AFTER FIVE seasons with the Jazz, David Benoit finally left the club last week, signing as a free agent with the New Jersey Nets. His career was strewn with promising dunks and agonizing disappointments.
Benoit was never a consistently good shooter, especially in clutch situations. Part may have been due to the emphasis the Jazz put on getting the ball to Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek. Other players over the years have complained that they are allowed to shoot only as a desperation measure when the stars can't get a shot off.On the other hand, Benoit missed big shots in important games, when left completely alone by the opposition. Teams would back off Benoit and dare the Jazz to beat them with their unpredictable small forward. His confidence level rose and fell almost by the game.
Thus, when Benoit signed with the Nets last week, the office joke going around the league was that Benoit was the "head case to be named later" in the deal that brought another notorious head case, Chris Morris, to Utah.
BOTTOM LINE SOLUTION: While the last BYU quarterback, John Walsh, was dour and defensive, the current signal-caller, Steve Sarkisian, is open and engaging. So when a writer asked Sarkisian recently about lining up behind one of the guards in the Utah game last year, the quarterback only laughed.
"It was a no-huddle play," he said. "We called the play and all I see when I get up to the line is five butts. I didn't know which was which. It could have been James Johnson or Larry Moore or Elias Faupula or Morris Unutoa or Matt Meservey or anybody. I didn't know. All I saw was five big blue butts in front of me. "
Sarkisian, however, has a solution to make sure the problem doesn't happen again. "I've gonna have the coach start printing their names on the backs of their seats."
OINK: In anticipation of the upcoming Pigskin Classic Aug. 24, members of the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce recently awarded BYU football coach LaVell Edwards with a live baby pig.
Edwards, who was handed the pig at a chamber luncheon, raised pigs as a youth. Still, he didn't wait long to return the animal, telling them quickly that "in the spirit of supporting you and the community" he would donate the pig back to the Chamber of Commerce.
ADD SARKISIAN: The BYU quarterback is also refreshingly candid about the Cougars, who despite tying for the WAC championship last year, have slipped in recent years.
But that won't continue if Sarkisian has his way. He said recently that he doesn't want to be part of a BYU team that is noted mainly for losing three straight times to Utah.
"This team," he said, "has made a goal to do everything it can to get BYU back to its glory days."
SHOWTIME: Clearly, the Jazz continue to leave something to be desired when it comes to television marketability.
Last season they didn't play a single regular-season game on NBC; this year they have two possibilities. The Feb. 23 Seattle at Utah game is likely to be aired on NBC, though the network could go with New York at the Los Angeles Lakers instead. The other possibility is the April 13 Jazz game in L.A. against the Lakers. But that game could be superseded by Seattle at Houston.
The only Jazz games aired on NBC last year were during the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Jazz are scheduled to appear on TBS three times and TNT four.
Predictably, the rejuvenated Lakers are the featured draw in the West, appearing this year on NBC six times for certain, with two other possible appearances. They are scheduled to appear on TBS four times and TNT seven.
OLYMPIC SPIRIT: In the insensitive-clod-of-the-month department come these leftovers from the Olympics. First, the question posed by a journalist to U.S. swimmer Janet Evans: "How does it feel to be a loser?" Second, this gem from the Sarasota, Fla., resident who reportedly told local Olympic swimmer Tripp Schwenk, "You've let the whole community down."
And you thought sportsmanship was dead.
QUOTEFILE: Frank Sinatra on the retirement of his buddy, former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda: "Now that he has some time, Tommy can brush up on his singing. I'm always looking for a good opening act."