Book
Review: The Salt Palace by Darren DeFrain
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What does it mean
to be a
basketball fan? What roles do the
game and its players have in the daily
lives of their fans? Darren DeFrain asks
many questions in his book The Salt
Palace, but coming to the end it
seems these two questions are the ones
he's seeking most earnestly - and finds
the answers to most completely.
DeFrain's story is told from the point
of view of a man named Brian. Brian,
like so many of us, is a long-suffering
fan of a team that never quite gets to
the top. In case you haven't guessed by
the title, his team is the Utah Jazz.
Brian is struggling to find his identity
as a Mormon, he's struggling with
relationships, and he's struggling to
meet the expectations of his parents.
Does this ring a bell? DeFrain didn't
waste any time getting into the primary
struggles that most people face in their
lives. Granted, we're not all Mormons,
and there is a lot of information about
Mormonism in this book, but the way
Brian is torn by his own shortcomings in
living up to the expectations of "The
Faith" can easily apply to Christians,
Muslims, Jews, and probably even
agnostics. We all believe in something,
and we all have a hard time living up to
our own ideas about what we should be
within that context.
To start with, Brian's girlfriend is
Catholic, which poses a huge threat to
any future relationship she might have
with his Mormon parents. What's more,
this relationship is tainted by Brian's
memory of his first true love. He is
constantly haunted by her memory, and at
times it prevents him from fully giving
himself to his new girlfriend. This,
too, seems to me to be a universal
struggle. There is a popular saying that
says we never forget our first loves -
and as far as I know we don't. Even now,
a decade and a half later, I'm happily
married to a wonderful girl, but I still
have flashes of my first love from time
to time. Like Brian, my thoughts about
her are not along the lines of wishing
to have her back, but merely occasional
memories of things we did together and
the first ideas about relationships she
formed. DeFrain does a wonderful job of
capturing this shadow of memory that
creeps in, unbidden, from time to time.
Another
universal dynamic that Brian faces is
the balance between keeping his family
happy and keep his own life running with
some semblance of normality. When his
brother calls to announce that their
parents are moving out of their family
home, it sends Brian into a tizzy. There
are the demands of his brother, who has
already arranged Brian's time off with
his boss. There are the demands of his
parents, who want him to come home one
last time. There are the demands of his
girlfriend, who would prefer he didn't
leave. And then there's Brian, who
doesn't really want to go, either, but
is feeling the need to get out of town
and away from the pressures of his daily
routine. As we work with Brian through
the process of balancing these issues
there are some greater lessons to learn
that could very well apply to the life
of the reader.
When Brian and his girlfriend decide
that it's best if she doesn't go home
with him, he decides to take on a
hitchhiker of sorts. The local college
bulletin board has a man seeking a ride
to Utah, and Brian decides to give him a
call. This opens a can of worms that
Brian will not be able to get closed.
The mysterious stranger, who has a hook
hand and a sordid history, becomes the
bane of Brian's existence for the length
of the trip. Secretive, shifty, and
constantly revealing disturbing facets
of his past - which are starting to
invade the present - the stranger (who
calls himself "Randy") gets Brian into
an entirely new world of trouble.
Unfortunately for Brian, his destiny is
even more tied to his favorite team that
he could ever have predicted. You'll
have to read The Salt Palace to
find out the resolution.
Through it all we have the Utah Jazz,
who are in the first round of the NBA
playoffs with the Portland Trailblazers
when the story opens and in the Western
Conference Finals against the
Seattle Sonics when it ends. As
Brian faces challenge after challenge,
he always comes back to watching the
Jazz in their televised games. He
watches them with his girlfriend, he
watches them with "Randy," and he
watches them at his parents' house.
Everyone he encounters is a fan of the
Jazz, and they all relate to that
regardless of how much they are
different outside of the confines of the
Delta Center hardwood.
I think this is what being an NBA fan
is all about. Life has few constants,
but one of them is professional sports.
I have thought a lot about this over the
past eight years, since I began working
as an NBA analyst. My perspective of the
game has changed, of course, and at
times I have forgotten the reasons why I
devoted my childhood to the Houston
Rockets and Portland Trailblazers - and
particularly to Hakeem Olajuwon and
Clyde Drexler. The business side of the
sport has gotten in the way of the game
side, and I sometimes let that
disenfranchise the "fan" in me. I love
to tell a story, but I'm not always that
crazy about the games or the players, as
I once was. DeFrain's character Brian is
living the important of professional
sports. Through the turmoil of his life,
through the challenges and struggles,
there is always the welcome respite of a
Jazz game. In his most desperate hour
there is still the thought of Karl
Malone, John Stockton, and the Utah Jazz
to provide a few moments or a few hours
of escapism.
This is the truth about professional
sports, and this is the truth that is so
beautifully explored in The Salt
Palace. Whether you're a Jazz fan or
not; whether you're a Mormon or not;
whether you're a die-hard NBA fan or a
casual observer of the game - this book
will speak to you.
The Salt Palace by Darren
DeFrain. Check it out!
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