Jazz have to earn national respect

We could go on and on about how the Utah Jazz are not getting any respect from the national television media because ... they're not.

We could probably fill up most of today's paper with derogatory things that have been said on ESPN, TNT, CNN, FSN and more.

And yes, I've been hearing from a few e-mailers who are complaining about this.

The problem is that you don't get respect unless you earn it. And, going into Thursday night's game, the Jazz haven't earned it.

At this point, you can hardly claim any anti-Utah bias among the national media types.

HAVE YOU SEEN those horrendous ads on KJZZ that are supposed to get us all excited about the NBA playoffs? Specifically, they're supposed to get us all excited about the Jazz competing in the playoffs?

Maybe I'm missing something, but watching Larry Miller dance and sing doesn't do it for me.

This may be the single worst advertisement currently airing on TV.

REAL SALT LAKE isn't scheduled to appear again on KSL-Ch. 5 until July 4, and that's a good thing. Perhaps KSL sportscaster Tom Kirkland could watch a soccer game or two between now and then.

Given his performance during KSL's coverage of RSL's season-opener on April 7, it didn't appear he'd ever actually seen a game before.

I'm grateful for any and all Real games on Ch. 5 telecasts. And I understand KSL's desire to have one of its people in the broadcast booth for those games.

But if, say, I was asked to write about the ice-dancing finals at the U.S. figure-skating championships — which I actually did once for this paper way back in 1990 — I would beg off because I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself. Again.

Kirkland might want to beg off on future soccer assignments.

THE MWC is the NHL of college conferences. At least when it comes to TV.

The National Hockey League's national television partner is Versus, the Comcast-owned network formerly known as OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Versus is also by far the largest of the three channels that carry Mountain West Conference football and basketball games.

Hockey fans who don't have Versus on their cable systems are, of course, unhappy. (The channel is available in about 72 million homes, while ESPN is now available in more than 100 million homes.)