Patrick Kinahan: Bringing good tidings to Utah's sports personalities for a Merry Christmas

SALT LAKE CITY — It’s Christmas in the city, the time to grace our local athletes and coaches the gifts that will help make the season joyous for them and for us.

Fortunately for all of us as sports fans in Utah, we don’t have to deal with the nonsense that some do in other markets. In this state, generally speaking, the teams don’t tolerate knuckleheads in pursuit of winning.

On the other hand, none of our teams have won the ultimate prize in their respective levels of competition. Several have come close over the years, but none of them in the sports we care about the most have won it all — except the national championship bestowed upon the BYU football team in 1984.

Nice guys can finish first sometimes, can’t they? Yes, they can, but along the way they need some help.

With this in mind, we’re playing Santa Claus and doling out the gifts they need that can help put them over the top.

Let’s start with Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who desperately could use a roster that extends much deeper than what he currently has available. Once Snyder has to sub out his starters, the biggest concern is what the deficit will be when they return to the game.

Let's hope these two new players the Jazz have acquired can make a difference.

Mike Conley: Good health and the return of the shooting touch he had with the Memphis Grizzlies last season, during which he averaged 21 points a game.

Rudy Gobert: A go-to offensive move that once perfected will catapult the defensive star into being one of the 10 greatest centers of all time.

Donovan Mitchell: Nothing. He’s already got it all at 23 years old.

Jerry Sloan: A statute alongside those of Karl Malone and John Stockton. The banner that hangs inside the Jazz arena is nice, but Malone and Stockton have more than that. So should the leader of the greatest era in Jazz history, whose influence still permeates throughout the franchise nearly nine years after he stepped down as the coach.

Jazz fans: Realistic expectations. Relative to competing for an NBA championship, this team was overhyped compared to the likes of the Clippers and — yikes — the Lakers.

The Golden State Warriors: Coal. It’s about time.

Kyle Whittingam: Another shot at winning the Pac-12 championship and the accompanying berth in the Rose Bowl that comes with it. The California native, whose Utah team has lost the last two conference championship games, would love to win the New Year’s Day game in Pasadena, Calif., to culminate an outstanding coaching career.

Morgan Scalley: Patience. If Utah’s defensive coordinator and former Highland High star doesn’t get restless, he could take over for Whittingham in three years.

Tom Holmoe: Freedom to run the BYU athletic department as he sees fit. The athletic director needs to report directly to the university president instead of a bureaucratic go-between.

Kalani Sitake: At least half of the LDS football players who sign with other programs. No BYU football coach can legitimately expect to consistently win more than eight games a season without the best LDS players, many of whom aren’t interested in playing for the team at their church-sponsored university.

Larry Krystkowiak: Roster stability. Imagine how good his Utah basketball team could be in a year or two if all the players stay together instead of transferring as many have done the last several years.

Mark Pope: More of whatever he already drinks. The new BYU basketball coach has breathed life into the program with his unlimited amounts of enthusiasm and personal touch.

Mark Madsen: A Western Athletic Conference championship in basketball and the accompanying automatic berth into the NCAA tournament for Utah Valley. The first-year coach needs to reprise the goofy dancing he cut loose during the parades to celebrate the Los Angeles Lakers’ championships.

To all of you: The wisdom to keep sports in perspective. And a Merry Christmas spent with those you love.

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