Two Bucks fans made long journeys to Milwaukee for Friday evening’s final home game, treating the night like it could be the end of an era as questions swirled around Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future. Colt Jerry drove 13 hours from Texarkana, Arkansas, while Ventre Woolery came from New York to be in the arena for a game they did not want to miss.
Jerry said he had spent the last three years asking his mother to let him make the trip. Woolery said his girlfriend bought the tickets as a birthday weekend gift, giving him a chance to see the team he had followed since he was a child. Both said the season had been underwhelming, but neither seemed ready to let that dull the pull of one more game in Milwaukee.
“I drove from Texarkana, Arkansas,” Jerry said. He described the trip as something he had wanted for years, adding that he had been “begging her for, I would say, the last three years, on and on.” Woolery framed the night in more personal terms. “Well, it’s my birthday weekend, and my amazing girlfriend got me tickets to go to the Bucks game, because this has been my favorite team since I’ve been a little kid,” he said.
The night carried extra weight because of the uncertainty hanging over the Bucks. With the season winding down, fans were left to wonder whether the game might be the last time they saw Antetokounmpo in a Bucks jersey. That possibility turned a routine home finale into something closer to a farewell, at least for the people who traveled to be there.
Neither fan said the answer would change where their loyalty lies. Jerry said he would stay with the team “absolutely all the way through, ride or die, baby,” while Woolery said he would “always be a Bucks fan for life.” He added that he would follow Antetokounmpo wherever he goes without switching his allegiance to another team. For both men, the trip was not just about one game. It was about showing up when the season felt thin and the future felt unsettled.
