SALT LAKE CITY – Playoff fever is sweeping across Utah.
Jazz fans are showing their love for the upstart team in unique ways.
At Ray’s Barber Shop in downtown Salt Lake City, Ray Francom, the shop’s owner and a barber with 22 years of experience, is helping fans make a statement with their hair.
“With the Jazz fever going on now, I had a customer that was wondering if I was capable of putting a Jazz logo in the back of their head,” he said.
Francom made that request come to life.
“The hardest part was the ball, because it’s a circle and you have to be artistic to do a good circle,” Francom said. “I used a stencil for that part, but then the rest of it is all free hand.”
A few blocks away at the pop-up Jazz shrine, a self-proclaimed protector of the monument adds new items before each playoff game.
“We just thought it was an interesting way to capture the energy around what was building with the Jazz,” said Jesse Walker.
He believes the good vibes inspired by the shrine are making a difference on the basketball court.
“They are winning because of this,” Walker said. “The shrine is capturing all that good energy.”
Outside Vivint Smart Home Arena, younger fans are also getting in the spirit.
“I am the biggest Jazz fan in the house,” said 10-year-old Weston Harvie.
When asked if that is actually true, he exclaimed, “yes!”
Longtime fans of the team say this elevated energy is due to the fact that the team is a legitimate contender again.
A feeling many fans haven’t felt since the days of Karl Malone and John Stockton.
It is a feeling these fans hope never ends.
