Greg Miller: ‘We are Utah Jazz. And we always will be.’
New Orleans can stop holding its breath to get the Jazz nickname back. NBA commissioner David Stern said the name belongs to Utah, and Jazz CEO Greg Miller just tweeted this out:
“The window of opportunity to change our name closed shortly after we moved to Utah from NOLA. We are Utah Jazz. And we always will be.”
End. Of. Story.
This tweet, no doubt, will not sit well with Jeremy, who just posted this comment on another blog entry (P.S. I’m the “joker” he’s referring to):
I love the fact that the joker who wrote this article had the audacity to say “but there certainly has been plenty of Jazz in Utah since the Big Easy let its NBA team skedaddle out of town.”
We LET them skedaddle? LET THEM?! What a crock!
The only reason the Jazz left Louisiana was because the new owner was a Utah native and didn’t want to run his new play thing (the team) from outside his home state. As a native Louisianian I ask Utah to just remove yourself emotionally for a second. There is not 1 free thinking person who will side with you on this issue. We New Orlenians want to cling to that name because it means something to us. You folks want to cling to it because it’s “your oxymoron”. Your state, city & culture could be so much better represented by making a change. I hope your team management feels the same way.
Sorry, sir, Jazz management does not feel the same way you do. Neither do Utah Jazz fans. And this joker (apparently among the non-free-thinkers) doesn’t either.
The Utah Jazz probably should have renamed their team 33 years ago. But that didn’t happen. It’s way too late now. Get over it, New Orleans.
Should we then expect Minnesota to come after the Laker’s name?
Maybe the NBA should try to do a multi-team trade: Utah gets Hornets; Minnesota gets Lakers back; New Orleans gets Jazz back and L.A. gets T-Wolves. Hmmm…maybe not.
Given the heritages of the two states, I have always found it amusing that the Jazz made their way to Utah and the Saints stayed in New Orleans.
The Utah Saints would be funny. Or the Salt Lakers.
After living in the Louisiana for 23 years before moving to New York, and then eventually to Utah, I can say without a doubt that there are only a handful of free thinking residents of the Pelican state. Sometimes the rednecks confuse remembering where they put the beer with thinking, but that’s only momentary.
There are hundreds of names that the Hornets can come up with besides the Jazz. New Orleans didn’t invent Jazz. They adopted it after Buddy Bolden made it popular. So don’t claim the term Jazz belongs to New Orleans. Saying New Orleans invented Jazz is like saying they invented alligators, beer and rednecks. Sorry New Orleans, you don’t own, have intellectual property rights to or a patient on any of them. However, I would be willing to start a campaign to allow the state to keep every politician who has been in jail prior to running for office the first time or for re-election, even if they are off parole.
Utah doesn’t have cultural icons like cajun food, jazz music, flooding or a boat load of crackheads (yes, there are a few, but not a boat load selling crack in Skittles bags on 5 out 10 corners.) The Utah Jazz need to keep the Jazz name because it’s not controversial, it gives Utah a sense of identity, and there’s nothing here to eat that belongs strictly to Utah except maybe Jello if there’s one grape in the middle.
I know that a lot of New Orleans residents want the Jazz name back not simply because it refers to a music that was originally played in the brothels to entertain the customers between brothelings, no they want it back because it’s easy to spell. With two repeating letters, it’s sort of the like NRA (National Rifle Association). Without the three letter NRA abbreviation, no one would have joined because they wouldn’t have known what it was. Then there would have been no one protecting their rights to sit in a tree with an AK and shoot anything moving in the clearing.
Sorry New Orleans fans. I hope you can find a nickname that’s short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and reminds everyone of beer, brothels and levees.
Let the good times roll!
I have loved the Jazz since the day Sam Battistone moved them here and I was in attendance as we played some of our first playoffs games against the Rockets at the then named Special Events Center while the Salt Palace was booked with the Icecapades because no one expected us to be in the playoffs. But recognizing that this is a business…I would have no problem with Tom Benson and the Hornets buying the name from the Miller family for say…$50 mil. and giving us the rights to Eric Gordon. Doesn’t almost everything have a price? Then we could go back to being the Utah Stars (google the old jerseys…they rock!!!). Then Los Angeles may want that name back in few years too. Just food for thought.
Free beignets and gumbo for life have to be in the equation.
I see nothing wrong with the Utah Saints. Most of the residents are LDS and why not have it represented? Trade them the name, and add a player or two. Give us an NBA championship with the right trade and who cares if it has Utah Whatever on the trophy?
Utah Whatevers. You might be onto something.
I strongly feel the Jazz should trade the name to New Orleans. What? We’re going to keep it because we weren’t smart enough to change it when the team moved to Utah?
I don’t know if you guys actually watch the games but it is difficult for us to close out games, we could certainly use a franchise player. Trade the name, get the cash, oh… then make some more millions with all the new jersey, hats, and team apparel sales.
Basketball is a business. That would be a wise business decision, if you’re trying to build a winning team for the future.
There’s only one consistent thing in life and that’s change.
For good business negotiations, the good approach is to insist that Utah will keep the “Jazz” name, to get the other side to raise the ante. No sense at all in saying: “Sure, we will gladly give away our trademark name for free!”