TAYLORSVILLE -- All 70 million citizens of Iran did not attend their national team’s basketball game Monday night against the Jazz at the Rocky Mountain Revue.

It just sounded that way.
Supported wildly by 100 flag-waving, kazoo-blowing, chanting-in-unison fans who made an NBA summer league game feel like a World Cup final, Iran continued tuning up for its first Olympic appearance since 1948 by playing its second and final game in the Revue.
The Jazz prevailed, 82-57.
But the real story of this game was the festive, electric element that the Iranian fans added to an evening when politics were forgotten -- except for the noticeable increase in security at Salt Lake Community College’s Lifetime Activities Center.
Everyone entering the gym was scanned with a metal detector.
A handful of police were stationed at each end of the court, near the doors.
“A little bit of stepped-up security,” explained Jazz president Randy Rigby. “We’d rather be safe than sorry. I think you should always be prepared for who-knows-what, and we’re just being a little cautious.”
Nobody seemed to mind.
The biggest crowd to attend any session of this year’s Revue watched the Jazz meet Iran, which will go to Beijing for next month’s Olympics as the Asian champion.
Before tipoff, the players exchanged gifts at midcourt.
Then, the Iranian fans took over.
They chanted constantly. A super-fan on the kazoo, who has more wind the entire U.S. Senate, never stopped. His countrymen cheered wildly over every made basket, every rebound, every made free throw and every steal.
“It was a heck of a buzz,” said Utah’s Morris Almond, “even from the warm-ups. I was asking (Jazz prospect Yaroslav) Korolev, ‘Is that how it is across the water?’ And he said, ‘That’s how it is.’ . . . It definitely gave everyone a little boost of adrenaline.”
Hardly looking like the team that suffered a 79-62 loss to Dallas in its Revue opener on Saturday, Iran led throughout the first quarter. It was 8-4. It was 17-9. It ended 22-14.
The Jazz could not stop Hamed Ehadadi, a 7-foot-3 center who had finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds against the Mavs. He dominated the Jazz’s young big men, Kyrylo Fesenko and Kosta Koufos, and only fueled the enthusiasm of his countrymen in the bleachers.
“Their fans came out and made a lot of noise for them and their team did a good job of responding to that and playing with their heart,” said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin. “It was a good effort on their part.”
Alas.
Ehadadi suffered a hip injury with 1:57 left in the second quarter and did not return. The Jazz sprinted past the Iranians and then pulled away in the second half to score their lopsided victory.
Afterward, Iran’s players went to the edge of the court and tossed roses to their fans, who continued cheering and chanting. The Kazoo Guy kept playing, too, until the players finally retreated to the locker room.
“You know what?” Rigby said. “Basketball is now the international sport. We have international players. With the Olympics going on, this is a wonderful reaching out from the NBA and the Utah Jazz to the world, saying, ‘Basketball is for everybody and we’re glad to be part of playing an Olympic team.’ “
(The Salt Lake Tribune)
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