Jazz-Warrior series

I thought the Jazz were going to fall into the same trap in their second-round series against the Warriors that the Houston Rockets did against the Jazz in the first round - win two close games at home, get blown out in two games on the road, win a close one at home, lose badly again on the road, then lose game seven at home. Well, no such luck for Golden State fans.

The young Jazz grew up a lot last night, down three entering the 4th quarter of game 4 last night in Oakland, they blow by the Warriors, outscoring them 40-23 on the way to a 115 - 101 win and a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

If anyone told you at the start of the season that the Jazz would end up one game away from the Western Conference finals, you'd think they were nuts.

Warm spring, gymnastics and toilets

Sunday was the warmest April day on record in Salt Lake City - 89 degrees at the airport.

In anticipation, I turned the sprinklers on Saturday night, since some of the yard was getting crunchy. But the damn cover to access the water shutoff valve was frozen. After an hour of working on it, and discovering that when I was able to rotate the cover it was because the entire 3-foot long shaft was also rotating (I guess I was generating a decent amount of torque, judging by how sore my wrist was the next morning), I finally drilled some holes in the thing and popped it off with the claw of a hammer.

Unfortunately, The hour it took was from 11:15 to 12:15 at night, because we were at the NCAA Women's Gymnastic championship that evening at the University of Utah for the event finals and didn't get home until 11 pm.

Anyway, I still need to weed and feed. I was going to do it Sunday, but then something came up - a toilet was leaking. The tank had a crack and the gaskets were failing, and water was dripping down the outside of the waste pipe to the laundry room below. I thought I could just get a new tank and install it, but the bolt holes in the bowl didn't quite line up with the bolts in the new tank. So I bought a new toilet bowl and, $119 and 90 minutes later, we were back in business.

It's a low-flush model - looks like about half the volume of water fills the tank. It makes up for less water by having a wider opening for the water to flush through - three inches, verses about two and a half on the old tank.

THE PACK IS BACK

...in the win column, at least.

The game wasn't on TV here and when I saw the score I thought my screen was a little fuzzy. 52 points? Can't be.

Oh well, good win, even if it's against a team without a home. On the down side, we* lost Davenport for the year.

If the offensive line gets their act together (was Flanagan the problem?) and
Ahman Green can get healthy (hello bye week) maybe we can eak out a few more wins.

Here's how I see the rest of the year going:

Oct 16: bye week - coming at a good time too. We need a healthy Green.
Oct 23: at Vikings. Who knows with this division?
Oct 30: at Cinci: no way.
Nov 6: Steelers at home: no way.
Nov 13: at Atlanta: no way if Vick is healthy. If not?...
Nov 21: Vikings at home on MNF. Could they both be 2-7 going into this game?
Nov 27: at Philly: no way.
Dec 4: at Bears: I hope so.
Dec 11: Lions at home on ESPN: Who scheduled THIS game in primetime?
Dec 19: at Ravens on MNF: could be another dog matchup.
Dec 25: Bears at home: all I want for Christmas is...
Jan 1: Seahawks at home: no way.

So I'd say at least 5 more wins - one Viking game, the Raven game, both Bear
games (TBSS**) and the Lions game. 6-10 and a high draft pick.

But, if we get some teams when they're banged up? Falcons? Philly? Seahawks?
Who knows? 9-7 will win the division. Heck, 8-8 may win this division.

* yes, I can say 'we', I own a share of the team. And since I am an NFL owner,
I will start to petition the town I live in to build me a new, bigger house
using taxpayer money.

** The Bears Still Suck