As one who has turned into something of Boozer-apologist this past year in the face of attacks on him by some disgruntled Jazz fans, I was buoyed to see an account of a recent Boozer interview yesterday in the Deseret News.
When the Miami-area sports station host interviewing Boozer called Utah “gorgeous” but “a horrible place to live, horrible,” Boozer said:
“Nah, it’s not that bad. You know, I’m raising my kids out there. It’s pretty nice. We have a good time out there with our basketball team, successful of course. That’s the frontcourt of it, the most important thing of it. And it’s a great place to raise your kids. And it is beautiful.”
The host kept at it though, asking: “But those Mormon people are crazy, aren’t they? I mean, the Mor…” At which point Boozer, cut in saying: “Nah, they’re not bad at all. They’re not bad at all. Yeah. Not bad at all.”
Here’s hoping Utah is able to keep him (and draft a decent center)… or next season could be a painful one for Jazz fans.
Thanks Booz. You aren’t horrible either.
Could you imagine that same interviewer asking a Knicks player if he enjoyed playing in New York in spite of all those crazy Jews who make New York a horrible place to live?
Of course, no one would ever ask a Knicks player if he enjoyed playing in New York–Jews or no–since the Knicks were officially made this decade’s Washington Generals.
Boozer is just trying to “redeem” himself from the horrible off-season he had last year. His comments are based on selfish motives to appease Jazz fans. In case he can’t convince another team to give him a max contract, he has to convince Utah fans that he likes it here.
If the Jazz are dumb enough to resign Boozer, he’ll probably injure his hand signing the contract and Utah will be stuck with him for 3 more years.
Yea, jimbob, it’s interesting to think of what other groups a radio host would consider using in the question, “But those ______ people are crazy, aren’t they?”
Jewish, Muslim, black, Asian, Latino, gay: no chance.
Blue-collar or white-collar would probably fly in most sports radio minds.
I heard some radio DJs commenting on this conversation last night; their consolation revenge against Sid Rosenberg, the offending interviewer in Miami, was: “Well, the oil’s coming there.”
This DJ is a serial offender with this kind of thing, according to his Wikipedia bio, so he isn’t exercising some special dispensation to persecute Mormons. He was part of that conversation about the Rutger’s women’s basketball team that resulted in Don Imus being yanked from the air for a while.
Sid Rosenberg used to do the sports on Imus. But he had so little class that he made everyone else look classy. And so he was fired. He was calling in as a guest during the Rutgers women’s team conversation.
He’s also the guy who stole his neighbor’s shirts–the cleaners delivered them to the wrong house, and he just figured he’d won the lottery and got some new shirts. Imus gave him no end of grief for that and for other petty dishonesties that he admitted to on the show.
Then he got Bernard McGuirk (the dark force on the show, who was actually the guy who first uttered the words that got Imus kicked off air for a while) so angry at him that he challenged him to a boxing match, three rounds, all proceeds to charity. McGuirk was several years older than Rosenberg, but he prepared for the fight and beat the [bleep] out of him. It wasn’t much of a fight, but, frankly, it was worth it to see Rosenberg get beaten up. For a literate and amusing account of the fight, see this from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/10/13/031013ta_talk_mcgrath
In short, Rosenberg is an idiot, and should be ignored. But I wouldn’t mind seeing him go another few rounds with McGuirk.
Boozer defends Mormons like he defends under the basket.
S.P. Bailey. . . well said!
I like this Carlos Boozer guy. Nice that someone could casually but firmly stand up for us in the face of someone like that.
It’s great to know that I’m “not bad at all.”
Yes, the Knicks have been a laughingstock for a decade – thanks to former Jazz personnel, such as Dave Checketts, who brought in Scott Layden, who brought the bloated contracts of luminaries such as former Jazzmen Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson to the team. Of course, then Isaiah Thomas came along and (although no one thought it possible at the time) made everything ten times worse. The real culprit is owner James Dolan, who during this whole period, didn’t thing that anything was amiss.
I heard some radio DJs commenting on this conversation last night; their consolation revenge against Sid Rosenberg, the offending interviewer in Miami, was: “Well, the oil’s coming there.”
From today’s Deseret News:
I don’t know if Sid Rosenberg is a bigot or not. But, based on his behavior while at WFAN in New York (including on the Imus in the Morning show), he is without question an idiot.
Marc isn’t kidding when he describes himself as “something of a Boozer-apologist.” Give the man a few martinis, and he’ll go off on limited geography theories of the Book of Mormon.
Carlos Boozer is a liar and a cheat.
(But what the heck do I know; I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop when we lose LeBron.)
I may be a mormon, but I love my booze!
Go Blazers :)
Wow the Pac 10 really improved their national prestige with their expansion. Colorado and Utah – who’s next? Northern Arizona University?