I’m sitting in my office just before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 21. I haven’t slept much. It’s the morning after the Milwaukee Bucks won their first NBA championship in 50 years. My face is a mix of tired, happy, overwhelmed, and “wait, did that really happen?”
I’m writing this fully knowing of the fact that my last editorial was written about the topic that our faith should be more important than our sports fandom and that we can give way more time to sports than worshiping God.
Having said that, why am I allowing myself to keep floating in the clouds this morning?
Why is it so important that former Bucks’ point guard Brandon Jennings’s “prophecy” came true — eight years later — of “Bucks in Six” (that the Bucks would win an important series in six games)?
A boyhood dream
Many lifelong sports fans start very young. In my very early days, my first images of professional basketball were that of Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, and later, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
There was also this team in Milwaukee called the Bucks. They had a cool logo with a deer holding a basketball and they wore a lot of green.
They played in the same league as Magic, Bird, and Michael, but they weren’t as good. They were only on local TV and not the big important games seen on network TV.
Despite all of the uniform, colors, and logo changes over the past 30 years, deep down, they’re still the Bucks I first became aware of with the cool deer logo. Part of me is still five and the only games that matter are the ones nationally televised on network TV.
I just watched six of these such games in the NBA Finals. The Bucks won a majority of them, they are the champs, and little Kevin is happy.
Magic, Bird, and Michael are long gone, but Giannis is here. At least for this season, Giannis and the Bucks are on top of the world, and so am I.
It took a while, but one boyhood dream has finally come true.
Learning to hope
Ask any lifelong Bucks fan like myself about disappointing moments and you’ll be gifted with a litany of painful games that we can’t seem to forget.
I won’t bore you with that list, but there are a lot.
Several Bucks games during the 2020-2021 NBA Playoffs appeared, at moments, to resemble those heartbreaks.
Much to everyone’s benefit and happiness (unless you are a Heat, Nets, Hawks, or Suns fan) the Bucks persevered and won these crucial games.
Throughout the duration of Milwaukee’s 16 combined wins during this year’s playoffs, I probably gave up during half of them.
I’ll fess up and admit it, I lost hope many times. Can you really blame me though? I let this team let me down countless times over the years, why would this year be any different?
This year was different. I’m happy to admit when I gave up and braced for the worst, I was wrong.
As far as one’s faith life goes, sporting events probably aren’t the best outlet for practicing hope, but these games can be profound and allow those fans who didn’t give up to rub it in our faces a little bit.
As I go through life’s daily struggles, perhaps some of these games will stick in my mind. Perhaps I’ll remember Game 1 against Miami, Game 7 against Brooklyn, Game 6 against Atlanta, and Game 6 against Phoenix and pause and remember that I thought things looked bleak and “done” . . . and they weren’t.
Yeah, it’s only sports, but every little bit helps.
Sometimes in life, it’s not “over” or a lost cause even if our misguided intellect thinks it is.
Embracing the journey
I’ve written about this before, but a slight pet peeve of mine is when overly-optimistic sports fans focus more on the journey than the results.
If a team is looking bad in mid-season or mid-playoffs and hopes of a championship are starting to fade, it’s hard for me to think “wow, golly, what a ride, I’m just happy to be here, enjoy the journey!”
This championship run by the Bucks WAS a journey — not just this season, but for decades.
I’ve recently seen sentimental social media posts sharing memories of fandom passed down through the generations. This has been a journey for entire families.
I couldn’t watch the game with my parents, but I called them at home with 19 seconds left to go in the game, even though it was after 10:30 at night. It’s what you do.
I’ve also viewed the images of the overly-populated “Deer District” outside the Bucks arena in Milwaukee and seeing 65,000 dedicated fans share an experience I hope they won’t forget.
Yes, it would be nice if we applied this energy and sentimentality to more aspects of our life — including our faith — but today, I’m going to celebrate both the Bucks and the fact that we, as a people, can be energetic and sentimental.
“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (Luke 12:48, NABRE).
Bucks fans, we’ve been given a great gift. Let’s be an example of faith, hope, and love beyond basketball.
Oh, and . . . #BucksInSix