered Malone...
Now I see about 30 games each season....
In Italy there is pay tv...and I can see the Utah Jazz with streaming...on web...
I have a T-Shirt of Kirilenko (original) and Williams e Boozer.....
UUnfortunately I haven't buy the T-Shirt of Stockton and Malone..
I Love the Utah Jazz..

[Batu7]

PS. And yes, I also spent so many nights following the Jazz, some games here in Brazil start at 1:00AM ! And yet it didnt avoid me to follow the games. How I was able to go to work next day is something that I cant explain !

Regards.

Games start at around 4:00 AM here, so I get what you're saying.

[FJS]

It was a mix of things...
Malone and Stockton had a great reputation here in Spain in late 80's early 90's
Back in the day I love Celtics and I played Celtics vs Lakers in pc. When I won my ring win C's I decided to play with another team... and I chose Jazz.

Then I was tired to see MJ win it all, and I supported Jazz in 97 and 98 when I became a genuine jazz fan.
I get my pass to see every day one nba game in 99 (before I could watch two games per week) and with europeans in Utah (AK, Okur, Raul López ) we can see around 20 games per season in regular season. I watch a lot more in stream.

[kerplunk]

I remember playing that Nintendo Tecmo NBA game. I always love playing the Jazz against the other teams and imitating the Stockton to Malone pick and roll.