Rockets at Jazz

It's a happy Tuesday. I'm back from a two-week hiatus spent recovering from back surgery just in time to see the Rockets move to 11-6 on the season, including winning 7 out of their last 10.

Now they head to Utah to take on what is my most despised Rockets rival, leftover from the early '90s and the wars between Hakeem, Kenny and Clyde and the despicable Stockton, Malone and Hornacek. My distaste even drifted into the 2000s for some heated playoffs between Yao and T-Mac versus the exceedingly annoying Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur.

Utah now features a group of players significantly more tolerable than at any point over the last two or three decades (though Gordon Hayward would have undoubtedly fit right in on any of those old, nausea-inducing Jazz squads), but they're still the Utah Jazz, and they're still one of my most hated teams in all of professional sports.

I'd like nothing more than for our heroes in red to vanquish the bad guys from Salt Lake City as a welcome back present. I mean, do they even play jazz in Utah? They definitely should have changed the name when the team moved from New Orleans.

It's good to be back. Go Rockets!