I tried - I really did

Spending part of my time attending the University of Maryland at College Park I did my best to hold back dislike for all things Duke. Luckily, Boozer's fans cheered for him the same way his detractors did. One never could really tell how the crowd thought about this man.

I followed the NBA on and off when Carlos came over from Cleveland. It was too big of a sports story for someone like myself to miss. I remember thinking that both the Cavs and Boozer deserved each other. Unfortunately, my NBA team-to-be would be the ones to sign him.

Viewing this as somewhat of an outsider has been interesting. I believe that the current Utah Jazz fans have had great teams with great players. This is in no doubt because of the work the Larry H Miller family has put into the team. The fans are used to the John Stockton and Karl Malone type players who are there for them every game. They do everything they can to get back on the court if they get hurt. They play hurt. This is not what people saw with Boozer.

Maybe it was because expectations for this past season started so high that the fans completely turned on Boozer. Maybe if we hadn't seen the determination of his fellow Olympian and All-star to be Deron Williams to get back on the court as soon as possible. Maybe if we hadn't seen the passing of Larry H Miller. Maybe it was a combination of all of these things that led to it.

One of the reasons I created this blog was because of Boozer's phone-in interviews on Miami and Chicago sport stations. He makes it sound like there was nobody here to play with or that he couldn't achieve his goals here. I think we have found out that all he really wants is money. Accolades don't matter. I think his ego took a hit when he was last man off the bench in the Olympics.