Hats Off To Utah Jazz Beat Writer Jody Genessy

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Jody Genessy hamming it up in typical fashion on a podcast he’d accidentally joined

Being an NBA beat writer is a grueling task for a single season, let alone several. To be beloved by a fanbase and franchise in such a position is a rare feat, one that Utah Jazz beat writer for the Deseret News, Jody Genessy, has pulled off in admirable fashion.

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Jody Genessy is thought of as highly as anyone you could hope to meet; a man with a kind heart who always shoots straight and true, like a modern day gunslinger with a barrel of ink at his disposal. He’s also courageous beyond compare.

You see, Jody Genessy is battling with inner demons. Not the devilish kind that drive ordinary people to do outrageously stupid things. Just the kind of daily demons we all fight. Except, in the course of the hustle and bustle of our insanely frenetic culture, these particular demons got their claws into Jody and didn’t let go.

In the course of banishing these imps, Jody lost himself momentarily, having sacrificed his health and well-being — and probably many precious moments with his family — to bring fans and employers the very freshest and hottest takes, often piping hot, right off the grill.

It’s a race to be first, a race that’s never been more fierce than it is today, with social media reigning supreme at breaking news. It wasn’t so long ago that “breaking news” was a day or more old when it reached you, via the paper on the front porch.

Then, a writer had time to perfect and peruse their work before it was sent to the masses. Now, you better get it right the first time, and fast, or it’s immediately immortalized in screen shots and sharing at light speed for the masses to ridicule on the instant media of the internet.

Jody Genessy’s famous stinkface

That takes a toll on a man.

And still, this particular man had the presence of mind to realize that his plight had reached proportions that could cost far more in the long term. This man not only took steps to correct it, but had the courage to bang out a bang-up column, sharing with the world his shortcomings.

That kind of fearless fortitude is an even rarer trait, and it speaks volumes about what kind of man Jody Genessy is.

My Facebook header proudly sports a picture of myself and my two young girls that Jody took for us at the annual Utah Jazz scrimmage last fall. To my and my girls’ delight, he teased us all on social media about it shortly afterward.

Jody Genessy has written countless articles — also previously winning an award as a headline writer, then ironically having his head bitten off for an unfortunate headline that he didn’t write in 2011.

He’s been stranded in Buffalo, New York, watching the team he covers in a sports bar on television because Canada wouldn’t let him in.

But if you ask me what my favorite Jody Genessy piece is, I can almost recite it by heart, more than five years later.

A couple of years ago, at an independent Utah sports website I’d started, we were doing a weekly podcast with Salt City Hoops’ Spencer Ryan Hall as our guest in Google hangout fashion — per usual, due to it’s simulcast/recording capability — when whose face suddenly appeared? Why, none other than the infamous Jody Genessy, of course.

Jody had seen the link for the live broadcast and clicked on it. Normally, that takes the viewer to the YouTube page to watch. However, this time, our host had inadvertently tweeted out the link for the actual hangout itself, meaning that clicking on it brought the viewer into the live broadcast.

A vigilant Alan Zaugg was diligently deleting accidental guests who popped in, but the sudden appearance of the most popular Utah Jazz beat writer was by no means grounds for banishment from our conversation. Indeed, we suddenly had a pair of prestigious guests to quiz on all things Utah Jazz. What a fortuitous treat!

And true to form, Jody treated everyone to a little bit of that Genessy informative, while entertaining magic. Turns out it may also have been the last time Jody shaved and had a haircut, one he got for a pending ESPN appearance that didn’t end up quite how he’d expected, an anecdote he shared with us with a smile, to our delight.

This is one time I have no problem with the reporter being the news.

See you, soon, my friend.