Utah
Remembering Utah sports legend Joe Watts, whose influence was legend
Joe Watts was an extrovert who never met a person he couldnât talk to, didnât want to talk to or didnât look forward to chatting with. When you set him in a group of people, it fueled him. Then, smiles and energy just spilled out of him.
Watts, the face of Utah golf and a major sports figure in Utah for half a century, died Monday morning. Joe was 85 years old.
A former Logan High and Utah State guard, back in 1958, he made a pair of free throws in the final seconds against Pearl Pollardâs Jordan High team that ended the Beetdiggersâ 62-game winning streak and sent Logan to the state playoffs. Joe was a 120-pound guard.
After serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New Zealand, Joe played a minor role as a backup guard for the Aggies. He also taught junior high school and worked as a sportswriter for the Logan Herald Journal â at the same time.
I knew Joe because of sportswriting. He was the sports editor at the Provo Daily Herald before Marion Dunn, whom I replaced in the late â80s.
Joe and I had a lot to talk about. But, then, he had much to talk about with just about anybody alive.
He was kind, considerate and genuinely interested in everyone he dealt with.
Joe accepted the job as the executive director of the Utah Golf Association in 1990 and by the time he retired from that job, heâd put his mark on golf in the state, everything from the first electronic handicap system to the establishment of the Utah-Arizona amateur Ryder Cup match held each fall. He started Utah Golf Magazine, now Fairways Magazine, and helped UGA membership grow to more than 30,000 members.
If you could count the number of young high school, college and professional athletes who were profiled, covered or in someway administered by the works of Joe Watts, it would number in the thousands.
Heading amateur golf in Utah was Joeâs dream job, according to his younger brother Steve, who retired as director of golf at Talons Cove. Joe got Steve hooked on golf when he was 12. The Watts brothers, Richard, Joe, Gary and Steve, were famous in the state for their love of the game; from Logan Country Club to Riverside and Alpine country clubs, they left their marks.
Former UGA president Mike Jorgensen remembers Joe well.
âHis love for Utah golf, and especially the State Am, was truly remarkable. I learned so much about life and how to treat human beings just from his example. He is truly beloved.â
It was fun to watch Joe watch golf. He was so engaged in every shot players made. He was passionate about it, like this match or this shot was a chess movement, something upon which the world hinged.
Iâve never seen anyone so focused on so many nuances of a sport. It was like he was fixated, like Newton on the laws of motion. Only in his case, it involved a dimpled ball.
He could be enthralled with a big drive, thrilled over a chip, amazed by a hanging putt that dropped. It was like watching a cartoon character you could count on for a reaction, like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. He never failed to disappoint in his reactions.
Watts, a UGA Gold Club Award recipient and member of the UGA Hall of Fame, was front and center for decades in the Utah golf and sports scene.
âI met Joe when he was the sports writer for the Daily Herald, and he covered a couple of our games at Springville,â said ABC4 sports anchor Wes Ruff, also a Gold Club Award recipient.
âBeing a sports fan, I read his articles for years. When he became executive director of the UGA, I was able to get to know him better, and I was always amazed by his pure love of the game of golf. Everything he did was for the betterment of the game.
âHis unbridled joy of watching a great shot, like when he screamed âItâs in the hole!!!â right next to our camera when Bruce Brockbank holed out on No. 12 at Oakridge CC in the final match of the Utah State Am against Devin Dehlin, was classic Joe Watts,â Ruff continued. âAnd how he signed off every email or correspondence with âSavor the birdiesâ was the best. One of a kind, and he will be missed.â
Joe was an amazing administrator, a creative innovator. He had so many story ideas as a journalist, youâd get tired just listening to his brainstorming exercises. He was always so busy, he could never in this life address his checklist, his dreams.
Over the years Iâve known Joe, I got to know his brothers Steve and Gary. You meet one Watts brother, you know the others, so much of their personalities are similar.
With Joe, one of the most endearing memories many will always have is his perch above a golf cart on Utah State Amateur media day barking out instructions. Heâd have a weighty pile of administrative duties resting on his shoulders, but heâd know the name of every reporter, amateur and board member in the field and greet them. Then, nothing was more important than getting off the tee in time and having fun.
One of my favorite quotes at one of these events was when Joe, speaking of the golf skills of Fairways Magazine art director Garrett Johnson, quipped: âHe has the greatest unproductive golf swing Iâve ever seen.â
Weâve never let Johnson forget that one.
Joe Watts will always be a legend.
âThereâs no doubt in my mind,â said his brother Steve. âIf he can pull it off in heaven today, heâs organizing the HGA, the Heaven Golf Association.â
Yes.
And heâs probably collecting dues from the members.
The family is planning a Celebration of Life event that will be scheduled later this spring.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
The Utah Jazz are rolling into a big offseason before they into what’s projected to be a wildly different-looking 2026-27 campaign from what they had just seen this past 22-win season.
But before that season is able to get underway, the Jazz have some priorities to address in the offseason––both in terms of constructing their roster and retaining a few key pieces from last year’s group into next year.
That makes their salary cap situation and everything around it important to be aware of in the next few months. So with that in mind, we’ve put together an offseason cap tracker for a glimpse of what the Jazz are dealing with in terms of cap space, contracts, and any of their own free agents hitting the open market.
Let’s break it down:
Maximum Possible Cap Space: $24.7M
The Jazz are currently projected at just under $25 million in cap headed into the summer. That’s without any additional moves made to the roster from how they’re entering the offseason, and without factoring in any free agents’ pending cap holds.
That number is bound to get smaller once the Jazz hash out their contract situation for Walker Kessler, but it could also see an uptick if Utah were to shed salary with some of their non-guaranteed deals, or any other player they wanted to pivot from.
As of now, it allows the Jazz to make a couple of moves around the edges in free agency, but the main focus will lean on signing Kessler to a long-term deal.
Contracts
A glimpse of the Jazz’s contract values for the 2026-27 season, and when they’re slated to hit free agency from their current deals:
– Jaren Jackson Jr.: $49.0M, ’29 PO
– Lauri Markkanen: $46.1M, ’29 UFA
– Ace Bailey: $9.5M, ’29 RFA
– Keyonte George: $6.5M, ’27 RFA
– John Konchar: $6.1M, ’27 UFA
– Cody Williams: $6.0M, ’28 RFA
– Brice Sensabaugh, $4.8M, ’27 RFA
– Svi Mykhailiuk: $3.8M*, ’28 UFA
– Kyle Filipowski: $3.0M, ’28 RFA
– Isaiah Collier: $2.7M, ’28 RFA
– Hayden Gray: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Bez Mbeng: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Blake Hinson (two-way), ’27 RFA
Total: $142.1M
*- non-guaranteed
The biggest chunk of the Jazz’s salary leans on their top two veterans, Markkanen and Jackson Jr., each making a combined $95 million next season alone.
However, the rest of the roster isn’t taking up much money. No one else will be making more than $10 million, and their payroll is a little less than $150 million in total.
Another noteworthy fact: the Jazz’s key roster pieces outside of George and Sensabaugh are all under contract through the next two seasons.
Both of the aforementioned names are also bound to see extension discussions take place this summer, which might lock in their future for even longer.
Free Agents
A look at who from this season’s roster is set to hit the free agent market in July:
– Kevin Love (UFA)
– Jusuf Nurkic (UFA)
– Walker Kessler (RFA)
– Oscar Tshiebwe (two-way)
– Elijah Harkless (two-way)
The biggest name of note is, of course, the Jazz’s restricted free agent big man, Walker Kessler, who Utah is bound to hand a big payday, but it remains to be seen how much that contract––or offer sheet from another team––will be.
Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love have also expressed their desire to return to the roster as they hit free agency. Re-signing both likely wouldn’t cost much for the Jazz financially, but instead relies on a question of whether the roster space is readily available to keep both.
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Utah
Golden Knights vs. Mammoth Game 1 prediction: NHL odds, picks, best bets for Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Utah Mammoth is going to be a trendy underdog pick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Not only does Utah have the novelty of this being its first-ever appearance in the postseason going for it, but the Mammoth tick plenty of other boxes that punters look for in a dark horse. They’re fast, dynamic, and create plenty of quality scoring chances.
The only problem is that they are running into the Vegas Golden Knights, arguably the best defensive team in the Western Conference, in Round 1.
Vegas is a -170 favorite to win the series, and it is -152 to win Game 1 on Sunday night.
Mammoth vs. Golden Knights odds, prediction
The Golden Knights had a weird season. Vegas started hot, took its foot off the pedal, and struggled to regain its form down the stretch. That led to a surprising coaching switch late in the campaign, but the move paid immediate dividends as John Tortorella led the Knights to a 7-0-1 record in his eight games behind the bench.
It should be noted that Tortorella benefited from an easy schedule since taking over in Vegas, but it’s hard to deny that the team looks sparked with a new voice in their ear.
What’s especially encouraging for Vegas is that its most glaring weakness, the play of goaltender Carter Hart, has started to trend in the right direction at the exact right time.
And Vegas is so good in its own zone that Hart doesn’t need to stand on his head to get the team over the line against Utah. If he’s just average, the Knights will stand a chance, especially since Utah’s goaltending situation is just as much of a question mark.
Betting on the NHL?
Outside of Vejmelka outplaying Hart, the Mammoth will also need to get this series on their terms if they want to pull the upset. Utah grades out as a slightly above-average defensive outfit, but its strength is up front with dynamic playmakers like Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller, plus sharp-shooter Dylan Guenther.
For those stars to have an impact, the Mammoth will need to get Vegas to open up and engage in a back-and-forth style. I just don’t see that happening with a team that was so disciplined in its own zone all season. The Knights led the NHL in expected goals against and high-danger chances conceded at 5-on-5, which shouldn’t be a shocker given the personnel in Sin City.
Not only does Vegas boast a deep blueline, but forwards Mitch Marner and Mark Stone are regarded as two of the best defensive minds in the entire sport.
Perhaps Utah can blitz Vegas and pull the upset, but I’d need a bigger number to go against the experienced, defensively savvy Knights in a best-of-7.
And if you’re looking for a play with more upside, have a good look at Vegas to pull off the sweep at 12/1.
The Play: Vegas moneyline (-152) | Vegas to sweep the series (12/1, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
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