Tag: Milwaukee Bucks

You won’t know if you’ve made the right decision until the very end.

I share a pair of season tickets to the Milwaukee Bucks with a group of other guys. At the start of each season, we rank our games in priority order so that we can each see one of the games we would like to see most. This year, my number-one-ranked game was against the Golden State Warriors. I have never seen Steph Curry play live. Finally, this was my year. Because when the games were handed out, I got the tickets to the Golden State game. It was a swish come true.

My family and I are always looking for fun experiences and adventures. Like the Bucks games. So over the holiday break, my wife Dawn found another cool experience for us to enjoy. It was a torchlit snowshoe hike through a park in rural Wisconsin. I loved the idea of it. We have done similar outings while cross-country skiing. And far from being tiki-torcherous, these outings are magical. So I was all in.

However, the snowshoe hike was a leap of faith. Because when we registered for it, there was no snow on the ground. None. Not a flake. It was kinda like the movie White Christmas. But me and my Rosemary Clooney had faith. So we registered and paid our fee anyway. Because in the forecast it looked as if we were likely to get significant snowfall over the following 10 days.

But in the middle of last week, I discovered a problem. The Golden State Warriors game and the hike were on the same Saturday night. Which is like a plot twist in a sitcom. I thought about my options like any good Dad in a good sitcom would do. I thought about leaving the hike early. I thought about sending Dawn and the kids on the hike while I went to the game with one of my guy friends, like Kramer or George.

Finally, I decided that as much as I wanted to see Stef Curry play, this was the last year that my family of 5 would be together before my 18-year-old daughter Ava leaves for college. So in my Good Luck, Charlie moment, I prioritized the family snowshoe outing.

I decided to see if I could trade my Bucks tickets with someone else in my group. Our group’s Ticketmaster, Darren Fisher, helped me swap my tix for a future game to be determined later. I was bummed to transfer the tickets away. But I want to prioritize family time. (I also want Ticketmaster to not sue me for using the name Ticketmaseter without express written consent.)

Then came the snow. We got all the snow that was predicted and more. We got pounded with nearly 2 feet of snow in 5 days. The conditions were perfect for snowshoeing. That is, until they became too perfect. It seems that the amount of snow, plus wind and cold temperatures messed up the prep for the event. So Friday night we were notified that the event had been postponed to the following weekend.

This meant that I gave up my tickets for nothing. A classic sitcom plot twist. Newman...

So on Saturday afternoon, with no Bucks tickets and no snowshoe hike, I took Ava and my son Johann to our local high school boys’ basketball game. Steph Curry didn’t play in that game. Then I took my sons Johann (16) and Magnus (13) to our health club to work out. Again no, Steph.

When we got home from the club we ate dinner and turned on the Bucks-Warriors Game. If I couldn’t be there in person, I could still watch the game on TV. That’s when the final plot twist of my real-life sitcom was revealed. Steph Curry wasn’t playing. He was taking a scheduled rest day as part of what the NBA calls ‘load management.’

Key Takeaway

Life is full of difficult decisions. This is true in our careers and in our personal lives. Make the best decision you can in the moment, with the information you have at the time. Sometimes you’ll get it right. Sometimes you’ll get it wrong. When you are right, give yourself credit for your good call. When you get it wrong, enjoy a good laugh. And know that you’ve got yourself another good story.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

A great way to prepare for your next networking opportunity.

I made plans last week to meet an interesting new person. My friend and client Bethany Grabher recently introduced me via email to DJ Shawna. Not only is DJ Shawna the official DJ for the NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks, she was also selected to DJ at the NBA bubble in Orlando during the 2020 playoffs. But before all that, she played basketball for the University of Wisconsin Badgers. And the Badgers are my favorite (along with smiling).

To prepare for our in-person meeting DJ Shawna and I connected on both LinkedIn and on Instagram. Those platforms are great resources to get to know someone before you meet them in person. (Unless the person is deep into IG filters.) But DJ Shawna also taught me that you can use these vehicles to set the tone for your in-person meeting.

A couple of days before we were scheduled to meet up I posted my Key Takeaway from a recent blog post on my Instagram Story. (You can regularly catch the key takeaway from my blog posts at @adamalbrecht on IG. Also, check out the Silly Highlight.) Not long after I shared the Key Takeaway DJ Shawna responded to it with the following comment:

I can already tell we are going to be friends.

-DJ Shawna

I found myself thinking about that response a lot. It may have seemed like a simple pleasantry to others. And maybe it is the kind of statement that women share easily. But to me, it felt profound. Because it communicated the following:

  1. I’m researching you too.
  2. I like what you wrote.
  3. We value the same things.
  4. I like positive thinking.
  5. I like positive people.
  6. You have already passed my test.
  7. I’m interested in becoming your friend.
  8. I can read. (This was actually my first takeaway.)

That simple statement changed the nature of our meetup. Instead of going to meet a stranger for a networking coffee, I felt like I was going to meet a friend for the first time. Which is the friend version of meeting a relative for the first time. The relationship is already established. It is simply a matter of bringing reality to life.

As DJ Shawna and I were enjoying some Rocket Fuel downtown Milwaukee we ran into friend and fellow Badger Ben Brust, who captained Wisconsin’s 2014 Final Four basketball team and now hosts the Scalzo and Brust Show on ESPN radio. Go Badgers!

Side Note.

I noticed that being a DJ is like being a doctor. It’s fun to add DJ before the name of a DJ to distinguish them from other regular people without the need for a last name. However, Shawna does have a last name. Her birth certificate calls her Shawna Nicols. (I actually haven’t seen her birth certificate so I’m just guessing at that using the information I have.)

Key Takeaway

If in the process of researching someone before you meet them in person, don’t be afraid to let them know that you think you are going to be friends. Or that you have a lot in common. Or that you find them interesting, fascinating or impressive. It sets the tone for a positive in-person introduction. Because when relationships start well, they tend to go well, last longer, and run deeper. And if you like that, I think we are going to be friends.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

You have the ability to create your own comeback stories.

I am a Milwaukee Bucks fan. This week the Bucks won the NBA championship for the first time since 1971. I wasn’t even alive the last time the Bucks won the NBA title. In fact, during the Bucks’ championship drought bellbottoms went in and out of style 3 times.

The 2021 title did not come easy. There were several times when a championship this season seemed out of the question. Like in the second round of the playoffs when the Bucks were down 2 games to 0 versus the Brooklyn Nets. (Not to be confused with the Moscow Nyets.) In the second game of that series, Milwaukee lost 125-86. In case you don’t know sports, that’s really bad.

Then, in game 7 of that series, it looked like the Bucks had been eliminated when the Nets’ Kevin Durant hit a last-second 3-pointer to seal the win. But it turned out the toe of his size 18 shoe was on the 3-point line, making the shot a 2-pointer, and sending the game to overtime, and a Bucks win.

In game 5 Against the Atlanta Hawks, the Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo went down with a nasty knee injury that looked as if it was sure to end his season, his ability to walk right, and the team’s championship hopes.

Then the Bucks opened the NBA Finals in Phoenix against the Suns. Despite the fact the Giannis miraculously was back and played great, the Bucks got rolled in back-to-back games. Things didn’t look good when the team was down 2 games to none.

But the Bucks never gave up. They never waved the white flag. They stole Phoenix’s schtick and kept rising to the occasion.

They won game 7 in overtime against the Nets.

They rallied after it looked like they lost their best player against the Hawks and won the final 2 games without him.

Then, when they came back to Milwaukee down 2-0 against the Suns in the finals, the crowd cheered the now famous ‘Bucks In Six! Bucks In Six! Bucks In Six!’ Which meant the team would win the next 4 games in a row. And that is exactly what happened.

Key Takeaway

  • Just because you are losing doesn’t mean you have lost.
  • It isn’t over until it is over.
  • Bad breaks don’t mean a bad outcome.
  • What has happened doesn’t indicate what will happen.
  • Humans can cause their own momentum shifts.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.