Hope and Bounce and a Win

It's a few games into the NBA season and I haven't been writing my usual tomes about the Bucks yet. This is in part because this year (before we knew just how lousy the economy was going to be) we bought full season tickets (before we knew how good or lousy the team was going to be). Granted, they're in way cheaper seats, but based on the first bunch of games we've been to, it's going to be a long, albeit interesting season.

We've only seen T-Shirt Guy once this season, but maybe that's because we don't have a clear view of him like we used to. We have a clearer view of the Energee Girls, who seem to have all but abandoned any pretense of being more like a dance squad than the PG-13 rated strippers the NBA is clearly pressuring them to be. I'm waiting for them to do an interesting routine like they used to. Maybe they're just getting warmed up.

Stella and I took our seats. She's older now, and is starting to really appreciate the game, which comes in handy so that Brian and I don't have to hire a sitter every night. She agreed with me on the rendition of the anthem by the Hope Christian School Choir. It wasn't bad. They had a really interesting, almost more than 4-part harmony arrangement, and everybody sounded like they were on tune. If there's any criticism to be made, it's in a department they probably can't help: there didn't seem to be enough sopranos or tenors to carry the melody -- all I could seem to hear was the harmony, but really, it wasn't bad. It's wasn't your routine, just-sing-it-a-third-below-the-melody harmony, and it had some teeth to it. Maybe their dominant voices happen to be their altos and baritones. Get some more strong voice on melody, Hope Christian, and you'll be unbeatable.

Ah the game! Another exciting one for me and Stella -- Brian and I are wondering if Stella's the good luck charm, since every game she's hit, they've won, and when she's not there with us, they lose, and lose big. So I'm trying to figure out if she's just understanding the game better, or if, since the games are more exciting when she's there, she's just into it more.

It helps when you have an entertainment=packed package, too. Halftime entertainment, while not exactly last week's Jesse White crew, were these two performers from the Russian Circus called Bounce. And here was their schtick: jump ropes and ball bouncing/juggling. On their noses. While standing on each other. While jumping rope.

In any event, the Bucks are getting more interesting. Bogut even said about last Wednesday's (in the Journal) overtime victory that in the same situation last year, when down double digits, they would have just given up, but this year it's not over until that fat lady starts singing. We suspect it has a lot to do with Coach Stiles. He just doesn't look like the kind of guy who's bad side you want to be on. And we also are seeing this team hustle and flow and beat perfectly good teams without Michael Redd. Yeah, Redd's good, but now we're starting to wonder if he might be worth more in a trade. I need to see him play more and remind me why he's all that.

We also like these new guys. Mbah a Moute seemed to be this player who came out of nowhere (and that's no reflection on his african heritage -- I'd just never heard the name until his Milwaukee Buck-dom) and he's out to prove he's more than some prince. "And who is that short little white guy?" a colleague at work gushed, over six-two Luke Ridenour? Especially up where we're sitting, you forget that these guys are really tall, so that a 6'2" guy does look like he's just a junior at Pius IX or something. Still, he's been a treat to watch, too. And then you have Richard Jefferson (and they play "Movin' on Up To The East Side" every time he hits a shot, which was quite often at this game. "Theme from The Jeffersons," get it? Maybe we'll finally get a piece of this playoff pie yet.

On tap for the weekend:

Friday night is a tough call. There's the somewhat periodic (seems more often than simply "annual") Kneel To Neil event at Linnemans, where a pile of bands take turns taking on Neil Young. If they can promise me that I won't have to hear eight different version of "After the Gold Rush" or "Cinnamon Girl", I might make it there. Otherwise, I suspect the place to be will be Club Gariballdi. Headling will be Radon, fronted by former Iggy Pop sax player Steve McKay, this band that's touring with them called Sikara. Local support will be the Danglers and IROCKZ -- between the description of Radon, along with our local heroes, this sounds like a well=put together lineup. Then again, you have Danny Price and the Loose Change at Zad's Roadhouse with The Grand Disaster --a new (and according to Brian killer) band fronted by Floor Model and Chop Top Toronado's Mark E Lee. I think it's all going to depend on what kind of a day I have at work.

Saturday night is also packed. We're off to see the Bucks try their hand against the Celtics (if they can go the distance, I will start to believe. I'm not expecting a win here.) We'll have to miss the wonderful Bikini Beachcombers playing a set at the Foundation Tiki Bar (which I suspect won't go necessarily late anyway), but more because Brian has a gig with Dr Chow's Love Medicine, and it's at O'Keefe's House of Hamburg, and they're going a very Zappa-laden set to warm up for Zappafest next weekend. But most importantly, it's lead singer Frank Chandik and bar owner Tim O'Keefe's birthdays which means there will be Food, FZ and I'm sure plenty of drinking and debauchery.

But wait, there's more I'm going to have to miss. If you're not in the mood to see the Bucks get pounded by the Celtics, go to the rave and see the Mighty Deerlick at 7 pm get pounded by -- I shit you not -- Midget Wrestling. What the hell is this? They go into hiding nine months of the year and come out and back up midget wrestling at the rave. I will have to count on CzelticGirl-- who alerted me to this to begin with -- to provide a full report.

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