The VCR

It sits there on the shelf, blinking. Blinking. Blinking.

There really is no use for it. All of the tapes have either been sold at a yard sale or boxed up and put somewhere. Movies are now watched on shinier, sleeker, easier to use DVD's. If you want to record a show, the Tivo is there for you. So why won't you get rid of that blinking VCR? Because some day, it might be of use.

The Jazz have a VCR. The problem is they actually use it. Matt Harpring is The VCR.

Oh, sure, there will be times where the VCR is useful. There is the time that you use it to convert your old home movies to your computer so you can burn them onto a DVD. There is the time you "stumble" upon the old stash of Ginger Allen or Christy Canyon's best work. Yes, you will use the VCR for those few and far between times.

The Jazz feel they have to use The VCR all the time. It doesn't matter that they have shiny gadgets that have pretty much rendered The VCR obsolete. The three man rotation of Andrei Kirilenko, Ronnie Brewer, and Paul Millsap has not only made The VCR obsolete, they have rendered him useless. And yet he still gets used. I know what you are thinking: "But YB, he saved the Jazz last night with his performance in the first quarter." That was little more than burning the 1993 All Star Game to the computer. The Jazz could shelve The VCR and not miss a thing.

The Warriors were playing the second game of a back to back. Many of their players had played huge minutes the night before. They had no chance of beating the Jazz. None. Yet there was a big deal made out of The VCR's use.

When The VCR is used, time stands still. The game slows down. He moves back and forth like a TV screen playing an old movie that needs to have its tracking adjusted. I often wonder if his knee has old tangled VHS tape in it rather than scar tissue. But he is out there every night. Blinking. Blinking. Blinking. Instead of blinking "12:00", he blinks "WOOT!", "WOOT!", "WOOT!"

It is time for the Jazz to show the old man how to use his DVD player. How to use his DVR. And how to use his computer. Unplug and shelve The VCR. Donate it. Do something with it. Learn that it is no longer of use.