Jimmered

I am an alumnus of the University of Utah for both undergraduate school and law school. I am Utah fan. “Who am I Sir a Utah Man am I sir”. By just writing those words I can hear the fight song in my mind. Unlike many Utah fans I do not hate BYU. In fact, I always pull for BYU unless they are playing the University of Utah. However, I am not a BYU fan. If they win ok, if they lose ok. I hope they do well but I don’t feel bad if they don’t. My law firm is by and large a Utah law firm and not a BYU law firm. In general, this firm bleeds Utah red and not BYU blue.

With that preliminary I will tell that this law firm, as well as me personally, have been “Jimmered”. We are fans of Jimmer Fredette, the amazing BYU guard and we want Jimmer and his team to win. (I call it his team rather than BYU because it is hard for a Utah man to use the letters “BYU” too often in one paragraph. We have been Jimmer fans for the last couple of years because his aunt Susan is our office manager. Susan is married to Jimmer’s uncle. Susan is a wonderful and effective and extremely pleasant office manager and person. She is one of a kind. Because of Susan we have all become little puppy dogs for Jimmer.  I read Jimmer articles, I listend to radio and  I watch TV reports about Jimmer, I watch his games on TV. I have been Jimmered. 

America has been Jimmered. When asked about Jimmer, President Obama said "Unbelievable. Best scorer obviously in the country. Great talent."

Matt James of NBC Sports wrote at (http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42090091/ns/sports-college_basketball/0


“The name is a good place to start. “That’s the first thing,” says T.J. Fredette. “His name. Jimmer.’ It’s an original. It’s unique. You can do so much with that name.” Indeed, no name in college basketball, perhaps in all of sports, has been so discussed, so ubiquitous, so verb-ed, as that of Jimmer Fredette, the 6-foot-2 senior guard at BYU. He is the nation’s leading scorer. By most every organization and account, its best player. He is, without question, its most celebrated name. The fuse was lit two months ago. “It really blew up after that 47-point game against Utah,” continues T.J., Jimmer’s older brother, an aspiring rapper who became the family’s amateur spokesperson when the attention suddenly required a coordinator. “That’s when he hit the half-court shot. That’s when he got rock-star status.” It wasn’t just the half-court shot in that Jan. 11 blowout against the Utes, it was the subsequent TV highlights. It was the relevance of his Top 10 team. It was Jimmer’s non-reaction. Who was this guy? Who makes half-court buzzer-beaters and acts as if he just made a free throw? “I’m sure people thought he was cocky because he didn’t really celebrate,” T.J. says, “But he’s hit so many of those it’s not really surprising anymore. He probably made eight or 10 of those his senior year of high school. The court was smaller, but he would pull up and shoot from out there.”

“Two weeks later, Fredette scored 43 against San Diego State and the NBA’s Kevin Durant tweeted that Jimmer was the world’s best scorer. “Jimmer madness had begun. He went on “Pardon the Interruption,” talked with Jim Rome, hopped between national shows as if he was promoting a movie. Soon after, BYU said no to all regional radio requests. A mid-major was turning down publicity.

CBS picked up the Cougars’ rematch against San Diego State on Feb. 26 — the first and only time this season BYU appeared on network TV — and it got better ratings than Syracuse versus Georgetown or Florida against Kentucky. Last week, while the Big East Tournament was taking place at Madison Square Garden, the Washington Post sent its national college writer on the Jimmer beat, to the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.

Though he is in his fourth year of being a fantastic player, much of America has learned of Jimmer only the last few months: he grew up in northern New York near the Vermont border, and how his parents have remained together while amicably split on religion (his mom is Catholic; Jimmer, like his dad, became Mormon), and how his mother Kay insisted on the nickname Jimmer since the moment he was born, and how as a teenager he and T.J. would go to a local prison and play pick-up games with inmates who had earned the privilege through good behavior. The legend says that’s where Jimmer learned his mental toughness. The truth is he made a half-dozen prison trips at most, but it is a cool story and he is usually too polite to correct the convenient theory.

At the Mountain West Tournament last week, the Jimmer poster count rivaled a professional wrestling event, most of them demonstrating the various grammatical uses of the name.

“Teach me how to Jimmer” ... “Jimmer Time!” ... “You Got Jimmered.”

In the semifinal against New Mexico,  New Mexco's Coach, Steve Alford’s best idea for defending Jimmer was keeping him off the free-throw line. The Lobos did. Fredette shot just one the entire game. And still scored 52 points. He broke the school single-game scoring record and passed Danny Ainge as BYU’s career points leader.”
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So sports fans I will be watching Jimmer during this March Maddness, I will be cheering for Jimmer and I will be pulling for his team. Next season, I will be cheering for Utah. 

Have a happy March Madness and get those brackets filled out.