I just finished watching game 5 against the Warriors. They should have won by more but I’ll take the win. They just couldn’t close them out until the last 4 minutes or so. What’s with all of the turnovers?
Before the season started, I predicted the Jazz would go 51-31. They went 51-31. Right on! What a prediction! During the season, I thought they would shatter that mark but they ended the season on horribly. But I also said they would be a three seed and only make it to the second round of the playoffs. Luckily, I was wrong.

I wonder how they would have done against the Mavs had they won. Or if they actually re-seeded the teams like in other sports after each round. But guess what, I don’t have to do that. The Jazz are in the Western Conference Finals! Even the organization will admit that this is ahead of schedule. Everybody will be predicting that the winner of the Suns and Spurs series will go to the NBA Finals. I probably will as well but the Jazz will certainly give them a fight.

The obvious difference in the series was the inside game of the Jazz and the out-of-control offense of the Warriors. Carlos Boozer was just too much for them. But I’m going out on the limb to say something that always makes the difference for the Jazz, especially in this year’s playoffs-Andre Kirilenko.

When AK47 plays like he did against the Warriors and in the latter part of the Rockets series, they can contend and possibly beat any team they play. Okur will have his good shooting games, Williams will remind you of Stockton at times, and Boozer is turning into an awesome post-up player, but when Kirilenko is at his best, the Jazz are awesome. They are good enough to go to the NBA Finals and win it.

If Kirilenko could realize this (maybe he has figured it out?), the Jazz’ chances of winning the conference finals are real good. When he fills up the stat sheet like he is capable of, he is so fun to watch.

And lets not forget about Jerry Sloan. I thought he did a great job of controlling the Jazz in this series. When they forgot to go inside or when they would get out of control with so many turnovers, he often called a timeout and the team would return to the floor a totally different team. Sloan is the best coach in the NBA (my unbiased opinion).

Isn’t it ironic that they do well like this after I move to Seattle? I moved to Northern Utah (Jazz country) in the fall of ’98. The Jazz had just come off two consecutive finals getting beat by Michael Jordan and the Bulls. They made the playoffs for a few years after that but never did anything significant. I move from Jazz country and they finally make it back to the conference finals. I’m willing to sacrifice for the greater cause.

Go Jazz!

There were six stages this year. Not quite the Tour de France but I think it’s a good number. Ths six stages were:

1. Stage 1 went around Utah Lake.\
2. Stage 2 started at Miller Sportspark (I wonder why?) and ended at Thanksgiving Point.
3. Stage 3 was a tour of Heber.
4. Stage 4 started in Provo and ended at Nebo Loop.
5. Stage 5 went all over the Salt Lake valley.
6. Stage 6 was a mountain stage starting at Park City and ending in Snowbird.

For those of you who are familiar with Utah, it is obvious that the “tour” only took place in part of the state.

What about Logan, St. George, Moab, and the many other great places in our wonderful state?

I feel if the race utilized the entire state and it’s many mountains/valleys, it would be a great race. I have met the racing organizers in my past life and I know they do their best, but I say involve the entire state.

They should also change the name to the Tour de Utah. Now that is easy to do and it would be cool.

And Larry Miller, while you’re out sponsoring the entire state of Utah and it’s sporting event, why don’t you get us a football team or a baseball team?

Blogging is great! It was great to meet as a community of bloggers and as a physical community as well. As often as community is emphasized on the internet, it is easy to forget about where community originated. It was cool to talk to people about my experiences blogging as well as hear some fascinating experiences from others.

The panel had some awesome and unique ideas. I especially enjoyed when they talked about how your blog is your identity. It’s your way to put a voice behind your name. It’s your way of providing an expert voice. Thinking of it like this changes how I think of my blog. I have thought of the importance of this but it is easily forgotten with everything else that goes on.

As I am sitting down right now, I am listening to some podcasts through iTunes. I came across a Wired News podcast that had an interview with Pete Ashdown. Mr. Ashdown is running for senate against Orrin Hatch. As I was digging around the internet, I also found a Wired News article (it’s basically a transcript of the podcast I heard). Please read it to get more details. Here are a few excerpts:

Apparently, Utahans couldn’t care less about the Republican senator’s slavish endorsement of entertainment industry-backed bills that would, without understatement, create the equivalent of a copyright police state.

Hatch has terrorized techies from his Washington perch by sponsoring the much-loathed DMCA. He’s on record saying it’d be a good idea to let entertainment companies remotely destroy the computers of those they suspect of copyright infringement. And he’s a co-sponsor of the Induce Act, a moribund bill that aimed to hold tech companies responsible for creating devices that could be used to pirate digital content.

Makes you feel good, eh? Basically, Hatch is in bed with the entertainment industry. We need to protect our rights as consumers.

Ashdown is the president of XMission (my ISP). He is becoming well-known for fighting for the tech-savvy voters. Even if you aren’t technically savvy, you need to find out what this all means to you, especially if you live in Utah. For those outside of Utah, you can help others understand.

Personally, I can do a lot more to help the cause. My neighborhood and colleagues will soon hear about this. I know that I need to do more research as well. Here’s a good quote:

But I have been making an appeal to not only people in Utah, but people nationwide in regards to technology, that it is important that we have representation in Congress that understands technology beyond where the power button is on the computer, because these laws that are being made by a senator in Utah or a senator somewhere else affect everybody nationwide.

So all you Utahns need to do your homework and then vote for Pete Ashdown.