Things I learned This Weekend From Twitter

• Based on the photo above, I imagine hanging out with Ersan Ilyasova is quite entertaining.
  
• One of the greatest Bucks players of all time, Jodie Meeks, attended Game 1 of the Bucks/Hawks series.
• I don't think Andrew Bogut likes Kevin Garnett. Bogut posted something along the lines of, I see there was a fight in the Boston game. I wonder who could have started that. Hmm. Seems like Bogut has the same thoughts as Jakim Noah.
• Jermichael Finley hung out at Brothers in Madison on Friday night. I would would have known this ahead of time, I would have grabbed Stryker and rounded up the rest of the college crew and headed up to Madison. I can only hope he was drinking swampwaters while listening to DJ Kool.
  

Fear the Deer

Pay attention Wisconsin.  Even though March Madness is nearly upon us, and conference tourneys are in full swing, the Bucks are still playing.  And playing well.  With all due respect to Bo Ryan and Buzz Williams, the best basketball in Wisconsin right now is being played by your Milwaukee Bucks.  Hell, after beating the Celtics earlier this week, they are even starting to get some national attention.

They play hard and defend.  Bogut's progression as a big man has been impressive, the Salmons trade has worked out better than I imagined, and although Jennings' scoring is down he's running the offense quite efficiently for a rookie. As a group, they've bought into Skiles system, and its paying dividends right now.  It goes without saying that I'm really enjoying the season.  

Then this evening, my inbox received a reminder email on some reduced ticket prices for some of the upcoming games.  With it came the slightly modified Bucks logo graphic above, along with the slogan 'Fear the Deer'.  While I can take or leave the slogan, the blood-red eyes are a nice touch.  They're menacing and kinda bad-ass, without having to add a bull-snort to make the deer seem serious.  I really hope the Bucks keep this look. Maybe flashing the eyes red up on the scoreboard during critical stretches of the game would get the fans fired up and feeling serious about their Bucks.  Or maybe not, given some of the clowns that have been observed at the BC of late (see 'Fun Times at the Bradley Center').  Its better than some cartoon-style font that says 'Get Loud' or 'Make Noise' anyways.  Point is - I like it.  

More Fun with the Bucks

Went to the Bucks game last night with Gopher Bandanna Man and sat in the same seats that Stryker and I sat in on Saturday night. Unfortunately, maybe due to the insane road conditions, none of the characters that were in attendance on Saturday night were at the Bradley Center last night. Thus, I did not get to see overweight walking stick man, physics guy, Mr. beer spilling ass slapper, the worn out former Energee current hair stylist/admin assistant/dental assistant/fitness instructor girls, and last but not least, backwards v-neck Packers jacket guy.

What I did see was the Bucks kick the crap out of the Hornets. Bogut continues to dominate useless centers. A few nights ago he killed the undersized David Lee. Tonight he killed the appropriately sized but talent lacking Emaka Okafor. Bogut scored in the mid-20's and had double digit rebounds and didn't even play in the 4th quarter. That was the nice part about this blow out. With another game tonight and the Bucks playing 5 games in 7 nights, Bogut and Jennings sat the entire 4th quarter. Salmons and Mbah a Moute hardly played in the 4th. It was nice to be able to rest these guys. It was also a great moment when Primoz Brezec made his Bucks debut and picked up a rebound in 2 minutes of action. Some day I will be able to tell my children and their children that I was there the day Primoz made his Bucks debut.

One other highlight was listening to the Bucks pre-game show on the thrilling drive to the Fortress on Fourth. Our favorite local radio douche Bill Michaels was opining about if it was worth it for the Bucks to make the playoffs only to lose in the first round. Bucks play-by-play guy Ted Davis responded that people who feel that way are probably "too stupid to breathe". Pretty much sums up how I feel about Bill Michaels.

All in all a good game to attend. The Bucks are 6-1 at games I attend this year. It has been a fun season. The schedule isn't the easiest coming up, but we know this Bucks team always competes and it will be fun to watch them try to make the playoffs and maybe even get a decent seed.

Did I just get 'Big Timed' by Michael Redd?

My son and I attended the Bucks Season TipOff Event this last weekend, and it was actually pretty cool. Co-sponsor Pick N’ Save had a tailgate going on outside the BC, and the price was right - $1 for everything. Brats, polish sausages, slices of pizza, ice cream, etc. As we filled up on tubular meats, Jim Paschke was hobnobbing around, mingling with the crowd.

After this we headed into the BC where an autograph session was going down. Michael Redd is my 5-year old’s favorite player, so he wanted to get his signature. We got in line to get autographs, and while we waited we were introduced to the entire Energee Dance Squad. Each member of the dance team told us a little bit about her, and I was disappointed with how few dental hygienists there were this year. Quite a few ‘physician liasons’ though, which I can only presume is a fancy term for ‘nurse’. Lots of MFA students from UWM too. Bango came around as well, and his knee brace is gone, so we can only assume he’s healthy for 2009-10 (or he’s been replaced). All this went down while being serenaded by a sweet cover session of Boz Skaggs performed by ‘Streetlife’, the Bucks house band. Not bad.

Once we got up to the signing area, we got an opportunity to get ‘graphs from Roko Ukic (who?), Dan Gadzuric, Hakim Warrick, Luke Ridnour, Jodie Meeks, Brandon Jennings, and Michael Redd. With exception to Michael Redd, the other 6 seemed excited and pleased to be there signing and smiling away. I thanked and wished all of them well this year, and the appreciation was returned.

Redd, however was kind of put off and clearly didn’t want to be there. It was disappointing, but my little guy didn’t seem to notice or care. I was especially disappointed when I handed Mr. Redd an 8x10 glossy of him I purchased AT the Bucks shop in the BC, and he looked at it closely and then decided to sign on the darkest part of the photo, where his autograph would hardly show up. I felt like this was clearly done to make the auto unclear and un-eBay-able. Now I had no intention of moving this item, I got it to go up in my son’s bedroom. Maybe I should have asked him to personalize it? At any rate it was a lame move, considering that Michael Redd's autograph is hardly a hot, high $$ item in NBA fan circles.

On the way out, we got to shake hands with assistants Kelvin Sampson and Joe Wolf, and then share a few words with GM John Hammond. I wished him luck on the season, and that I was excited about the direction the team was taking, and he thanked us for coming out. A nice touch to end things.

Notably absent from the whole event was Head Coach Scott Skiles, but I’m guessing he’s probably not the best people person Hammond wants rolling out to greet the season ticket holders.