SALT LAKE CITY — I wasted way too much damn time trying to start this column. I got on with it. I got over myself. I imagined that’s what Jerry Sloan would’ve coached me up to do. Take the creative “L,” press on, get the work underway, re-center, put in an honest day’s shift, rather than trying to pretend to be something I’m not.
Not everyone has an “impostor radar,” but Sloan was among that selective group that could sniff out an insincere soul from a mile away. Sloan never had much time for forced theatrics. Don’t be a peacock. Don’t be a bully. Be yourself. And always, always respect everything and everyone. It’s why he challenged Dennis Rodman to a fight. It’s why he challenged Jerry Stackhouse to a fight. It’s why he challenged Kenyon Martin to a fight. It’s why he challenged Rasheed Wallace to a fight.
All while in a suit, tie, dress shoes, his always-coiffed silvered…
