Meet
Meet The New 2009 – 2010 Jazzbots
Posted by: Daye-Derrick on August 26th, 2009
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.
I’m pleased to announce the search for additions to the Jazzbots team has concluded with great results. Before I make the introductions let me bring you closer to our selection process. With more than 1,000 entrants we selected 35 to interview. Of those 35 we chose 16 to join our ranks. You may recall 10 candidates were featured here on the ‘Bot’ for your input, which we heavily factored in in our decision making.
Much like the past two seasons there were hard choices to make. Hard because the level of talent was just that good. We were looking for a strong ability to translate passion for and knowledge of the Jazz into written form. We were also looking for a high degree of creativity and commitment to contribute. We were not looking for professional journalists, rather true fans that could convey honest opinions fan to fan.
With Jared Conger (Utah Jazz Internet Marketing Manager), bloggers JR Stewart, Jonathan Kendrick and Mallory Meyer I conducted the interviews this past Friday and Saturday in the executive conference room of the ESA. (Jonathan, Mal and yours truly pictured above) It was important to have Jonathan and Mallory there for their ability to make each candidate feel very uncomfortable and to ensure they left with a deep sense of regret. JR was there to identify possible Laker fans that were trying to penetrate the ranks of the team.
After days of deliberation we made our selections and I called each new team member last night. Congratulations to:
Debra Read - From Salt Lake, Fan from way back – supported the Utah Stars of the ABA
Earl Stevens – Youth basketball coach from Salt Lake
Jimmy Bragg – From Salt Lake, A Season 1 Candidate
Stephen Loveless – All the way from Provo
Adam Mason – Representing Snow College
Joey Parker - From Bountiful, Weber State Alum
David Smith – From Orem, also representing BYU
Diane Allen – Hails from Provo, A season 1 & 2 Candidate – persistence!
Landon Marsh - Representing Salt Lake and the Utes
Jordan Lyndaker – From Syracuse, New York, Journalism student
Jeff Winget – From Bullfrog, Utah. Yes that’s the name of a town.
Caleb Hicks – A Weber State transfer from BYU
Matt Sanchez – Journalism student at the University of Utah, Converted Blazers fan
Danny Hansen – A True Blue, Laker hatin’ Jazz fan from the Wasatch Front and Utes Supporter
Trevor Fuchs – From Salt Lake City, Edgar Allen Poe fan
Ben Hoeksel – From Layton, Not a fan of Dick Bavetta
They will share more about themselves on our ‘Featured Jazzbots’ page shortly and you will begin to see contributions from them soon.
I want to again thank those that participated in this years search, those we selected and those we did not. It was meaningful hearing your thoughts and reading your entries. We are striving to build a community here that benefits Jazz fans, players and the organization wherever they may be. Thanks to everyone for being a part of this.
Best wishes and Go Jazz!
Derrick
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Congrats all ya’ll. I look forward to reading your blogs.
Welcome to the team everyone!
Congratulations!
It’s really hard to judge how well someone will blog from a personal interview or a single “trail” blog.
It’s a good thing the grandfather got “grandfathered” in, otherwise, I might just be a reader.
GO JAZZ!!
Jazzaholic
I’m so excited ! BTW its Diana not Diane
I’m sorry Diane, you’ll have to change your name to join us.
Derrick
I just wanted to say CONGRATS to all that made it , and welcome to the blog . I look forward to hearing what ya all have to say .
Jay
For whatever reason, I really did feel a great sense of regret and a high level of uncomfortability (that’s probably not a word) when I left the interview… Jonathan and Mallory are GOOD! That made it even sweeter when I found out I made it.
I look forward to being a part of the team. I’m REALLY excited!
By the way, along with being a WSU grad, I am also a fellow Ute fan and Laker hater.
Congratulations to the newbie’s! I can’t wait to read the new blogs this season. I am laughing imagining Mal making the canidates uncomfortable… I would have loved to be a fly on the wall.
Congrats to all of you!!! This year will Rock!
Kate
I’m excited too. There’s not a lot happening here in Bullfrog, so Jazzbots gets to fulfill my need for excitement.
Congrats all! Excited to have you with us. It always feels good to add a cyber friend or two to my life :]. Looking forward to some good Utah Jazz dialogue this season.
Congratulations to all to all. I can’t wait for the games to begin !!!
Hip Hip Hooray to everyone who tried out for Jazzbots and special hooray to all who made the final list. It should be a great year. One thing really nice about this blog was seeing what 3 of our fellow bloggers look like. I guess probably several of you living in SLC know each other but at games I am always looking at people wondering if they might be a part of the Jazzbot family!?
Seeing the list of Jazz dancers and Jazzbots in print is exciting. Now we need to see a Jazz roster!!!!!!!!! Congrats again.
They have the internet in Bullfrog? Just kidding. So glad to have all of you aboard.
Annie
The only internet access in Bullfrog that’s reliable is satellite, which is a little slow, but I make do. Walking out my front door into the beautiful desert makes all the little inconveniences worth it.
Does anyone have a picture I can borrow?
Love it Deb. You can have mine, and I’ll take McCall’s.