FanPost

Why I'm a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks

I was born and raised in South Florida. I've never even been to Milwaukee. And for most of my life the Bucks have been a fairly bad basketball team. So why on earth am I a Bucks fan? Well the reason is perhaps one of the most random you will ever hear. The year was 2004 (I was 12 at the time). I was just starting to really get into basketball and Cartoon Network was showing an all-star game special where each of the all-stars that year had little segments on the channel and said what they’re favorite cartoon is. Most of the players went with Looney Tunes, a couple went Flinstones. Solid choices for sure, but not quite my stuff at the time. Then came Michael Redd saying his favorite cartoon was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I was REALLY into He-Man (there was a reboot series on at the time). Thus I chose Redd as my favorite player based solely on that connection. And with that the Bucks became my team. Not the most justified reason, but that's all a kid really needs and that's how it all started with me.

But while that answers why I was a fan of the Bucks as a kid, why would I stick with them after growing older and wiser? I mean 2004 onward hasn't exactly been a great stretch of time for the Milwaukee Bucks. I have yet to experience a playoff series win as a fan. And the greatest player on Earth decided to take his talents to my actual hometown team. I could have easily jumped ship (we all know people that did). Well, oddly enough, the fact that they've been the butt of the joke for most of the NBA this whole time is a big part of why I love them. They're the Charlie Brown of the NBA. They try their best over and over but it never quite goes their way. Maybe a certain draft pick doesn't go as planned. Maybe there's some kind of injury that derails the season. Maybe the team just doesn't have the talent to compete. As much as we think that this will be the year that things start to turn for the better, Lucy always pulls away that darn football. But that doesn't stop us from trying. From going out there and putting everything we got into the game, into life! See I myself have often been the butt of the joke. Mediocre. A loser. A good ol Charlie Brown. But that can't stop me. Because you know what? One of these days we will kick that football, we will fly that kite, and we will win that Championship! And if the Bucks can win the Championship after all these years of disappointment, of things not going their way, then any of us can go out there and do sommething great even after all of the disappointments we've faced in our personal lives.

So while the the Bucks started out for me as a random He-Man fandom moment, they grew into something much more for me. They became a symbol for persevering, for optimism, for hope. Is all of that a huge stretch? Yeah, probably. But darn it, that's what they mean to me. So here's to the Milwaukee Bucks. One day we'll kick that football.

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