Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Energee!

Bucks Weekend: Do or die vs. Portland? ... No Energee!... Eastern C-notes

J.D. Mo — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:14:00 GMT

Bucks (31-39) vs. Portland Trailblazers (43-26) @ Bradley Center, 7:30pm Saturday, FSN

The Bucks close out their longest homestand of the season Saturday, needing a win over All-Star Brandon Roy and the Blazers to even the stand at 3-3. Do the Bucks need a victory to stay in the race for the 8th seed in the East? No, but if they don't put a streak together soon, the Bucks playoff hopes will die before Andrew Bogut has a chance to return.

Let's call the Blazers game a must-win, an opportunity to bounceback from Wednesday's drubbing at the hands of Dwight Howard and the Magic. The Bulls play the Lakers Saturday in Chicago.

Milwaukee's the last stop on the Blazers 5-game road trip and their 3rd game in four nights. The Blazers split the first four, being blown out in Atlanta, winning in Memphis and Indiana, then losing Thursday night to the Cavs in OT. Portland's playing well but Saturday's a decent chance to jump a traveling West team at the BC (a la the victory over Denver last month.) A winnable game, like any other.

The team that wins the final playoff spot in the East will be the team with the toughest, most consistent mindset. Coach Scott Skiles is looking for these intangibles out of his Bucks. He also called on the veterans to lead, and though he didn't mention Richard Jefferson by name, that means RJ (12th in the NBA in minutes played) the player Skiles has played more than any other:

"We totally need leadership right now. We need our veteran players to set the tone as far as being mentally ready and carrying us professionally. ... I'm just talking being mentally ready. Knowing their job, knowing what they're supposed to do, knowing the game plan, executing the game plan, competing all the time."

The Blazers start two former Bucks -- point guard Steve Blake and center Joel Przybilla, which is interesting enough. It'll be the 2nd straight game in which the opponent's starting point guard is a former Buck (Rafer Alston for Orlando Wednesday). Prz has become a mentor of sorts for rookie Greg Oden, who missed 15 games Feb-March getting his knee full strength for the playoff push.

The question of who should start at center for the Blazers seems to be settled, and one truth remains: The Oden-zilla frontcourt eats up a lot of space in the paint... Rebounding will be a key. And Luc Mbah a Moute, Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans will have their hands full slowing down Roy and gunner Rudy Fernandez off the Portland bench.

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Energee! is losing big to the Pacemates in the NBA dance bracket. So far the only matchup that has been as one-sided is the Thunder Girls 76-24% landslide over the Suns Dancers yesterday.

The fan support for the Thunder makes sense: there's a lot of excitement in OK City over the old Sonics, and their marketing staff has fun working the buzz of being a new team in a new city. And I'm sure those cowgirls (at right) don't mind kissing a cowboy or two to help the cause.

But the Pacemates? Nothing new about the Pacers. Plus, they've lost 4 straight and the playoff train just left Indy. Not much for fans to get excited about there.

The voting started Thursday at 1pm. I received an email reminding me to vote and offering up a link to the swimsuit pics of Energee! at 1:14PM. By then the rout was on.

I'm not sure what this means in terms of Bucks marketing (or lack thereof) ~~but there's still an hour or two left to vote~~. Polls closed at 1pm (Friday). 80-20%, Pacemates.

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Devin Harris out for the season: Thanks go to JTF on our Bucks message board for posting this. I kinda stopped tracking the Nets after they lost in LA to the Steve Novak Clippers. That's right, the Steve Novak Clippers. The man can shoot. But then the Nets went out and beat the Knicks without Harris Wednesday. Bucks (1-2 vs. Nets) play their 4th Nets game this season March 30 in New Jersey.

Charlie V reverting to his old ways? Bucks Diary thinks so, and Ty makes some great points. Ty's take on Charlie was plugged by Ball Don't Lie today (Friday).

Gerald Wallace is one bad mudder-fu..: The mental toughness Skiles wants out of his Bucks can be found in Charlotte, which should give Larry Brown's team an edge in the race for 8th. Against the Kings Wednesday, forward Gerald Wallace refused medical attention for a bashed knee, refused to go the hospital for an MRI and then played on it in the 'Cats 104-88 win. That's bad-a**. The 'Cats seem to be channeling Brown's 2001 Sixers.

9th place, one game behind the Bulls and 1/2 ahead of the 10th place Bucks? "We can do this," 'Cats fans are saying. That's right, the Bucks find themselves in 10th Saturday after the 'Cats (31-38) won in Toronto Friday.

Then on Saturday in Charlotte, the Bobcats were blown out by Jarrett Jack and the Pacers, who played without starting point guard TJ Ford. Gotta love this Eastern Conference race. So if the Pacers aren't going to lay down, this could get interesting. They play the Bulls twice in the next seven days.

On the other hand the Bulls don't seem to be in a mood to cooperate.

Time to give a twit -- Energee! needs YOU...

J.D. Mo — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:16:00 GMT

I'm convinced our values as a sports culture are in the **itter, or I should say the twitter. Seems we're all in twit about Charlie Villanueva's halftime tweet Sunday, and have lost sight of what's really important in sporting life.

What's so dam important, J.D. Mo, you ask?

Our Energee! dance team needs us - and you - that's what.

The 2009 NBA Dance Team bracket has been posted, and the tournament is already underway. The Energee! girls are up against the Pacemates (Pacers dancers) in the first round, and the voting started today, Thursday, March 19 at 1pm CST.

C'mon guys, it's not going very well, so far.

The girls are offering a pretty payoff and plying us with drinks -- and swim suit pics) -- so there's no reason to ditch. Every round that Energee! advances in this dance-athon gets a free drink at the Hawks and Magic games next month. The catch is, you gotta buy a $20 lower level ticket to get the drinks -- that's right 20 bucks, lower level and four free beers if Energee! makes it all the way to the final.

It's a sweet deal, Tiffany says (that's her blowing you a kiss on this page), and she promises not to think less of you if you were like me and counted up how many free beers there were to be had via this promotion.

Seriously, fans have been talking all season long about how good they think Energee! has become. Energee! 2008-09 may be the best dance team the Bucks have ever had, and a lot of credit is due to Tiffany, who's been team captain for a few years now.

But the competition is tough -- the Miami Heat cheerleaders have won the dancers' competition three years running. If Energee! gets past the Pacers' dancers in Round 1, it looks like they'd up against the New Jersey Nets girls, who are holding on to a slim lead over the Sixers' dance team.

But first thing's first: Time to get our heads out of the twitter and show the love, boys and girls. Here's that bracket again.

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Charlie, you're a dumb twit: Don't get me wrong, I don't think Charlie V did anything all that outrageous by taking a minute to peck out a twitter message -- which said, "tied with the Celtics at half - coach says we have to be tough and I better step it up."

It's not like he wrote - "Drinks at Goolsby's later?"

What is twittering? I'm not going to assume everyone knows. I didn't really know what it was all about until recently, when I read Bucks broadcaster Jim Paschke's blog about his experiences as a first-time Twitter user. To me it was just some new kiddie-doo-dad that had been poorly named like a bad acid trip. Sorta like doing wippits, drinking robitussin or snorting effedrin -- whatever it was, it had annoying lingo attached to it and sounded like it would probably give me the numb jitters. Deciding it wasn't for me, I was perfectly content to live vicariously through Paschke, which would be a disturbing thought if I hadn't sworn a solemn vow just now never to think such a thing ever again.

Now about Charlie ... Some will argue that Charlie has committed an egregious act of sports heresy (probably the same twits who canonized Brett Favre as a "real dude" because of all the goofing around he used to do on the sidelines -- Who can forget the "Look - didja see Mr. Miyagi?" bit that he bugged half the team with after he saw Pat Morita sitting in the stands near the Packers sideline?). Why-ever Charlie thought it was a good idea to twitter at the half, I don't know, but at least he was very much focused on the matter at hand - his job. And he played a strong 2nd half.

What twits me about all this is not only the endless supply of stupid wordplay that Charlie is now responsible for, but that he set a dangerous NBA precedent Sunday. Before Charlie did it Sunday at half, no player had ever twittered during a game. Now the floodgates are open. This is an obvious marketing tool for the league known for its relentless marketing, and NBA commissioner David Stern is already a known twitter bug. So's SEIU honcho Andy Stern (no relation to David), I happen to know.

As far as I know, our elected officials here in Wisconsin aren't twittery just yet, but how much longer can that last? Will President Obama be the first president in US history to twitter? Probably -- and doesn't that sound so ... so ... unpresidential.

Wouldn't NBA fans love the occasional in-game twitter from their favorite players? Of course they would. Charlie's twitter nation has quadrupled to over 4,000 subscribers since Sunday, and his following is no doubt growing as I type this -- even though his immediate supervisor, Scott Skiles, told him he better not do it again.

I'm afraid it's too late. Skiles and Charlie can try to get the snake back in the bag, but the beast has slithered out of the building. No doubt it's made it to Los Angeles by now and is hunting down Kobe Bryant.

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Magic in theory and practice: My theory is that when the Bucks took the court tonight against the Orlando Magic, they caught one look at Dwight Howard and all at once remembered that Andrew Bogut wasn't playing. "Wish Bogues was playing," they all thought, pretty much at the same time. Game over.

The final was 106-80, but the telling tale was that the Bucks were down 65-35 at half. I had begun to believe that kind of deficit would never befall the current, scrappy Bucks. For a couple of minutes, it did look like the Bucks were ready to dig out of the 41-22 hole they were in by the 2nd quarter, but they just couldn't keep track of guys like J.J. Reddick, and ended up making him look like Rasual Butler of the Hornets. Or was it DaeQuan Cook of the Miami Heat?

No, this was not one of the finer performances by they Ridnour-Sessions point guard tandem. In fact, it was so bad, Charles Gardner of JS-Online decided to write about the Magic's replacement point guard, Rafer Alston. If the Bucks are going to make it up the Mount Doom that is the 8th playoff seed in the East, Sam and Frodo might want to remember where they hid the ring.

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Ball Don't Lie: The power rankings this week are a riot. They're right on, too, as far as the rabble riot in the East fighting for that last playoff spot.

My other dumb theory: The Bucks fell flat tonight against Howard and the Magic to light a fire under Bogut about how much we need him back for the final weeks of the season (of course, that's not what they were doing but what they did do delivered much the same effect). The Bucks have two more cracks at the Magic. No, Bogut will not be back for the next one, March 27 in Orlando, but the game at the BC April 13? I bet Bogut can't wait.

Bucks a game and-a-half behind the Bulls: The Bulls won in Oklahoma City tonight behind inevitable Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose. This means the Bucks slid 1-1/2 games behind them with the loss to the Magic and are now virtually tied with the Charlotte Bobcats for 9th. The good news is that the Bulls play the Lakers Saturday. The Bucks sorely need a win against the Trailblazers Saturday to make that Bulls-Lakers game matter.

Bucks Weekend: Payback time for the Bulls and Warriors... An Energee! flip-off...

J.D. Mo — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:21:00 GMT

Bucks (29-35) vs. Bulls (28-33) @ Chicago, 7:30pm, FSN

Bucks vs. Golden State Warriors (21-40), 7:30pm @ Bradley Center

The one thing that Bucks GM John Hammond said in the post-trade deadline (Feb. 23) WSSP-radio interview that has stuck in my craw were his comments about Richard Jefferson only playing 22 games with Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut all together in the lineup. "We did well with them on the floor together," Hammond said.

That's not exactly true. The Bucks opponents this weekend, the Bulls and Nellie's Warriors, bring to mind a couple of those times when the Bucks didn't look so good with Redd, Bogut and Jefferson playing.

The Bucks are 1-2 vs the Bulls this season and put up little resistance in Oakland Dec. 10.

Biggest game of the season: The Bucks claim to 8th place in the East is on the line tonight in Chicago, as is the season's tie-breaker against the Bulls. The Bucks, losers of 6 of their last 8 games, desperately need a win.

A Bulls victory lifts Chicago into 8th and could dump the Bucks into 10th if New Jersey can trick the Magic in Orlando. A Bucks win gets them to 30 wins before the 7th place Sixers. You gotta love this playoffs race.

Taking the Bulls seriously: Given the importance of this game, this won't be an issue tonight. However, as crazy as it sounds given the Bucks record, respecting coach Scott Skiles' former team has been an issue this season in the Bucks two losses to the Bulls. ...The first was the season opener (when the Bucks looked a lot like last season's Bucks); the second was the Feb. 18th game at the BC, the day the Bulls were shorthanded after trading four players, including Andres Nocioni and Drew Gooden, to acquire Brad Miller and John Salmons from Sacramento.

Kirk Hinrich torched Ramon Sessions, Charlie Bell and the Bucks guards for 18 points in the 4th quarter, prompting Skiles to say, "He just took our guards and made us look pretty silly, he was playing so hard." No doubt the Bucks would like to have that game back, which came after the Bucks had beaten the Pistons in Detroit.

Ridnour and Sessions: In the season opener, Ridnour was nursing a bad back and Sessions didn't play. In the loss Feb. 18th, Ridnour sat out with a broken hand. The Bucks Dec. 3 win is the only time the Bulls have seen Sessions and Ridnour this season.

Bulls botching transition?: First-year coach Del Negro hasn't been too pleased with how his team responded after the trades (they're 3-4 since the trades), and questioned his players' professionalism after the Bulls were blown out in Charlotte Tuesday. Also, Bulls GM John Paxson has taken issue with Del Negro's recent decisions to play Hinrich in the 4th quarter instead of Rookie-of-the-Year contender Derrick Rose. Blog a Bull is not too happy about Hinrich finishing games.

And they've noticed in Chicago that F/C Brad Miller is "so slow time they have to time his sprints with a sundial."

Deng dang dinged: Sorry, had to do it. Small forward Luol Deng probably won't play (bruised shin) against the Bucks but former Buck Tim Thomas, acquired from the Knicks in the Larry Hughes trade two weeks ago, probably will. Deng and Thomas have each missed the last two games, leaving Del Negro to basically play seven players -- his starters plus Hinrich and Miller off the bench. Salmons has started in Deng's forward spot.

Bulls-Warriors: The Bulls went 2-4 after the trades but won Wednesday in Chicago vs. a sloppy, uninspired Warrior team, which had been playing fairly well prior to Chicago. Joakim Noah was active, with 17 boards and 14 pts. Salmons found his stroke for 23 in the 110-88 Bulls win.

"That was the worst three quarters of basketball we’ve played in two months,” Nellie said postgame.

More on the Warriors tomorrow in Bucks Weekend II - after we see what happens in Chicago.

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I don't know what this dance routine from the Bucks-Bulls game Dec. 3 is supposed to look like but I'm guessing that one of these three Energee! dancers has it right -- and she's not the brunette at lower right. ....

Wonder who she's flippin' off? Does seem kinda lost in the joy of the moment ...

Andrew Bogut vs. Christmas ... and 10 gifts the Bucks should leave under fans' X-mas trees

J.D. Mo — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:38:00 GMT

Yes, they do have Christmas in Australia, but that doesn't mean Andrew Bogut has to like it. Bogut dispensed his views regarding Christmas on his blog Sunday, which happened to be the day of the Winter Soltice:

"I’m not big on Christmas, Birthdays or New Years really. I think Christmas isn’t celebrated for the right reasons, but mainly for a money driving machine. A lot of children probably wouldn’t know what Christmas is about besides receiving cool presents and getting what ‘I’ want. I mean I don’t dislike it don’t get me wrong, but the whole decorating for Christmas and putting up a tree doesn’t really give me a thrill. I think I left it behind when I was about 12 and realized the truth about Santa and his Reindeers."

Don't get him wrong? Just about everything Bogut wrote is manifesto for those who think the Christmas magic left when Rudolph got busted for vagrancy. Maybe Bogues was in the locker room when the Energee! dancers were doing their Santa routine at the Bucks-Clippers game Saturday ....

There's more on Bogut's blog, about friends and family being more important than gifts, and plenty of Aussie comedy videos and other stuff he finds for his fans back home. It's really one of the better NBA player blogs out there, and he has a new post up already in which he reports that his dad feels the same way he does about X-mas. He also says that a "present we didn't expect" may be in the works this week to help the Bucks. (This turned out to be the arrival of exiled long range gunner Damon Jones, which I confess never crossed my mind as anything that would be considered a gift.)

I empathize with Bogut's negative feelings about X-mas, I do, but I've been imbued with enough holiday spirit this week to wonder what the Bucks might leave under the Christmas trees or 'round Hanukkah menorahs and Kwanzaa kinaras of Bucks fans everywhere. (A kinara's a candleholder, much like a menorah, and you wouldn't want to put gifts under either of those burning things).

Never let it be said that one can't find culture here ... or fire safety tips. But enough of that ... Let's get to those gifts ...

1) How about a win against a quality, winning opponent that isn't missing a key player or two? The Bucks don't have one of these wins this season. I give you Ball Don't Lie's NBA power rankings this week in which the Bucks were ranked 17th: "You beat the Clippers by a ton, at home. I'm ... proud of you?" Oh, the truth hurts. ... So Tuesday night vs. the 17-12 Jazz was a great opportunity to beat a solid, winning team on the home court, right? Wrooong. The Jazz's hottest player, center Mehmet Okur, scratched with back spasms. Despite this fit of good fortune, the cold-shooting Bucks and Michael Redd nearly bricked their way out of the game until some solid Bucks D and point guard Luke Ridnour saved the day. After the game, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said his team looked like they were playing "streetball."

A relatively healthy 15-11 Detroit team, with Antonio McDyess back in the fold, comes to the BC Saturday and the Bucks have three days off before the game. Allen Iverson is day-to-day with an injury suffered Tuesday against the Bulls but that's fine -- Iverson often plays better when he's hurt, as Bucks fans know too well (I'm supressing 2001 playoff flashbacks now). Detroit is 11-11, including a win vs. the Bucks in Detroit, since trading Chauncey Billups to Denver for the Answer. The AI record should be 12-11 after the Pistons play the OK City Thunder on Friday. Beating Detroit would qualify as the Bucks best win of the season.

2) A bottle of Andrew Bogut's "magic pain pills." Bogut goes into excruciating detail on his blog about his ailing back and the "magic pain pills" that have allowed him to play the last four games. Seems a couple of his vertabrae are "stuck" and causing severe pain. He says he needs a wheelchair in the morning and feels like he's "a hundred years old." Ouch. But these magic pills do wonders: since Bogut started taking them, his free throw shooting is better than ever at 69.1%, and the Bucks have won three or four.

3) Some magic pills for Charlie Bell. Charlie, who played hurt through the 14 games that Michael Redd missed during his sloooww recovery from a high ankle sprain -- and then missed six games himself -- went down again Tuesday vs. the Jazz. This time it's a sore knee, just when it was beginning to look like Charlie was returning to his 2007 form. The Bucks could use some good health in general, though nobody around the NBA is going to throw them a pity party. Malik Allen, who had been starting at power forward, has missed the last eight games with a rib injury.

4) This is where I post the Sports Illustrated photo at left of Richard Jefferson and his Trinidadian supermodel wife, Teresa Lourenco, in hopes that you read this Bob Boozer Jinx post from last week (no, this is not a shallow attempt to spice up this post with a pic of a hot supermodel). R.J. has become somewhat of a forgotten man in Bucksland, except when fans notice that his box score line doesn't always look as good as some think it should (the warped analysis of a certain ESPN stat guy comes to mind). Stats are not R.J.'s game -- the intangibles are, and those are part and parcel to the attitude R.J. brought to the Bucks via the trade with the Nets last summer. There's no question coach Scott Skiles appreciates his forward -- he keeps R.J. on the floor more than any other Buck. As of this writing R.J. is 3rd in the NBA in minutes played and the Bucks chemistry on the floor looks better than it has in years. Plus, R.J.'s hitting the three.

5) More about Teresa Lourenco? It's the least I could do. But is there no style page in this town to take these burdensome supermodel responsibilities from the Bob Boozer Jinx? Maybe now that Packers season is winding down, our local culture vultures can get on the Lourenco beat, if she's around at all. A little gemutlichkeit has never killed a supermodel from Trinidad, has it?

6) A "rookie curb" for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to hop instead of a "rookie wall" like the one Yi Jianlian hit last February. Early on this season, Journal Sentinel's Michael Hunt wrote that the defense played by the Bucks' Cameroonian prince was remniscent of the D Sidney Moncrief played in his rookie season (1979-80). That's colossal praise when you consider the NBA more or less invented the Defensive Player of the Year award for Moncrief. After an impressive start, the #37 pick in the draft became a fan favorite, then seemed worn down for a couple of weeks before last week picking it up against the Knicks, Clippers and Jazz. Mbah a Moute can guard three positions but has played most at power forward; he's contributing a solid 8.5 pts, 6.5 rebs per game ... All-Rookie honor roll so far.

7) Bucks first round pick at #8, Joe Alexander, remains a mystery. Joe's got some ups and can knock a shot down, but he looks lost on the court -- night and day compared to Mbah a Moute, who is so often in the right place at the right time. The Dalai Lama, who I found on my pilgrimage to Tibet, wasn't able to tell me why the Bucks drafted Joe, other than to say "maybe he's a good Joe" and went on to ask a lot of questions about Brett Favre. Maybe Santa knows, and some insight into why Bucks GM John Hammond drafted Joe will emerge over the holidays.

Joe and the Bucks this week did crank up a campaign to vote Joe into the All-Star Game dunk contest. Joe says you gotta vote Joe and that he's going to beat the champ, Dwight Howard. That's not the draft explaination I was looking for from Santa, but here's Joe delivering his dunk contest hype:

I don't see an Emmy in the kid's future, but the Mandarin Chinese bit should sway the far East electorate.

8) More Tyronn Lue from 3-point land!!! Lue is shooting 65% from downtown this season and is easily the Bucks best shooter. Lue is now 15th on the active NBA career 3-point percentage rankings, and its great to see rainbow jumpers by a Buck hitting nothing but net. (Unfortunately, the Lakers have noticed too). With Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions getting most of the Bucks point guard minutes, however, PT has been hard to come by. It'd be a nice gift if Skiles can find some creative ways to get more shots for Tyronn.

9) Ramon Sessions was more or less benched last week in Philly and NY, and the point guard responsibilities have rested on the shoulders of Luke "Frodo" Ridnour (who, in addition to point guard burdens, has more nicknames than any Bucks player). Here's hoping Sessions and coach Skiles stay on the same page and that Ramon finds his way back to the major role he played while Redd was out. Frodo won't get very far without Sam.

10) I had hoped to write an item here about Michael Redd continuing his recent passing and ball-sharing ways after the holidays -- but it was not meant to be. If anything was obvious to fans who watched the Bucks nearly hand a home game Tuesday to the depleted Utah Jazz, it was that Redd is not the guy who'll deliver the team from the land of NBA mediocrity. Oh, those 27 pts he scored looked good in the boxscore but if you watched the game (or were there) you know that Redd nearly shot the Bucks into a loss in the 4th quarter. But this isn't about one game; it's about an end to an era; an end to a selfish, no-defense style of play that Bucks fans have seen far too much of these last five-plus years.

This era is ending under coach Scott Skiles but as Tuesday showed, it's not ending soon enough -- though the Bucks did win the game, thanks to some solid defense and team play in crunch time, a very encouraging sign. In many ways, the Utah game was a microcosm for the transition that the Bucks are making this season: the better qualities of the new era have begun to overcome the deficiencies of the old.

Oh but it's Christmas, after all, no time for brooding contemplation and the weight of future (gotta leave something for the new year). The Bucks and most of the NBA are merrily into a holiday break, and that's where I'm headed, alright ...

The Celtics and Lakers play Christmas day,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Breaking news: Bob Boozer Jinx girl Meghan back for another Energee! season

J.D. Mo — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:12:00 GMT

This news was quite a relief. You may recall the exhaustive worldwide search that led to Meghan's selection as the unofficially official (or was it officially unofficial?) Bob Boozer Jinx girl. I was not relishing the thought of once again packing my bags for Bangkok, Baton Rouge and Borneo; with stops this time planned in Friesland and Fresno, too.

To complicate matters, the editorial board was giving me all kinds of grief about running overbudget on the first exhaustive worldwide search for the girl. And to be perfectly honest, Meghan was doing a superlative job in her first few months and I just didn't want to go through all of that so soon. Now I don't have to. Looks like she'll be back for another season.

Meghan was prominently featured in the "black poly leather empty seats" photo that truly defined not only last season but the situation that the Bucks organization has found itself in. An estranged fan base, Energee! dancing for no one, a losing team and a new arena needed within the next decade ... or sooner? (It's a good idea to hit the link, but here's a smaller version ...)

Says it all. Energee! has been the constant in the Bucks marketing scheme this summer, probably the one part of the plan that has made sense. Richard Jefferson has yet to be featured in a ticket promo.

As it turned out, being named the unofficially official Bob Boozer Jinx girl has not been the only prestigious honor achieved by Meghan. It was soon learned that Meghan was Miss New Berlin, Miss Wisconsin and a participant in the Miss USA pageant. Who knew? (Sportsbubbler.com's Jim Ganzer, for one.) Prior to Ganzer setting the record straight, all the BBJ editorial board knew was that her favorite Buck is Andrew Bogut and her favorite breakfast cereal is Honey Nut Cheerios. Good stuff. Oh, and she used to be blonde.

The confusion of the last couple of weeks arose when she was nowhere to be found in the Day 1 or Day 2 photos from the first round of Energee! tryouts in late July, then was not pictured among the finalists from those tryouts. I checked again yesterday, not there, and with dutiful resignation began thinking about a replacement girl ...

New dancer Bishara? ....

Team captain Tiffany (the BBJ editorial board is rather, uhh, big on leadership) ...

Decisions, decisions ...

Then, suddenly and for no apparent reason at all, I refreshed the finalists' page. Lo and behold, our BBJ girl's photo had in that very moment been uploaded onto the Energee! finalists site, and there it was ... right next to the pic of another dancer named Megan, tho' without the really cool, gaelic "h"...

Obviously, 'twas a sign from the basketball gods that I dared not ignore (lucky you Meghan). This Bucks blog just wouldn't be the same without its original unofficially official Bob Boozer Jinx girl. ...

... and one.