Considering all 27 cities in the NBA, there are some fine candidates for the worst place in the league. There's always Cleveland, everyone's favorite urban joke. Washington has that shocking murder rate. And there's always Detroit. Enough said.
But the worst city to visit in the NBA? At least some players say it's quiet little Salt Lake City.Although the Jazz have been in Utah 13 seasons now, respect is slow in coming. The Jazz are considered a model franchise, but living in Utah still isn't considered a great move by many of the league's players.
Players cite lack of nightlife and what they call "the Mormon situation" as reasons why they don't like their stopover at the Crossroads of the West.
Asked if Salt Lake truly is the worst place to visit in the league, San Antonio's Rod Strickland says, "It is."
His reason? "I don't know. It's just the worst. Just because it's Utah."
Sacramento's Dennis Hopson agrees. "It's the worst," he says. "It's always cold and snowing. Maybe it's because of where we stay. There's nothing to do."
Jazz guard Jeff Malone, who says he enjoys living in Salt Lake, admits he thought the same things about Utah before he was traded in 1990 to the Jazz.
"I used to think that," he says. "I had heard people say it. It seemed like there was nowhere to eat. No clubs anywhere. But I've changed my mind."
Malone says his picks for worst NBA cities are narrowed down to Milwaukee and Cleveland. Part of Cleveland's problem is that most teams stay far out by the airport and are stuck in a hotel with nothing to do.
"And it's always cold and snowy," adds Malone.
Malone cites a couple of reasons for Utah's negative reputation. "There's a lot of clubs in most cities and I've found some here, but I didn't know about them at first," he says. "And most people don't know much about the Mormon situation."
But Malone says he is happy where he is. "I like it. It's nice. I love the fans. People just don't give the city a chance and have a negative impression. When you're out there playing, it's a very nice city."
Salt Lake isn't on everyone's "worst" list. Seattle's Michael Cage, who also visited the city also as a college player at San Diego State, says he enjoys being in Utah.
"I think people are intimidated by the Mormon influence. They feel like outsiders," says Cage. "But probably of the cities to visit, I guess I kind of like Salt Lake. It has a lot of natural things there, a lot of natural beauty. It reminds me a little of Seattle in that way.
"Salt Lake is peaceful. It isn't like when you go to a busy city that forces you to leave your room and go party."
Curiously, Cage lists another small-market NBA city - which has some of the same characteristics as Salt Lake - as his least-favorite stop.
"Probably Sacramento," he says. "It's a small town and there's not a lot to do. And it's out in the middle of nowhere and has a small-town atmosphere."
Cage lists another California city as his second-worst stop: Oakland. "I'm not too fond of Golden State," he says. "You say you're in San Francisco when you're at Golden State, but you're not. I put Oakland right up there with Sacramento with Sacramento having a slight edge."
The Mailman's trucking fleet now stands at one. But that won't always be the case.
Jazz forward Karl Malone, who is putting the finishing touches on his custom-made, $195,000 semi-truck, says he plans to add a truck here and a truck there, until he has maybe a dozen trucks in his fleet. "Malone Enterprises," he hopes, will be a force to reckon with in the trucking industry.
The Mailman says he wants to have his business in place to the point that when he retires from the NBA he will be making about $3 million a year off trucking - and thus have no dropoff in income.
Ever wonder how 7-foot-7 Sixers' center Manute Bol ever gets a good night's rest? Wonder no more.
While most NBA hotels provide the standard king-size bed, the Indianapolis Star reports that whenever Bol stays at a Sheraton Hotel, two queen-size beds are put together for his convenience.
Meanwhile, the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis is taking it a step further. The hotel plans to soon have 35 special rooms that have eight-foot-long beds to accomodate large athletes.
The remodeled rooms also will have higher shower heads and large-screen televisions.
AND THEN SOME: Karl Malone, when handed an autographed picture of Sylvester Stallone that said, "To Karl. Keep smashing those backboards.": "He's a hell of an actor." . . . Portland's Danny Ainge, when asked by a writer if the Blazers were subconsciously pacing themselves: "If it was subconscious then we wouldn't know about it, would we?" . . . Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, after being asked if there was a "common thread" in the whopping losses to Seattle and Portland: "Common thread? I don't know what that is. I'm not a seamstress."
This column includes materials gathered from outside news sources.