We are now almost two weeks into July, and the sports year (as I choose to observe it) is just about over. Almost all of the sports I like to follow are in their off-season right now, Utah sports in particular. Fortunately, we will soon be celebrating the New Sports Year with the beginning of football season, which is only about six weeks away. Until then, I have at least one Utah sports item that will have to tide me over.

At the top of the very short list is Real Salt Lake, who would be much more exciting if they would just win a few games. I have been a casual soccer fan for about 15 years and a legitimate fan for the past three years. This means I am still getting used to The Beautiful Game being a part of my regular sports rotation, but I’m excited about it. However, in the last year or so I have made what feels like a Soccer Breakthrough, and my interest level is now teetering on the brink of “big fan.” If this is the case, and I continue to progress along those lines, then I could graduate to “soccer hooligan” in 5-7 more years.

My wife and I really enjoy going to the movies (just like everyone I know) but we don’t always have time to do it (also, just like everyone I know). We seem to average about a movie a month during the year, which is pretty good, but probably not as much as we would like. We also see more in the summer, when all the blockbusters come out. My consumption falls off during the late fall/early winter, when the serious dramas and award winners hit the screens. That’s true for me, anyway – my wife is a much more avid fan of movies, and she likes the Academy Award season.

[Note: I am not complaining in any way about our comparatively modest entertainment budget – lots of people are lucky to just put food on their tables. I added that because I just finished reading one of those “Reasons why your life is better than people struggling in a third world country” e-mails and I was feeling a bit guilty. Thank you.]

This last week my wife and I went to see the ostensible final chapter in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series. Officially called “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” the movie is essentially the second half of POTC 2.

*** WARNING – POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Not that anyone is really reading this, but if you are and don’t want to learn certain details about this movie, please save this for later. Also, please be aware that my thoughts are a bit unorganized and this review is likely to skip around.

The last two days have been exciting for fans of the Swedish league team Hammarby IF. I proclaimed my own allegiance to “Bajen” (the common abbreviation) a few days ago in a post on this blog, along with a short description of the quasi-scientific selection process I undertook to narrow my choices down.

I know some sports aficionados would claim one can’t just pick a team to follow and be considered a true fan, but I disagree. As such, my allegiance is not borne of an accident of proximity, or because an older, respected family member steered me in that direction when I was a child. It came as a reasoned choice, made in my adult years. That has to count for something, right? Even though “reasonable” and “adult” are words seldom associated with sports fanaticism?

This has not been a good year for RSL. They had actually won two games this year prior to last week’s victory over DC United, but neither counted for their league record. So to finally get that monkey off their backs is bound to be a good thing. At 1-5-6 they are still in the basement of the league, but perhaps this is a turning point. I wouldn’t bet my house on it, but I will remain optimistic.

It’s easy to blame the horrifying season on the departure of certain key players, although that probably doesn’t tell the whole story. It didn’t help that keeper Scott Garlick decided to retire shortly before the first game, for example, but the lack of offense has been their primary problem. With that in mind, the decision to give Jason Kreis a permanent seat on the bench was a bit puzzling. This was followed by trading last year’s leading goal scorer, Jeff Cunningham.

I am a big fan of sports, and summer is typically a slow time of the year for me in that respect. A dedicated follower of baseball would find that an unusual comment, but I don’t particularly care for (The Sport That Was Once) America’s Pastime. I like the playoffs and the World Series, and I end up watching an inning here and there as I flip channels, but with no significant level of attention.

In the past I have tried to manufacture interest in baseball by selecting a team to follow, but none of them held my interest for longer than a few weeks. I started with the Atlanta Braves, moved on to the Boston Red Sox, followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Diego Padres, and most recently the Washington Nationals. I had specific reasoning for each team, and I tried each one out for at least a year or two, but my interest in Major League Baseball has never existed beyond June of any season. [For the record, the Padres are the closest of any on that list to holding the personal magical status of My Team.]

I am not really sure whether to be sorry about letting it go so long between postings, as I am probably the only person who pays any attention to this blog. I do have friends that check in once in a while (thanks, by the way!), but they have their own lives to lead and blogs to write.

But, I am sorry because I enjoy writing these posts, even if it’s just for my sake. So, without further ado, let me just jump right in and mention four things:

The Utah Department of Transportation has been operating in the immediate area of my work for the last several months. Their primary goal has been to disperse several million cubic feet of dust in the air and create significant inconvenience for everyone within a rough mile of the intersection. That mission has been accomplished, with laurels.

Of all the things I don’t like about summer (oppressive heat, hornets, sprinkler repair) the dramatic increase of road construction and repair might just be number one. The evil masters of UDOT have entered a new phase of their diabolical scheme for the road in front of this building: they seem to be positioning themselves to complete the project, although that remains to be seen. The tyrannical rule of our street has left us uncertain as to when the siege will end.

I hate to give in to my fatalistic tendencies, but I’m pretty sure the Jazz are finished in the NBA playoffs. Sure, they could win Game 5 in San Antonio (a place they haven’t won in this century) and force a Game 6 back in the Fallout Shelter, but sooner or later they will lose again to the Spurs. They just don’t have the horsepower to take three in a row from Duncan, Parker and Ginobli.

Not that any of this is a stretch to write. I am not aware of a single media person, national or local, that would seriously give the Jazz a shot at making history and coming back from their current 3-1 deficit. In fact, after the debacle of game four, every single person on ESPN seemed to find it laughable to think that San Antonio wouldn’t close things out in Game 5. I mean that literally – the anchors and commentators were laughing at the very idea. I know I am being the stereotypical small market fan by writing this, but I found it irritating and even a bit disrespectful. Ignore the breakout season and forget the playoff victories against Houston and Golden State: The Jazz have become a laughing stock.

The Utah Jazz are the first NBA team into the Conference Finals. Please allow me a moment to savor that.

(Savoring)

(Savoring)

(Still savoring)