Who Should Be Utah’s Celebrity NBA Fan?
Jun 15, 2019, 4:27 PM
Drake reacts in the first half during Game Five of the 2019 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on June 10, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – When the cameras weren’t on the basketball action during the NBA Finals, they were more often than not steadied on musical artist and Toronto Raptors superfan Drake.
Throughout the series, Drake was seen on the front row at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto cheering and hollering to an almost obnoxious extent. He was captured trash talking with the Golden State Warriors players and then also leading the pack at Toronto’s Jurassic Park, the team’s outdoor fan section, during the series-clinching Game 6.
Drake and the Raptors have been a stellar partnership for quite some time. Before the team hosted the All-Star Game in 2016, the Raptors announced that Drake had been added to the team’s payroll as a global ambassador for the squad. Other Drake activations include the naming of the team’s practice facility as the “OVO Athletic Centre,” after his October’s Very Own brand, and the annual “Drake Night” game during the regular season, in which the team dons Drake-inspired jerseys.
Drake dead brought out the NBA Finals trophy to Wynn in Vegas😂 #NBAFinal2019 pic.twitter.com/YM3LyWWgFV
— speedy morman (@SpeedyMorman) June 15, 2019
When fans think of the Raptors, they also think of Drake and vice versa. It’ll be interesting to see if other sports franchises follow Toronto’s lead and tie an A-list celebrity to their brand identity.
If the Utah Jazz were to have an “official celebrity fan,” who would it be?
sports.ksl.com has a few ideas.
Mitt Romney
During the Jazz’s first round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney was shown on TNT’s broadcast taunting Russell Westbrook after the star guard picked up his fourth foul in the game.
Video of Romney gesturing towards Westbrook and holding up four fingers quickly went viral.
Thunder-Jazz had everything.
Even Mitt Romney taunting Russ 😂 pic.twitter.com/oLXND9ZjjP
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 24, 2018
Romney has since been selected to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate, so he may have to act with a bit more diplomatic decorum nowadays, but his presence will still always been noted when he’s near the sidelines at Jazz games.
As for whether or not he’ll move the needle for young basketball fans as much as Drake, it’s probably a no.
Spencer Cox
It’s no secret that Utah’s lieutenant governor loves the Jazz. Cox is often tweeting or posting on social media about his love for the team and his hopes of the Jazz either signing a big-name free agent or ultimately claiming an NBA title.
Super excited to welcome 9,600 athletes and kick off the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games in Cedar City tonight! Trying to find something to wear and this seems appropriate today…😤😢 pic.twitter.com/fZos4dXekt
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) June 14, 2019
Cox recently announced his candidacy for governor in 2020 and has launched a state-wide campaign to visit every city in Utah and give community service along the way.
At least locally, Cox is ultra-popular and already in the upper echelon of famous Jazz fans.
“Super” Dell Schanze
Known as a bit of a novelty personality in the Utah community, Schanze’s fame grew in the early 2000s due to his loud and memorable commercials for his company, Totally Awesome Computers.
He’s since been in the news for a variety of reasons, including running unsuccessfully for governor three times, flying his motorized parasailing chair into wildlife and misuse of firearms.
While he may not have a perfect record in the public eye, Schanze always gets people in Utah talking. Imagine putting that incredibly hyper man on the front row for future Jazz playoff games, it’ll be viral gold.
David Archuleta
Murray native David Archuleta rose to fame in 2008 for finishing second on the seventh season of American Idol. Since then, he’s gone on to sell millions of records, serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile and even sing the national anthem at a couple of Jazz games.
Ten years ago, Archuleta was one of the biggest stars in the country as his soft, yet powerful vocals wowed the nation’s reality television viewers.
He’s still a big star on some level national and even internationally. The question is, does he have the confidence, or lack of discretion to massage Jazz head coach Quin Snyder’s shoulder during a game like Drake did to Toronto’s Nick Nurse?
Cosmo The Cougar
Sorry, Swoop. Sorry, Jazz Bear. There’s no bigger or more social media-friendly mascot in the state than BYU’s Cosmo the Cougar.
Cosmo rose to prominence a couple of years ago for stealing the show while dancing on the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium with the Cougarettes, BYU’s dance team. He’s since followed that up with several more memorable dances.
Spooky. 👻 pic.twitter.com/O42pF8iCIy
— Cosmo Cougar (@byu_cosmo) October 27, 2018
The fact is, Cosmo can flat out boogie. He’s shown that he’s the best mascot dancer in the state, if not the whole country and has also appeared on national television in Capital One commercials.
Putting Cosmo near the center of the court and letting him hit the floor during timeouts would be a slam dunk move for the Jazz.
