You Had to Love it, Baby

Today at 7:00 PM (EST) The Utah Jazz announced that long-time play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Huntley will call his last game at the end of the Utah Jazz post season. "Hots" has been calling the Jazz since the team was in New Orleans and is the only remaining member of the original team that came over from New Orleans. In a near-hour long interview today that can be heard on podcast later tonight on The Fan Sports, Hot Rod talked to David Locke about life as a part of the Jazz.

Hot Rod was the number one draft pick in 1957. For the last 42 years, his signature style has floated over the radio - a style he developed in homage to his mentor Chick Hearn. 35 years ago, he moved to New Orleans and then with the team to Utah. This year, he called his 3,000th game with the Jazz and his number was retired by his Alma mater, West Virginia.

For fans like me, whose only memories of Jazz basketball as a kid involve Hot Rod, today is a day that sits heavy on our hearts. With the passing of legendary owner Larry Miller this year, losing Hot Rod to retirement is truly the end of an era. Few teams, if any, in the NBA have seen the kind of stability that the Jazz have seen. And Hot Rod was a part of that legacy.

The 2009-2010 season will truly be a dawn of a new era for the Utah Jazz. With Jerry Sloan's career nearing its own inevitable end, those of us who have literally been raised with a love and a passion for the only major league franchise in this state, with a love and a passion for Jazz Basketball - those of us who truly know what that phrase means, we look with uncertainty toward the end of this year and next year.

Go with a light heart, Hots. There will never be another like you.