Utah Jazz


January 21, 2001

BROOKE GLADSTONE: If you're tired of the wall to wall inauguration spectacle, there is a TV alternative. No, not Temptation Island. Jazz. For the past few weeks, public TV stations have been airing the latest multi-part series from Ken Burns. But the man who brought the Civil War to life almost went in an entirely different direction. Maybe he was still stuck in a sports mindset after his series on baseball, but On the Media has obtained a short trailer of the Ken Burns series that almost was.

[MUSIC]

ANNOUNCER: It's the story of a city. It's the story of teamwork. It's the story of America.

JAZZ MAN: If America were eighty percent Mormon and wore purple--

ANNOUNCER: Ken Burns's The Utah Jazz.

[KEN BURNS TYPE MUSIC]

SOLDIER BOY: June 14th, 1998. Dear Ma, The boys and I have gone down to Stonewall Phil Jackson's men again. They had fightin' men the likes of which I'd never seen!

BOB COSTAS: Jordan....hit it! The Jazz call time OUT!!!!!

SOLDIER BOY:Our way of life is gone forever. There is no Jazz in Utah.

ANNOUNCER: John Stockton.

[MUSIC TAG-When Jonnny Comes Marching Home]

JAZZ MAN They were in trouble from the start. First of all the name. One, everyone knows there's no jazz in Utah. And two, it's a collective noun. Do you say "the Jazz lose" or "the Jazz loses?"

ANNOUNCER And then came the one they called Mailman, because he delivered.

JAZZ MAN: He'd better deliver! Everyone hated the team! I mean what kind of mascot is a Jazz?! Fat dude blowing a horn? What the hell's that?!

[MUSIC UNDER] And you'd go to other towns and the cheerleaders are fine! But in Utah, it's like they were choreographed by the Osmonds!

MAN: Doris Kearns Goodwin.

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: When the Dodgers went to California I remember thinking my life was over. When the Jazz left New Orleans, I remember thinking they should probably change their name.

ANNOUNCER PBS and ESPN-2 present Ken Burns's Utah Jazz.

[JAZZ MUSIC]

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN Can I go? I've got a Newshour and a Geraldo tonight.