All the bleak speak colors gloomy picture for Jazz fans

So, the Utah Jazz will (choose one): (a) waltz, (b) run, (c) skip, (d) limp or (e) hobble into the playoffs facing a hungry, motivated Laker team that has every cell and molecule tuned in to winning an NBA title?

As Jerry Sloan put it after the regular-season finale, a loss to those Lakers: "It looks pretty bleak."

Question is, can there be shades of bleak? Is there a rosy shade to bleak or is all that is colored bleak wormholes and wells of darkness?

If the Jazz somehow win in L.A. today, which experts say would take a miracle, is bleak turned to a bright light? Or if the Jazz hold the Lakers to less than 125 points in a loss — say 110 points — is it less bleak? If the Jazz somehow manage to keep Kobe Bryant and Company to less than 50 percent shooting and lose, does the state of the Jazz go from "pretty bleak" to "not so bleak?"

The bigger question should be: How does Utah get itself a surge of positive energy today for Game 1 when the entire Jazz nation is down, depressed, discouraged and frustrated?

A few weeks of sloshing around in that negative pool after this late-season slide has put a funk on the planet Jazz that reminds me of about any season with any team in fan-acid Philadelphia.

And are the reasons legit? Yes.

My mother and stepfather are snowbirds in St. George, where they live in a double-wide in a trailer park filled with seniors.

Over the years, they've become devoted Jazz fans. Every game, they cozy up in two remote-controlled cushy recliners set side-by-side and take in every second of Jazz games. They plan their weeks and days around watching "their Jazz." It warms their winter, elevates their arthritis and generally keeps them awake till the last shot.

Well, they came back to Provo this week. I asked my mother how she thought the Jazz were doing. With a sadness and ache, she replied, "That team disgusts me."

Ouch. I was stunned. Then I understood. In their 80s, one of a handful of precious things they enjoy and cherish had, well, turned bleak.

On Thursday, Sloan told reporters the pressure part of today's Game 1 would be on the Lakers, not his underdog team.

"Contrary to the way it might look, there's no pressure," Sloan explained.

"You don't have to play basketball and think the whole world is coming down on top of you because you're supposed to be the winner.