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2015-16 Utah Jazz: The View From Section 3 – Let The Games Begin

By Blake Draper

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It’s been a while since I’ve kept you updated on the view from Section 3. If you haven’t been following along so far, here’s a quick rundown. I’m a lifelong Jazz fan on the journey of his life as a first-time Utah Jazz season ticket holder, and I want to take you along for the ride as best I can. Here’s to hoping it’s a great season for all of us!

When we left off, I was thrilled about getting free tickets for one day of Utah Jazz Summer League action. With that out of the way, let’s get down to the business of several recent happenings.

Getting The Tickets

After purchasing season tickets, my fan relations rep with the Jazz, the amazing Matt Polifka, asked me how I wanted to receive the tickets: digitally via Flash Seats or actual paper tickets. This decision was an absolute no-brainer for me. I went with the paper tickets, because even though it would be convenient to get them via Flash Seats, I wanted to have the paper tickets as a cool sort of keepsake.

Though I think already know the answer, would you rather have a screen saying you have tickets, or this?

Season tickets in paper form–Own work.

If you picked the screen, stop lying! At any rate, here’s how I discovered that these had arrived–

Saturday, October 3 was kind of a crazy day. My wife worked all day, one of my kids had a soccer game and I had to go into the office and work several hours. In the evening, my dad and brother came over to my house for dinner and to watch the Priesthood session of LDS General Conference. Completely lost in the events of the day was any thought of grabbing the mail.

Sometime after 8 PM, after the precious tickets must have been in the mailbox for hours, I was stunned to see the envelope from the Jazz. By the time I got inside, my heart was racing, and that is the truth. At that moment, me being a season ticket holder finally felt real. This feeling of reality was confirmed when I received my 44 United (that’s the name of the Jazz season ticket holders, not a flight) membership card shortly thereafter.

Game 1 of 44

The Jazz played their first of three preseason home games on Monday, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers. After a long offseason, it was time to return to the EnergySolutions Arena for some Utah Jazz basketball! I made a couple of great discoveries upon arriving. My seats are in Section 3, which is right by the main entrance to the arena. Sweet! Also, the 44 United membership center is right there.

With my son Cameron in tow, we paid a brief visit to the membership center to pick up a lanyard to put my membership card and tickets in. It’s convenient in that it’s easy to show your membership card at Fanzz or a concessions stand to get a 10 percent discount and it keeps the tickets nice if you want to save them.

Cameron and I sat down and took our first look at the actual view from Section 3–

My view from Section 3–Own work.

The Jazz may have lost, but it was great to be back. On a side note, just to my right, there was a guy who yelled “Let’s break some ankles!” every time Alec Burks had the ball on the perimeter. You think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. He yelled that. Every. Single. Time. I can only hope that he isn’t a season ticket holder as well.

Rookie Orientation

Each year, the Jazz hold a rookie season ticket holder event. On Tuesday, I met my brother at EnergySolutions Arena at 6 PM to see what this was all about. After eating some yummy food we all went down to the lower bowl of the arena where we were greeted by Randy Rigby, who gave us a sort of pep talk. From there we broke up into three groups: Team Trey, Team Tibor, and Team Raul. I was assigned to team Tibor.

My group started off by touring the locker room. I’d been in there before, but it had certainly been a long time. One thing that really stood out to me was the locker that is kept in honor of the late Jazz owner Larry H. Miller–

Locker honoring former Jazz owner Larry H. Miller–Own work.

After checking out the locker room, we got our own little pink backpacks–a rookie tradition–in addition to a Utah Jazz/44 United scarf–

44 United Jazz swag–Own work.

Our next stop was courtside to get a presentation on some of our season ticket benefits. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it was informative and I learned a few things. Also, this was the primary purpose of the event.

Our final station was getting to see the Hot Rod Hundley Media Center. David Locke was there and he answered questions, including one I asked about his interactions with Quin Snyder’s coaching staff compared to his interactions with the previous staff.

Jazz fan favorite and team ambassador Mehmet Okur was there as well! Memo really is just the perfect guy for the job. Everybody loves him from his playing days and he’s just a really nice guy. Here’s the best picture I got from the media center, but it really doesn’t do the room justice. If you ever get a chance to go, don’t pass it up! David Locke described it well as a mini-museum about Hot Rod Hundley.

The Hot Rod Hundley Media Center–Own work.

After hanging out in the media center for a little while, we were summoned back to the court for a class photo. All in all, it was a great night. I left feeling even more excited for the 2015-16 Utah Jazz season. Go Jazz!

Next: Jazz Waive Grant Jerrett, Roster Battle Heating Up

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