Superglow

Linda Burton posting from Salt Lake City, Utah – It’s Cinco de Mayo, the fifth day of May. There’s a super moon tonight, and a super show at the Energy Solutions Arena. The San Antonio Spurs are in town and it’s Game #3 in the first round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs. The home-town crowd is stocking up on souvenirs. There may not be many more games for the Utah Jazz; they’re 0-2 going in. But hey, there’s hope, and faith. Horse-drawn carriages clop around the fringe of the intensity; in every downtown parking lot an orange-vested entrepreneur waves you in; $14 for the Event, fork it over, park close by. They’re lined up to the street at Red Iguana, waiting to get in, waiting for the game to start, waiting for the super moon to rise. Fast forward.

 The Jazz lost. It was a sellout crowd, 19,911 fans whooping it up; energized from the beginning when the green and yellow balloons came floating down, a massive drop. I wasn’t there, but I heard about it on the news; they had the lead, they fell behind, they came within range, the crowd cheered and hollered, up and down, up and down. But when the final buzzer buzzed, the board read Spurs 102 – Jazz 90. Monday night, Game #4, at the Arena. No NBA team has ever overcome an 0-3 deficit to win best a best of seven series. But there’s always hope.

 Meanwhile, I couldn’t get near the Clark Planetarium to immerse myself in “moon facts” and astronomy on Supermoon Night; it is just across the street from the Arena, crazy parking, crazy crowds, I hadn’t thought ahead. I gave it up, a foolish effort on such a night. And I didn’t want to wait at the Red Iguana, I was hungry; wound up far from downtown for Cinco Nachos, the menu said Deep Dive with Chicken and a special sauce. Costa Vida was the place, kids and families there, not into basketball.

 The Supermoon came up on schedule though, rising over the eastside peaks of the Wasatch Range, rising over the kids going into Costa Vida on Foothill Drive, rising over the sidewalk crowd at Red Iguana on West North Temple, rising over the horse-drawn carriages clopping the downtown streets, rising over the Arena’s hopeful crowd. Is it really 221,814 miles away? It seems close, shining over Salt Lake City, on a super Saturday night.

 Some stats for the Jazz: their biggest win of the year was 123-121 against Dallas on April 16; biggest loss was 139-133 to Atlanta on March 25. The three main pieces of the team – Devin Harris, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson – have contracts worth about $33.5 million next year. http://www.nba.com/jazz/

Upcoming events at the Arena http://www.energysolutionsarena.com/

 Info about Clark Planetarium http://clarkplanetarium.org/