BBC SPORT | Other Sports | US Sport | My kind of town: Milwaukee



By Alex Trickett BBC Sport Online

The teams:

Baseball: Brewers
American Football: Green Bay Packers
Basketball: Bucks
Ice Hockey: None

Milwaukee is best known for its beer, Harley Davidson bikes and the Fonz, but it also enjoys a privileged place on America's sporting map.

Bart Starr was the anchor player on many of coach Vince Lombardi's teams
Bart Starr: Green Bay's superstar quarterback

Baseball's Brewers - who moved to the mid-west after the Braves had defected to Atlanta - were treated to Hank Aaron's 755th and final home run in 1976.

Six years later - and led by Aaron's hitting successor Robin Yount - they reached their only World Series, losing a final-game decider to St Louis.

The Bucks sprang to life in 1968 and won the NBA title within two years thanks to a coin-toss that won them the right to draft college legend Lew Alcindor.

The NFL's Green Bay Packers, although located 100 miles from Milwaukee, command fevered support across Wisconsin and are the state's most famous franchise.

The venue:

It is a measure of the significance attached to new US ballparks that Milwaukee's Miller Park was ceremonially opened in 2001 by a weak pitch from George W Bush.

Miller Park hosts the 2002 All-Star game
President Bush opened Miller Park in 2001

When the stadium was formally welcomed to the Major Leagues on 9 July as host of the All-Star game, standards were higher.

But controversy shadowed the game when it was declared a 7-7 draw at the bottom of the 11th when both teams ran out of pitchers.

Fans across the country felt shortchanged.

However, more important than any of this razzmatazz for the average Brewers fan, is a return to play-off contention.

This does not look likely in 2002, as they are languishing at the foot of the National League Central.

The legends:

Setting aside Hank Aaron (who appears under Atlanta) and Packers legends like Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr (who plied their trade up-state) Milwaukee owes its biggest debt to two basketball legends.

My kind of town: Atlanta

At 7ft 2in, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - who changed his name from Lew Alcindor early in his NBA career - was built for only one sport.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was drafted from UCLA by the Milwaukee Bucks
Alcindor became Abdul-Jabbar, an NBA great

And he excelled at it, inventing the sky hook and combining his frame with a deft touch around the rim to become the league's most prolific scorer with 38,387 points.

Before moving on to LA, Abdul-Jabbar formed a title-winning partnership with talismanic point guard Oscar Robertson.

The "Big O" was a complete player and one of the NBA's best ever, averaging an incredible triple-double - at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists - for a whole season.

No-one - not even Magic Johnson - has come close to matching that record.

Man about town:

While not in Robertson's class, 6ft 5in guard Ray Allen has made giant strides in Milwaukee.

Ray Allen leads the Bucks in scoring
Allen: All-Star presence

He has averaged almost 20 points over six years with the Bucks, helping to put George Karl's men into play-off contention.

And, as proven by his All-Star selection in 2002, has a growing reputation in the game, which helps him lead a talented crop of players that includes Toni Kukoc.

But Allen's talents do not end there.

He spent one summer playing the lead role in Spike Lee's film "He Got Game", thus following Abdul-Jabar (Airplane) onto the silver screen.


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