Cheer for (or against) the Buc[k]s in all Three Major American Sports
Two Pirates and a Hoofed Ruminant
Each of the three major American professional sports has a team named the Bucks, or “Bucs” (we can consider the trio as having the same name, as “Bucks” and “Bucs” are homophones):
The Milwaukee Bucks, reigning NBA champs
The Tampa Bay Bucs (Buccaneers), reigning NFL champions (albeit probably not for long)
—and:
The Pittsburgh Pirates, also nick-nicknamed the Bucs (which is also, as with the Tampa Bay football team, short for ‘Buccaneers,’ a synonym of Pirates), the best baseball team in Pittsburgh.
I guess I need to explain myself on a couple of points before proceeding:
First, I say football (American football, that is), baseball, and basketball are the “three major American professional sports” because I consider hockey a Canadian sport (by “American” I’m referring to the United States of America, as “United Statesian” is awkward and unfamiliar, and I don’t think my word Centnoram for the United States of America will ever catch on), and I view soccer as an upstart and a foreign body invading my homeland. Besides, soccer (as well as hockey) were NIH (Not Invented Here), as opposed to the chosen three, which were invented here (football:Connecticut; baseball:New York; basketball: Connecticut).
Second, I say the Pittsburgh Pirates are “nick-nicknamed” the Bucs because what most people consider a sports team’s name is technically their nickname. So the “Pirates” is the Pittsburgh baseball team’s nickname, and so the derivation of it (“Bucs”), is the shortened form of a nickname of a nickname, or a nick-nickname.
So two of the Buc[k]s teams are named after pirates, and one after a mammal who is often the prey of residents of Wisconsin, the State that team calls home: The Milwaukee Bucks are named for deer (their “fight song” or “tag line” is “Fear the Deer”). The Oakland Raiders (football) are also named for pirates, as is made clear by their emblem/insignia/logo (the image on their helmet).
I would like to see the Pirates/Bucs win a world series. I’m an Orioles fan, but the Birds seem to be pretty much a lost cause. I get the impression the owner doesn’t care about winning. Either he doesn’t care or he’s a buffoon, and it doesn’t really matter which—either way, they are disgracing their glorious history with the ineptitude of the last several decades.
I would love to see the Milwaukee Bucks retain their championship status. I’ve always been a Bucks fan—if you accept “since the early 1970s” as being “always.” That’s when (despite being a native Californian) I also started cheering on the Green Bay Packers in football and the Baltimore Orioles in baseball. At that time, Bart Starr still played for the Packers, the Robinson “brothers” (Brooks and Frank) for the Os, and Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for the Bucks.
As for the Tampa Bay Bucs: No sirree, Bob! I don’t want to see them win diddly-squat. Gronk seems likable, based on his commercials, but nothing else about that team engenders sympathy from me. Go Pack Go!