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Show Jazz basketball takes nose di( passing skills pedestal. And then there's the "Mailman," Karl Malone. What a physical specimen. At 6'9" and 256 pounds, he's an All-Pro tight end playing basketball and playing it as good as anybody. But then there's Mark Eaton, the guy who finished fourth in a list of three candidates trying for the part of the Giant in "Princes Bride." Look up the word "clutz" in the dictionary and there's Eaton's picture. pic-ture. "Bad Hands" takes on a new meaning when Eaton takes the floor. On offense, he stood five feet outside the three point line (just over 27 feet from the basket) and put two size 17 dents in the floor. My friend, Doug Hooley, would have some catchy way to point out how useless Eaton was, but the paper couldn't print it. Of course, Ent ( critics like me. fifV ' tothebanklNeveS sport has somelH talent and skill WV aire. m, Yes, I'm jealou8! yJ behind DonNeW State team. ft J, V egy made the Jaafr J reruofaee- costs"entJ , couldn't score, it wl scored,37tobeeaS;t'j ball is a team i allfiveplayeiSl Would I go to another I offgame?Sure.If5 again andhas an extr,7 there Butthe;d2;); - mg this season are not?' By JACK HILL Put the new Jazz playing arena on hold. Look for empty seats in the Salt Palace next season and expect Jazz season tickets to be in good supply next fall. The skyrocketing enthusiasm for Jazz basketball in Salt Lake City took a nose dive Friday when the heralded Utah team suffered the second straight loss to "lowly" Golden State in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Not that it wasn't a good show for a first-time NBA playoff game watcher likeme.it was. Our tickets were great. The athletes are some of the best the world has ever known and the speed, accuracy and skill with which they play the game is breath taking. However, any similarity between be-tween the game I saw and the one Dr. James Naismith had in mind when he created basketball in the 1890's, was, at best, coincidental. The physical contact, that borders bor-ders on brutal, was unbelievable. I've seen wrestling matches and football games with less contact. The game gave new meaning to the words "getting hammered." John Stockton's ball handling and passing skills were terrific. It is easy to see how he can lead the NBA in assists. As they say, "you can't teach a player to pass like that." Even Magic Johnson, has to make room for Stockton on the |