You might have seen the advertising this week and last that 30 dollars could get you the Cleveland game and either Atlanta or Brooklyn. Bucks are working their butts off to get Cleveland game to be a sellout. Is it going to happen? I’m unsure, but regardless, we have to be concerned about the lack of causal enthusiasm for this team. The first couple games into the season I had a conversation with ESPN Milwaukee’s Eric Nehm about how we should wait for a month to see if the attendance numbers improved before freaking out about the attendance numbers.

It’s been a month, and Bucks rank 28th out of 30th. The only teams who trail Milwaukee are Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, although both teams played only eight games at home compared to Milwaukee’s nine. Bucks are a .500 team with an emerging superstar. It’s a great time to become a Bucks fan or grow your fandom with this team. They are fun to watch from start to finish, and most nights they are competitive with the opposing team. Tickets aren’t that expensive to the family of four or a father/mother going with their son or daughter. What’s keeping people away from the stadium?

It could be the general feeling towards professional basketball. Wisconsin Badgers basketball is probably the most popular team in the state, and their style contrasts what Bucks do at a professional level. Now, people shouldn’t compare the two, but the casual basketball fan will do that even though it’s the wrong way to look at things. Another thing to ponder about is the wound still fresh regarding Peter Feigin’s comments about Milwaukee being the ‘most racist city of America.’ My uncle, who leans left and pretty open-minded, said he would never give Bucks a dime. I tried to explain to him that the team outweighs what Feigin said, yet he dug his feet in the sand.

Maybe we need to make peace that Milwaukee is a bandwagon basketball city. If Bucks continue to win, the seats will fill up more often. And that’s the only way attendance numbers are going to go up. That puts a ton of pressure on the team going forward with a new arena though.

Charlie.