Utah Jazz fans have billboards, Boston Celtics fans have shamrock emojis

Utah Jazz fans’ pleas for Gordon Hayward to stay in Utah have been entirely more creative than the attempts of Boston Celtics fans on social media.

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the news surrounding Utah Jazz free agent Gordon Hayward, you’d know that Jazz fans are anxious for him to stay put with the team he’s helped grow from a frequent lottery visitor to a playoff competitor. However, several teams, most notably the Boston Celtics, will be making a hard push for Hayward this summer, which will no doubt cause some angst among the Utah faithful.

Nevertheless, as our very own Ryan Aston reminded us earlier today, it’s important to remember that there’s a great chance that Hayward does indeed opt to stay put. There are a lot of good things going on in Jazz land, including an incredible rim protector in Rudy Gobert, a great young core, a rising coach in Quin Snyder and excellent management.

Not to mention, the fan support has been in full display throughout the year and particularly of late. From the #Stayward campaign billboards, to the echoing chants of “Gordon Hayward” in his final game in the 2017 Playoffs to even the little things like a young local fan leaving him a note with some Gatorade after he was suffering from food poisoning in the playoffs, Gordon’s received a lot of love.

Yes, make no mistake about it, Jazz fans are crazy about Hayward and are looking to do as much as possible to convince him to stay. Though the billboards have been met with mixed reactions in some instances, there’s no denying that the intent and effort behind them are solid.

Meanwhile, one of the most common tactics of convincing that Boston Celtics fans have utilized in their pleas to Hayward have been to plaster his social media posts with shamrock emojis. For an example, look no further than this gem of a tweet from former Utah Jazz content creator and manager Hayley Byrnes (who unfortunately won’t be returning to work with the Jazz next year):

After Hayward put up that simple picture and post about having been married for three years to his lovely wife, Celtics fans came out in droves to make sure that there were four leaf clovers plastered all over the comments. A bold and persuasive tactic, if I do so say myself (note the sarcasm).

My reaction was along the lines of these responses from Jazz fans below:

That Instagram photo with him and his wife was far from the only one to be showered with shamrocks as one look through some of his Twitter posts will show the same results. Bash the billboard campaign all you want, but at least it took more creativity and effort than a simple onslaught of clovers on everything he puts up on social media. At least we can say that the Jazz have the edge in cool (although maybe desperate) free agent pleas.

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At the end of the day, I have a hard time believing that Hayward’s final decision will be dictated by fans regardless of where he ends up choosing. Utah provides a great situation, but Boston does as well, and he’ll be beloved no matter where he goes. At the end of the day he’ll do what’s best for himself from a personal/family standpoint as well as from a basketball opportunity standpoint.

But hopefully Gordon will be able to see through the flood of four leaf clovers and recognize the incredible opportunity that exists for him and his legacy if he stays with the special team that he has helped to build in Utah.