SB Nation’s final theme day will make you think happy thoughts. The theme: What was the most memorable game you attended as a fan? Tell us your stories in the comments or (better yet) write a Fanpost about it.
I moved to Wisconsin in the fall of 1989, when I was eight years old, and in 1992, something happened that would ultimately change my life: my father bought us Deer season tickets.
The Bucks were not good at the time – the Del Harris Bucks had been officially buried and first round picks Todd Day and Lee Friggin’ Mayberry were the guys I was most excited about in that first season. But while I knew the Bucks were probably at least a few years away from respectability, I also didn’t know I was beginning a love affair with a team that would rarely love me back over the next two decades .
Not that there isn’t hope. Vin Baker looked promising even as a rookie, and the arrival of Glenn Robinson in 1994 should gave the Bucks the superstar that would make them relevant (well, apparently not). But then along came Ray Allen, then the arrival of Sam Cassell, and finally through my high school – the lockout year 98/99 – I experienced something I had never seen before in six seasons of fandom. A playoff season in Milwaukee.
Unfortunately, George Karl’s Bucks were unable to advance past the first round that year or the following season. But it was a start. From my dorm in Boston, I followed every game online, and for about the first month of the 00/01 season, things seemed… well, not so great. But an 8-11 record in December turned into 26-15 less than two months later, and from there, the wins continued to pile up. The Big Three began to become exactly that, and by the end of the season, the Bucks had won 52 games – the only time in the last 27 seasons that they had won more than 50 games – and had secured second top seed in the East. . I watched parts of the first two exams on TV while I was finishing my exams, including an incredible seventh game against the Hornets– and by the end of May, something totally unexpected had happened. I was done with my sophomore year, back in Wisconsin for the summer, and the Bucks were still playing. This all led to my most memorable game as a fan:
May 26, 2001: Bucks 80, Sixers 74 (Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals)
The Bucks had split the first two games of the East Finals in Philadelphia, taking the court in Game 2 and hosting a Saturday matinee in Milwaukee for Game 3. I hadn’t seen the team play since I was home for Christmas, although even then there seemed to be something different. The team had a different kind of confidence, an energy that seemed to imbue the crowds with a different kind of electricity. All of a sudden we I expect to win every night. Cassell, Robinson and Allen were deadly. Ervin Johnson and Scott Williams were the glue. Tim Thomas (!) had all the potential in the world. And there were the rituals: the standing ovations as Karl emerged from the tunnel before each match, the deafening and instinctive roar of the crowd each time the “Bark Board” (an animated sound level meter paying homage to Robinson) flashed on high screen. , and of course the “Light this up!” music video before matches.
And thirteen years later, my most memorable game ironically now seems like something of a blur. Allen Iverson didn’t even play because of hip soreness, a fact that should have made it a passing game for the good guys. But the Bucks got nothing from their supporting cast — Cassell, Robinson and Allen combined for 62 of the Bucks’ 80 points — and couldn’t fend off the plucky Sixers despite a raucous crowd determined to carry the Bucks to a 2-1. series leader. My memories of the details of the match are scant at this point, but I remember feeling strangely confident despite a nervy finish that was uncertain until the last minute. We were too excited to be there, and the crowd was too energetic to argue for anything other than a victory. Leaving British Columbia with my father, we suddenly found ourselves in an unfamiliar place: the warm air and sunshine of an almost summer evening greeted us as the gates on 4th Street opened and the Possibility of THE NBA FINALS It was suddenly a realistic topic of conversation. Imagine that?
Looking back, I don’t know if I expected all of this to last. And that’s not the case, by far. A fast start to the following season ended in a disastrous finish, and the Big Three era ended in a flash. Fast forward through a decade of false starts and disappointments, and I appreciate this season, this magical playoff run, and this game all the more. And while that team is gone and another 50-win season seems years away, it all reminds me of what professional basketball is in Milwaukee. can be. In the spring of 2001, the Brewers sucked, the Packers missed the playoffs, and Milwaukee was, at least for a few months, a basketball town again. Every team pays lip service to their fans being the best in the world, but for a few months I really believed it. In a few years ? I hope we can believe it again.
