The Beauty of Sport

This is the last week of games for the Utah Flash. I may be slightly biased based on the fact that I have been shadowing these guys for about 6 months now and have built up a slight attachment for them, but I have been sold hook, line and sinker on the D-league.

It's the most intimate venue in sports at a professional level. These are guys that were stars in college, some have been in or are in the NBA and the tickets are cheaper than a college game. You can get close enough to shake their hands on the bench, or smack their booties if you're in to that. Most of the guys know the fans, and give them high 5's before and after the games.

Not only is it affordable, and intimate, but jump off your seat and hold your breath games are the norm. About 75% of the games this year were won on a last second shot or in overtime. There is no shortage of thrills and here's the best part: I believe the d-league represents everything good in sports. The stuff that starts to disappear at the college level when money and fame start to get involved.

The D-League guys are guys who are paying their dues and taking a lesson in humility and team work courtesy of shared apartments, 30 dollar per diem and coach travel, before they make the leap to the world of NBA indifference and the Me-mentality.

The following blog was written by a sportswriter at the Tribune about our game last night. I think he captures the spirit.

Luhm: D-League game had thrills, too


I didn't see the NCAA championship game between Kansas and Memphis on Monday night.

Instead, I went to the Utah Flash-Idaho Stampede game in Orem and -- while I know this late-season D-League battle was less significant than the Jayhawks' thrilling come-from-behind win for the national championship -- I can tell you that the D-League game could not have been more competitive.

Frankly, I was stunned at how hard the Flash and the Stampede played. I guess trying to carve out a niche in professional basketball is a great motivator.

Why else would Idaho veteran Randy Livingston drag himself up and down the court for 44 minutes on his rebuilt knee? (He finished with 36 points and 10 assists).

Why else would Utah's Kevin Kruger play end-to-end for 46 minutes, finishing with 19 points and 11 assists?

Why else would Idaho coach Bryan Gates do a spinning dance of delight when the Flash missed two shots that could have won the game in the final seconds of regulation?

Why else would Luke Jackson, a former NBA lottery pick, be mobbed by his teammates after hitting a fall-away baseline jumper to give the Stampede a 119-117 win that all-but-wrapped up homecourt advantage throughout the D-League playoffs?

This was good stuff.

Even the crowd of 3,174 added to the evening, because during most of the game it sounded like three times that many fans had found their way into the McKay Events Center.

Of course, the biggest story of the evening was Jazz rookie Morris Almond's return to the D-League.

Almond was reassigned to the Flash for the third time this season. If he was disappointed, however, he didn't show it. Almond scored 19 points in 17 minutes in the first half. He finished with 31 -- the 10th time in 45 D-League games he has scored at least 30 points.

After the game, Flash coach Brad Jones suggested that Almond is a better player now than when the season started. In other words, he is the perfect example of what the D-League can do for a player who probably would have spent the most of his rookie season on the Jazz's inactive list.

Almond spent last week with the Jazz, when injuries to Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko left Utah shorthanded. He got into three games and played with far greater confidence than he did early in the season.

Jones saw it, too.

"He looks more like an NBA player now," Jones said. "I told him I was very proud of that because he has worked very hard down here and, you know, he looked legit when he was up with the Jazz. . . . He's going to finish out the season with us, unless the Jazz get someone hurt. I told him, 'Just try to keep getting better.' And I thought he was terrific tonight."

-- Steve Luhm