They said Jazz would lose

Sportscasters aren't known for being overly restrained. Particularly not when they're right.

(Sort of like TV critics.)

So I've got to hand it to local sportscasters as a group, because they had every reason to tell viewers, "I told you so" and managed, for the most part, to restrain themselves.

As noted here a couple of weeks ago, local sportscasters were taking some heat from some Jazz fans for being so darn negative about the team's postseason possibilities. Among the TV and/or radio types willing to make a prediction, you couldn't find anybody forecasting that Utah would advance past the Lakers in the first round.

A few sportscasters predicted a Los Angeles sweep. Others thought maybe the Jazz could take it to six games. But the consensus seemed to be L.A. in five games.

Most sportscasters didn't say it, so I'll say it for them — they told you so.

UNFORTUNATE TIMING: A week ago, I told you that not much of anybody was complaining about all the really negative things sportscasters were saying about the Jazz. Because all the negative comments were deserved.

I expected to get slammed. Particularly because that column was written a few hours before and published a few hours after the Jazz won Game 3.

Didn't happen. I got one nasty e-mail and no nasty comments regarding the Jazz.

There were a couple of really hilarious comments about how I "kiss up to" The mtn., apparently because I mentioned a show that was going to air on the channel, noting that it "might catch the interest of a few local fans."

If you think I "kiss up to" The mtn., you've apparently never read anything I've written before.

Hilarious.

SOCCER MISUNDERSTOOD: KUTV sportscaster Dave Fox neatly and apparently inadvertently summed up just how far the U.S. Open Cup has to go before Americans start taking it seriously.

Reporting on Real Salt Lake's loss to Seattle in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualifying game, Fox told Ch. 2 viewers the game "was just for fun" and went on to say the Cup is "this wacky little tournament they do right in the middle of the season. It's kind of weird."

I'm not slamming Fox. That's what most Americans seem to think, which is why attendance at U.S. Open Cup games is generally bad.