The Bucks were already winners before the new season started thanks to Giannis signing the supermax deal to stay in Milwaukee, but now they've picked up another victory: the award for Sports Illustrated's Team of the Year in 2020.
Handed out at the Sports Illustrated Awards on Saturday, the Bucks won out over the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Dodgers. At first glance, there's obviously something odd about Milwaukee's inclusion in this group: They're the only team that didn't win their respective championship. So how'd the Bucks get the nomination – and the win – over their championship-winning brethren?
According to Sports Illustrated, the Bucks won "for using their platform to take a stand against racism," mainly referencing the Bucks' decision to boycott their Game 5 playoff game against the Orlando Magic after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. The stand reverberated throughout the NBA and all professional sports and continues to make an impact beyond the court, from stadiums and arenas turning into voting locations to the Wisconsin pro sports teams joining forces for diverse and change-inducing startups to new Buck Jrue Holiday pledging the remainder of his 2020 NBA salary to small Black-owned businesses, nonprofits and initiatives.
"In 2020, Team of the Year takes on a whole new meaning, as it's not just measured by success on the field but equally measures a team's impact off the field," said Richard Jefferson, host of Sports Illustrated's virtual awards show on Saturday.
The 2020 Team of the Year Award goes to the @Bucks! Thank you for using your platform for good and standing up to racism. pic.twitter.com/nMnEXxD5Ea — Sports Illustrated Awards (@TheSIAwards) December 20, 2020
Between this award and Giannis signing his supermax deal, everything's coming up Milwaukee these days. (Tampering? What tampering?) Here's to the Bucks keeping up their winning ways on the court when the 2020-21 season starts this week and soon adding an on-the-court triumph to this well-deserved off-the-court victory.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.
