With the Bucks eliminating the Bulls last night, and with little fireworks accompanying it, what briefly looked like the latest front in a strange state vs. city rivalry went quietly into that good night. I think Grayson Allen’s contract’s expiring. There aren’t many non-Grayson Allen reasons to hate the Bucks.
Rivalries between Wisconsin and Chicago are odd ones, starting with the fact they’re rivalries between a city and a state. There’s inconsistency all over the place. The Bucks and Bulls have rarely been competitive at the same time. The Brewers have rarely been competitive, period, and while there’s bad blood between them and the Cubs, there’s also bad blood between the Cubs and White Sox, making the Sox and Brewers sometimes allies. The Packers and Bears is a classic, loaded rivalry, but the Packers are not from Milwaukee, and the Packers have the Vikings to worry about in addition to the Bears. In the college ranks, there’s hardly any rivalry to speak of between Illinois and Wisconsin (or between Northwestern and anybody), and the number of Illinois kids who end up at UW-Madison is high, creating an awkward cross-pollination. There are also people like me—Cubs and Packers fans in part by virtue of my dad being raised in Iowa—and people down in Central Illinois who are closer to Indy and people down in Southern Illinois who are closer to St. Louis, which does a lot of diluting.
In most cases, there are clear geographic lines for hatred. New York and Boston will always be rivals, in everything. New York and Philadelphia will always be rivals, in everything. Los Angeles’s rivalries with New York and Boston often go dormant, but when they arise, they always make sense. Wisconsin or Milwaukee and Illinois or Chicago? Ehh.
Part of this, I think, is that Wisconsin is unquestionably the cooler state between itself and Illinois, and Chicago is operating in a different sphere than Milwaukee when it comes to cities. Milwaukee’s in competition with Minneapolis and Indianapolis and Cincinnati and Kansas City and Cleveland, culturally. Chicago’s in competition with Los Angeles and D.C. and San Francisco and Boston. Illinois kids often attend college in Wisconsin. Illinois families often vacation in Wisconsin. College graduates from Wisconsin move to Chicago to work. Milwaukee residents have their bachelor and bachelorette parties in Chicago. Chicago’s a large market, Wisconsin’s a small market, the Bulls and Cubs are large-market teams, the Bucks and Brewers are small-market teams. Every now and then, things will flare up, but they’re the sort of things that can flare up between any two teams in frequent competition. Remember when the Red Wings and the Avalanche were rivals? Me neither. Instead, it’s mostly confined to Bears/Packers, and that’s one-sided enough to be largely fun and games right now.
Grayson Allen, you did your best. Now please, get the hell out of the Midwest so we don’t have to think about you again. Your rivalries aren’t fun. They’re not even the angry kind of fun.
Joe Kelly: Rehab Outing Set
Joe Kelly’s heading to Charlotte tomorrow to start a rehab stint which we assume will be short. Might make his White Sox debut next week at Wrigley Field. Would imagine tickets for that would be in the thousands of dollars in resale markets. Just a suggestion to resale sellers. You can probably make thousands selling right now, so you should all list your prices in the thousands. All of you. Every one of you. Would hate for any one of you to sell for less than your ticket is worth. Joe Kelly’s White Sox debut, happening at Wrigley Field? That’s a valuable ticket right there (Alexa, please remind me to list my Cubs tickets for next week since I will probably not be there until later in the month).
One Last Night in Ottawa (for This Year)
The Sens host the Panthers tonight ahead of tomorrow’s regular season finale in Philadelphia, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for one last Sens-ing (since the Flyers are worse than the Senators, and a Sens-ing in that case might involve the Sens losing, making us the ones getting Sens-ed). The hockey season went fast. Playoffs start Monday? Wouldn’t know. Am a Senators fan.
Giovanny Gallegos: Ride or Die?
This was such a good move:
Overall thoughts on yesterday’s Mets/Cardinals kerfuffle are that 1) It’s ok to be pissed off when a ball’s thrown near your head, 2) Chris Bassitt’s attempt to preemptively downplay this by talking about how inconsistent the baseball is to itself this year (goodness gracious, MLB) now looks suspiciously like an attempt at cover. Just saying. Did get a kick out of Zach Zaidman on Cubs radio breaking it down in the pregame as “Nolan Arenado basically instigated the whole thing” (I paraphrased) when that wasn’t the case. You should always blame things on your rival, and Zaidman gets that.
Caleb Lohner Transferred Somewhere
Baylor, I think. I don’t know why I’m blanking on this but the important thing is that the guy who really visually fit at BYU is no longer at BYU, and I don’t know how it helps or hurts their NIT ambitions but my best guess is that it’s neutral, because Lohner was more notable-looking than he was good or bad, and BYU just needs to keep staying the course. Few college basketball programs are blessed with a natural median like that of BYU, who left to the fates will almost always end up in the NIT.
Animal News
Fargo was attacked by a grackle yesterday on our morning walk (it attacked me first, it was a fired-up grackle), and I can’t emphasize enough how much a bummer it is during the spring, fall, and winter, that Austin has grackles instead of crows. In the summer? When everything’s on fire? Then, the grackles make sense. Right now, though, would love some crows.
Elsewhere, just a reminder that cows have great vibes. In case any of you MilkTime folks haven’t thought through your votes.
