Utah, where they sell rows not seats—where men sit amongst their many wives and children and command them to cheer and boo. It is where class has apparently disappeared. Salt Lake is the only NBA city who’s players have more class than it’s citizens. I officially cannot stand Utah. Sadly, I really like the players—Deron Williams is an excellent point guard, but I got CP3. Carlos Boozer is a class act on the court, and a budding star at power forward, and I really admire the way Kirilenko goes after blocked shots. Despite these things, I root against the Jazz passionately. The reason? It’s fans. What I root for is not any particular team, but for Jazz fans to suffer perpetually in the same way that Cubs fans have for over a century, and in the same way Boston fans did for so long. I have not possessed a similar level of immature ignorant hatred since my Heat were owned by the Knickerbockers of New York in the mid-to-late 90’s.

            If you are wondering why I feel this way toward a group of people typically known to be among the more “classy” fans in the NBA, it is because they have acted with even less class than Detroit fans did in the Palace Brawl a few years back (at least Ron Artest is a dirty player and a ####). Every time Los Angeles Lakers point guard Derek Fisher touches the basketball Jazz fans boo him relentlessly. They boo him in the way fans boo a player who openly disrespects another team in the media, or when a player abandons a team for more money or because they are tired of losing. They receive Fisher in Salt Lake the way Jason Kidd should be received in Jersey—shame on them.

            Everyone who knows D-Fish personally says he is a class act, including his former Jazz teammates. As everyone has probably heard by now, last year Fisher’s 11 month old daughter was diagnosed with retinoblastoma which is a degenerative, cancerous condition that affects vision. At this time last year he was forced to leave his teammates in the midst of the Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors to fly with his daughter to New York for emergency surgery. Fisher was supposed to miss an entire game. Instead, while watching from home and seeing his team in trouble, he actually arrived at the arena in the third quarter to help them out—Deron Williams was in foul trouble and the back up point guard had been injured. Fisher came out of nowhere, and eventually hit a game-clinching three point shot in overtime, giving Utah fans one of their most memorable moments ever (unless you count when MJ pushed off Russell and hit the J to end their hopes at a title). How do they thank Mr. Fisher? With boos and colorful language.

            Yes D-Fish asked to be released from his contract with Utah, he wanted to seek better care for his daughter—who wouldn’t? Yes he signed with the Lakers less than three weeks later, there are great physicians in Los Angeles—that is no secret. Shaq even went to L.A. in the middle of last season while still with the Heat to see a specific physician. Get over it Jazz fans, you have no reason to be upset. Was Fisher trying to escape to a better team? Hardly, if anyone else recalls, the Lakers were in turmoil all summer and well into the fall; not to mention the Jazz advanced further than the Lakers in the postseason last year. Did he benefit financially? Fisher gave up more than $8 million total—he was due $22 million for the remaining 3 years in Utah, and the Lakers gave him $14 million over the same span. Where is the vast betrayal? Forgive me if I fail to see the grand injustice that Fish committed against the city of Salt Lake and the Jazz franchise. In fact, with Fisher off the books the Jazz were able to maneuver the roster and add some key players to help them have a better chance at winning!

            The way Jazz fans have treated Fisher is inexplicable, unjustified, and inexcusable. If anything they should have given the man a standing ovation the first time he rolled into town for leaving his daughter for a few hours to play hero on that memorable May night a year ago. Instead they show evidence of the growing rift between athletes and fans. The combination of ignorance, disinterest, and shear disillusionment on the part of fans is to blame for this situation. It has become the norm for players to be disloyal to their city and teammates; we are no stranger to athletes manipulating the system or simply acting like selfish babies. However this is purely not the case with regards to Derek Fisher. These men are humans as well as athletes—they are husbands, fathers, brothers, and uncles. Their primary responsibility is to their family. Would any of those fans find it to be justifiable if say they needed to find a job in a new city closer to proper health care for their family member, and every time they visited Salt Lake they were heckled in the streets and harassed for leaving? Absolutely not, grow up Utah. I never thought I would root for the Lakers, but I am. I can only hope that Derek Fisher hits the game-winner at the buzzer in Salt Lake city so that instead of hearing you boo we could all hear this…..That is complete silence, maybe you guys should practice—oh wait you have, professor Jordan gave you a good lesson on that one.