It's not unique for professional sports stars to call their adopted hometown fans "the best" or to take to Twitter to toast their current city. It is, though, unique for a rising NBA star to write about his love for community and to look past his playing days into a time when he's raising a family in his drafted city.
But Jabari Parker – and frankly, this entire current Bucks team – is unique, and yesterday on The Player's Tribune, Parker became civic champion number one by sharing his love for Milwaukee. Read the whole story here, but check out this statement first:
"Honestly, I love this city so much that it scares me sometimes, in a way, you know? Like, I’ve seen other guys get traded and leave since I’ve been here … and you realize, Wow, as players we really don’t have that much control over it all. But one thing I do have control over, regardless of my playing career, is knowing that I want to raise my own family here someday. It’s that deep."
Parker, a Chicago-native, has taken to Player's Tribune before writing about his hometown and its challenges with gun violence. But this piece is "for Milwaukee" and is all about Parker's teammates, the city and his desire to stay here.
For Milwaukee: https://t.co/kKSquZr3Xe pic.twitter.com/CopjwHB9x6 — The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) April 21, 2017
It's been reported that Parker already owns property in the city, so it's no surprise that he's professing his love of Milwaukee on a national site.
There are a lot of good nuggets in the piece about many Bucks players, so give it read.
At OnMilwaukee, of course, we clearly endorse Parker's civic pride and cheer his Milwaukee love with a hearty Go Bucks!
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
