I was with the family at the Epcot Center three summers ago, near the end of one of those OK-we-saw-it, can-we-go-home-now? kind of days. As we walked by a staging area, a sign said, " 'Lord of the Dance,' now playing."
     
That interested me about as much as the street mimes, but when my daughters saw the sign, forget it. We were going in for a look. But just as we stepped toward the seating, the lights came up and the crowd began leaving.
     
We had missed all the excitement.
     
I imagine that is something like Kevin O'Connor felt when he joined the Jazz 2 1/2 years ago.
     
Just as he arrived, the party was letting out.
     
The Jazz signed their vice president of basketball operations to a multi-year contract extension Wednesday, thus assuring he will be around for "the end" anyway.
     
What "the end" means is up to conjecture. It could simply mean the end of the Stockton-Malone era. It could mean the end of the Jazz's long string of playoff appearances. In a worst-case scenario, it would mean the end of life as we know it ? i.e. the loss of respectable professional basketball in Utah.