Jazz rookie Andrei Kirilenko recently did a question-and-answer session with the Russian sports magazine Sports Express.
     
The excerpts here are from that article, as translated into English by a Russian hoops fan named Serge Kiselev and reprinted on the Utah Jazz messageboard of the REALGM.com Web site.
     
A few minor changes were made in the interest of grammatical clarity. All insertions in parentheses were made by the Deseret News.

     Question:Can you say you are a popular person in Salt Lake City?

     "It seems to be that way. At least I am often invited to different events. For example, I was invited to a TV talk show ? I was answering the questions during 10 minutes, live. It was directed perfectly, every second was thought through, yet they did not take into account that Russians can not follow the pattern. They ask: "What do you prefer: football or baseball?" "Soccer" ? I answer. Or another question: "What do you like the most: Coca-Cola or Pepsi?" I laugh: "Juices!" Such an answer was a surprise for many ? "Coca-Cola" is our sponsor. Yet the show producers were very satisfied anyway."