It's no European vacation News Utah Jazz

LONDON ? No offense to the fine people of London and Madrid, but if the Jazz had their druthers, their foreign-flavored roster of players wouldn't be adding any more stamps to their passports this week. But they are anyway, because the NBA ? despite the franchise's preference to stay stateside ?

made them go. That's because every team in the league must eventually take a turn promoting the brand outside of North America, and this is the Jazz's . So after a scheduled arrival in London this morning, the Jazz planned to immediately begin preparations for Tuesday night's preseason game against the Chicago Bulls at London's O2 Arena. They'll practice here this morning and again on Monday as well. On Wednesday, they'll fly from London to Madrid and prepare then to face Spanish power Real Madrid on Thursday night at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid. It's a trip that comes with some cause for concern, especially when it comes to the body. "We've tried to talk to other teams (that have gone previously about) what are some of the things that are really important, and I think we've gotten a feel for that," general manager Kevin O'Connor said. "One is that when we go over is really hydrate. ... We'll try to get on a cycle of time over there. ... And then coming back I think it's really a matter of getting 24, 36 hours of rest. "Hopefully, we don't lose any conditioning," added O'Connor, whose international roster includes Russia's Andrei Kirilenko, Turkey's Mehmet Okur and Ukraine's Kyrylo Fesenko. "Hopefully, we get in a little better game shape." Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, for his part, seems more worried about coming home than going over. "Get back and get adjusted to being (back) ? that's the quickest thing I would like to do," he said. Sloan speaks with experience, having taken his team to Japan for two regular-season games in Tokyo for the start of the 1990-91 season. "When we went to Japan, it was tough for us," he said. "We didn't practice (much after returning). "Our team looked like they'd been on the road for 80 games, and that's the only way I felt like I could get them back. We practiced some, but not like we'd ordinarily practice to start the season. "Our players looked like they were running in mud," added Sloan, whose 54-28 club that season split with Phoenix in Japan but wound up opening 23-10. "We came out of it alright, but it was frustrating because I had never experienced anything like that." WORLD TRAVELERS A look at previous Jazz games played in non-NBA cities outside of the lower-48 United States: Oct. 5, 1980: Utah 105, San Diego 95 in Calgary, Canada* Oct. 6, 1980: Utah 92, San Diego 87 in Edmonton, Canada* Oct. 18, 1985: New Jersey 101, Utah 90 in Anchorage, Alaska* Oct. 19, 1985: Utah, 105, Golden State 95 in Anchorage, Alaska* Nov. 2, 1990: Phoenix 119, Utah 96 in Tokyo, Japan Nov. 3, 1990: Utah 102, Phoenix 101 in Tokyo, Japan Oct. 15, 1993: Los Angeles Lakers 98, Utah 86 in Honolulu, Hawaii* Oct. 16, 1993: Utah 81, Los Angeles Lakers 77 in Honolulu, Hawaii* Oct. 26, 1996: Dallas 107, Utah 102 in Mexico City, Mexico* Oct. 27, 1996: Utah 111, Phoenix 105 in Mexico City, Mexico* Oct. 5, 2003: Dallas 90, Utah 85 in Mexico City, Mexico* * Preseason game e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com