My favorite movie ever is “The Mighty Ducks.”
Sophomoric at best, I know.
It’s the story of an underdog youth hockey team and their recovering alcoholic, has-been of a coach, Gordon Bombay, defying the odds to win their state hockey championship.
At the end of the championship game, their star player, Charlie, gets a penalty shot.
Before he takes it, Gordon Bombay tells him, “You may make it, you may not, but look around, who ever thought we’d make it this far.”
As you well know by now, our Milwaukee Bucks are a single win away from giving our city a moment that we haven’t experience in half a century.
I’ve talked to a lot of people this week, lifelong Milwaukeeans, that are hoping for the best, but are expecting what they’ve been conditioned to expect.
Disappointment.
Good or bad, right or wrong, sports have an immeasurable impact on who we are.
The outcomes effect the way we think, the way we talk, the way we interact, the way we hope.
That sounds trivial, especially given what we’ve all gone through this past year, but it’s true.
That’s because we care.
We put in effort and we invest ourselves in something that’s ultimately out of our control.
Tonight’s outcome on the floor will be what it will be.
But right now, these moments are what makes being a sports fan the best feeling on the planet.
It’s not about winning the NBA Championship tonight.
It’s about waking up this morning, thinking “we might win the NBA Championship tonight.”
Then stewing around with that feeling all day.
It’s about wearing your lucky Bucks shirt to the office.
It’s about planning your whole day around the game.
It’s about watching Game 6 in the same exact place as you watched Game 5, because it worked on Saturday night.
It’s about exchanging a smile and a “Bucks in 6” at the coffee shop with a complete and total stranger.
Make sure your soak in those moments today.
We may win, we may not, but look around. Who ever thought we’d make it this far?