The best seats in the house

When I started planning how I wanted the sports staff to cover the Rocky Mountain Revue, I told each writer to try straining for an angle most people wouldn’t think of.

During my first game at the Revue, I decided to heed my own advice. It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for.

At the Lifetime Activities Center, there is a stretch of carpet laid out across the floor on the side opposite the team benches. This carpet is reserved for people in wheelchairs.

This came as a pleasant surprise to me as I tried to recall any stadium or venue I’d ever been to where patrons in wheelchairs got to sit so close to the action.

So much more of the game can be absorbed from this perspective. Fans on the front row get to enjoy more of the conversation of the game, the players’ statures come into their truest form, the action is tangible, and the players’ sweat can almost be smelled. It’s undoubtedly the way to watch a game if one gets the chance, and for a week, that chance is given to a new type of fan.

Not even the working journalists from The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News have it so good. This area is set at mid-court, and I couldn’t help but notice the awe on many of these people’s faces as many were undoubtedly watching a competition at the pro level for the first time from this vantage point.

This could just be chalked up to coincidence or convenience, but I couldn’t help the grin that tugged at the corner of my mouth when I saw who had the best seats in the house at the Revue.

A series of firsts

It turns out former college stars aren’t the only ones trying their hands at something new at the Rocky Mountain Revue. In fact, guys such as Acie Law, Kevin Durant and Morris Almond are the minority compared to all the other upstarts present at the Lifetime Activities Center.

Rookie Jazz dancers such as Arial, Ashli, Heidi, Jessica and Jocelyn are making their first debuts in powder blue mini-skirts. And according to their reception by the fans, they’re all fitting right in.

A few people who are less easy on the eyes are also making interesting debuts.

Patrick Kinahan, or P.K. — the new gag-inducing personality of 1320 AM — is now doing radio broadcasts for the Revue. The same goes for his more tolerable co-host David James — also known as D.J. (D.J. and P.K., I know, how clever).

That highly touted synthetic leather ball that the NBA got rid of when the calendars flipped to 2007 is also getting its first chance to make a second impression at the Revue.

Much to the dismay of fans who don’t like watching free throw shooting contests, the NBA is also using the Revue as a platform to audition want-to-be referees.

Last but not least are the fans. At the Revue, it seems some fans are just experiencing the taste of what it’s like for the players to actually hear their heckled taunts.

Some fans, such as the ones who started the “There’s no place like home” chant for every free throw former Kansas star Keith Langford took, pulled this new duty off quite nicely.

However, Bucktoothed Willy (not his real name), who sat behind the Spurs bench on Monday and repeated, “Spurs, you suck!” for the entire game in his own brand of hillbilly twang, did not fare as well.

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Tyler Cobb

Referees yet to be issued a number officiate the games of the Rocky Mountain Revue.