Skeptical Sloan, Suffolk baseball and Al's Italian wedding soup

BOSTON – After beating the Knicks in New York on Monday night, Jerry Sloan was asked if he thought the narrow two-point victory – Utah had to hold on at the end to keep from completely blowing a 21-point lead – might ignite a winning streak for his struggling club.
He sounded decidedly skeptical.
“We thought we had that when we beat San Antonio (last Thursday night),” the Jazz coach said, “but we lost our spark the next game.”
Sacramento surprisingly doused the Jazz on Saturday night, dropping Sloan’s team to 2-4 at the time.
By winning at New York on Monday, the Jazz avoided their first 2-5 start since 2002.
Whether they can even things out at 4-4 with a win tonight at Boston will depend largely on their focus against the sizzling 7-1 Celtics.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on playing basketball,” Sloan said earlier today.
And why not?
It is, after all, what they’re paid to.
Still, Sloan – perhaps mindful of how an unsuspecting opponent like Sacramento can spoil the party – is taking nothing whatsoever against the mighty Celtics.
“Obviously they’re a great team,” he said. “You’ve got to just go play.”
And why not?
It is, after all, what they’re paid to do.
“If you’re gonna be intimidated, don’t get in this league,” Sloan added. “A lot of guys intimidate you, a lot of teams can intimidate you, because there a lot of really good teams. But you should learn how to play in that, learn how to get better.”
And why not?
It is, after all, what they’re paid to do.

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Walking to the Jazz’s practice today in the windowless basement gym at NCAA Division III Suffolk University, a couple observations:
Comical: The laborer wearing a T-shirt with a message on the back saying, “Union Power Rules.” He was sitting on a wall, eating lunch, enjoying, no doubt, every last second of his allotted break time. Truly amusing.
Mindboggling: One woman pushing another in a wheelchair, the lady in the chair with oxygen tubes hooked to her nostrils, the one behind her smoking a cigarette. Unbelievable.

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While waiting for postpractice media availability – everyone from campus security to any student with interest could look in on practice, but the two writers who flew 2,000 miles from Utah were locked out, go figure – had a chance to chat with some of the kids on the Suffolk baseball team.
They were inquisitive, personable and – most uplifting – huge sports fans, just like you’d suspect a team full of red-blooded American youths raised in Boston and New England would be.
After watching them politely kick the company out of their second-floor lounge and shove some furniture to the walls so they do stomach crunches, here’s hoping they have a solid season – and that the one with interest in sports journalism lands a decent internship somewhere, even if one of his first questions was how money there is to be made in the business.
(Honest answer: Not a heckuva lot.)

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And finally, thanks to the walk back following practice … if ever in Boston, don’t miss the Italian wedding soup from Al’s on State Street.

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