This is not what you think. It is not about your big salaries (i.e. big bucks) nor is it about winning the lottery and falling into “big bucks”.
It was 1995. I belonged to TEC which was a group of business executives that met on a regular basis. Jack Sturm, who was President of Sturm Industries, had season tickets for the Milwaukee Bucks. He offered to take Gordy Minch from Ripon, the President of Ripon College, and myself to a night game at the Bradley Center. Two tickets were in the lower grandstand but two tickets were on the basketball court under the basket. That is right, two of us got to sit right under the Milwaukee Bucks basket as they warmed up. We were in the first row of courtside chairs and we got first hand knowledge of what “big Bucks” really were. I don’t think anyone was under 6 foot 4 inches tall and there were a couple 7 footers. One I remember was big Paul Mokosky (Big Mo). He wasn’t real good but he was 7 feet tall, he tried hard and he was a crowd favorite.
So as I was sitting there courtside thinking about what the rest of the world was doing that evening, I decided that I would try to get the tickets for another game and take family member.
About a month later, I got a couple of complimentary tickets and Paul and I went to a game. The game looks different from courtside at the end of the court. Play is right in front of you and you are awed by the close, fast action. Part of the play is at the other end of the court and you are viewing it unobstructed from a distance. Does it get any better?
But here is the “clinker”. In the NBA, there is a lot of fast action and sometimes as the teams race down the court they shoot and then run under the basket and sometimes into the crowd. That is right! We were sitting in the place where you see players charge into fans and chairs and photographers go sprawling. We were in mortal danger. We could have got run over by a 7 footer. What had I done? Paul and I could get hurt. But you know what, we didn’t care. If we were going to die, how great would it be to “expire” under the basket at a Milwaukee Bucks game.
We obviously survived and are here to tell our story.
I don’t remember if the Bucks won or not. I don’t care! I don’t remember the names of any of the other players at the time and I don’t care. The team sucked and I didn’t care. I do remember that it was a special moment.
Now I know what you are all thinking! Why Paul and not me? Well Deb had to work that night. Kelly was busy over in Madison. Shelby Jr. wouldn’t let Chris go. Margaret was at dance recital. So it was just Paul and me. It would have been a shame to waste the tickets.
Wouldn’t you know it was the last Bucks game I ever attended.
Love,
Dad