<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Jazz said goodbye for now Thursday, hopeful the whole time they also were not bidding farewell forever to 17-season head coach Jerry Sloan. Their 2004-05 NBA season having ended at 26-56 following Wednesday night's loss at Golden State, Thursday meant cleaning lockers at the Delta Center, packing mementos and reflecting on all that went wrong. For Sloan, who still isn't sure if he will return next season or not, it also meant a good cry. Because despite all its low points, this season was not nearly as frustrating as the one before it. Why? "I lost my wife," he said, fighting back tears before a long and awkward pause. "You know, I love basketball," added Sloan, whose wife Bobbye died in June of last year, shortly after last season concluded, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. "But (basketball) doesn't mean anything. . . . This is just a game, and I can deal with that." But whether Sloan, who is under contract at about $5 million for one more year, will deal with the Jazz next season remains to be seen. As he has after every after season in recent memory, the Midwest farmer will make the drive from Utah back to his Southern Illinois hometown of McLeansboro uncertain of what just the future holds.</div> <div align="center">Source</div>
