And despite its occasional efforts at reinvention, including the sign at the airport welcoming visitors to “America’s Third Coast,” Milwaukee is not known for self-promotion, either. “I was that kid,” he often says. And for the far-flung Antetokounmpo brothers—born in Greece to Nigerian parents—the family home has become this unlikely locale of Friday fish fries and drink wisconsinbly T-shirts. This byline is mine, but I want my name removed. On the heels of two other departures, this makes a total of three, with supposedly three more to come. “I think the people are [respectful] because they know we’re just one big family,” says Thanasis. And so my daughter and I lay in that box and gazed out at the dozens upon dozens of tulips my wife planted in rows last fall. This current limboed season is unlikely to affect the service time of NBA players, which means the Freak could conceivably leave town for sunnier climes, if not greener pastures. Giannis calls it an “amazing dream” and an “unbelievable journey.” They’re not alone. We’re also told Rushin was one of the most well-liked members on staff, and the consensus is that he may have had the most talent at the magazine. Please don’t worry about the mud in the West Wing. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. “There was a lot of people [we admired].” He exhales deeply, loath to choose a favorite. We both reeked of secondhand Camels. When at last he arrives home—to the red-brick five-bedroom in River Hills that he shares with Giannis; their mother, Veronica; and Giannis’s partner, Mariah Riddlesprigger—Alex doesn’t watch the Bucks-Pelicans game on TNT. On arriving in America, he too was amused by the size and scope of the supermarkets. There is no … He resumed his column - renamed "Rushin Lit" - on an occasional basis in October 2011. So many, so many. “Home is where your family is. Giannis coaches the Dominican High fall league team. He’s growing as we do.”. © 2020 2019 ABG-SI LLC. Sierra Canyon won 90–55. As with Giannis, Milwaukee and Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) were on a first-name basis, until he left for L.A. in the summer of 1975 after six seasons with the Bucks, including the franchise’s only NBA championship (in ’71). So, those making the history of our age — for better or worse — aren’t all that different from you and me. I never want them to see me do something that I wouldn’t want them to do. His first book, Road Swing, published in 1998, was named one of the "Best Books of the Year" by Publishers Weekly and one of the "Top 100 Sports Books of All Time" by SI. “I could give you a top five: Undertaker, Stone Cold, the Rock, Eddie Guerrero—he was amazing. And my mom and my brothers are here.”. [3] "Beer has long been in my blood, and not just in the literal sense," he wrote. Steve Rushin Publish date: Apr 10, 2020. “And it’s nice to meet people like this.”, “Segregation is a stated fact in every story about Milwaukee,” says Kaems, the artist, who grew up in Sherman Park, which made national news in 2016 for three nights of riots following the fatal shooting of a black man, Sylville Smith, by a black police officer (who was later found not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide). He is in the third year of a four-year, $100 million deal and could sign an extension as early as this summer. Rather, Alex streams a Wisconsin Herd game, “to see my other brother,” 27-year-old Thanasis Antetokounmpo, a 6' 7" forward who has been on the Milwaukee bench for much of the season and is getting minutes tonight in the NBA’s developmental G League, which features another “other brother,” 22-year-old Kostas Antetokounmpo—Dominican High, class of 2016—who plays for the South Bay Lakers, on a two-way contract with the actual Lakers. . He has an incredible drive but also a humility to him, and an expectation that he can get better.” After a pause, Budenholzer adds: “Yeah, we’ll keep him.”. "My ancestors were much practiced at naming bars. I can make better passes. in February, 2007,[20] returning in a contributing role in July 2010. “When I thought about it this summer when I was sitting down with Thanasis and my family on the couch watching shows and all that, I feel that if you have a great team—and our goal is to win a championship and be the last team standing and get better each day—I think it’s disrespectful toward my teammates, talking about my free agency,” he said in September. He is a Special Contributor to the magazine, for which he writes columns and features. “Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, all these guys, they have something special,” says Thanasis. Sources told The Big Lead late Friday night that Sports Illustrated approached Rushin this week and wanted him to stop writing his colum. Find the best way to get in touch with Steve by joining Muck Rack. Giannis isn’t from this city, but he’s continued to grow here, and that’s a great metaphor for the city. The Pint Man (2010) A kid that age is not going to understand our family’s situation.”, That family’s story, even now, can be hard to fathom. ... Dear Mr. Sports Illustrated, I read your final column in your literary home of 19 years. Kohl’s mother, Mary, also emigrated to America, from Russia. “I can get a lot better,” Giannis says. He added: "She had the longest legs, the whitest teeth, the best-sown cornrows I had ever seen, and I imagined us to have much in common. I hung my head and said, "None." Faced with a costly correction, he installed it unaltered, which is why San Francisco had—under different ownership—a famous nightclub of the '50s called Fack's. He ate his way around America's ballparks[18] and rode a dozen rollercoasters in a day. “Like a shopping mall, you can get anything,” he says, and it’s unclear whether he’s talking about Pick ’n Save or America itself. [34], Rushin is married to college basketball analyst and former basketball player Rebecca Lobo. .’ ”, It is a happy problem, he knows, and Budenholzer gives it a shot: “It starts with his desire to improve and put in the work to get better, not just every year but every day. Sources told The Big Lead late Friday night that Sports Illustrated appr… The late Reggie Lisowski—known to 20th-century wrestling fans as the Crusher—is commemorated in bronze in his native South Milwaukee; he’s holding a beer keg on his right shoulder, his left arm perfectly positioned for photo-op headlocks. “We’re open and not like this”—he holds his arms out as if keeping a mob at bay—“so they don’t feel like, Oh, my god, I’m not gonna see them again. He also writes a weekly column for SI.com. The story of his journey was divided into five parts, each exploring an essential aspect of sports in America. His mother, Jane, was a teacher who thought his love of reading and writing meant he should become a lawyer. Is it any wonder that Alex speaks of basketball as the family business, describing it during a break from practice at Dominican the following afternoon as a “job” and a “craft” and an “industry”? Forty-five years later, Milwaukee is perhaps still best known nationally for those two inexhaustible resources. “Chick-Fil-A, Culver’s, Blaze Pizza . The Bucks offices are in the former Schlitz brewery campus, redeveloped as Schlitz Park, twinning beer and deer for the foreseeable future. Alex was enrolled in Saint Monica’s, the Catholic middle school down the street from Dominican, where the boy had some initial difficulty navigating two intimidating new cultures: America and middle school: “It was much harder than high school,” says Alex. “For sure, for sure,” says Thanasis, standing beneath the Greek and Nigerian and American flags suspended from the rafters in the Bucks’ glittering new practice facility. A chain of Kohl’s department stores followed. Introducing Trends: visualize news in real-time and discover top authors or outlets. "[8] He is a graduate of John F. Kennedy Senior High School in Bloomington, and Marquette University in Milwaukee. Milwaukee ’ s enduring loves: professional wrestling mourning, Dad turned Job-like to golf Digest and time magazine New... Writing an epic feature for S.I winds up at Sportsline.com exploring an essential aspect of Sports in America still known! 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