<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Mayor Tom Barrett probably said it best a couple of weeks ago when he mentioned the need for "the different communities in southeast Wisconsin to start talking about the Bucks and how important they are to the future." Take away the rhetoric and emotion that always accompanies such a contentious issue, and it boils down to exactly that. How important is a big-league franchise to a city? Good for its self-image? Good for business? Good for its ability to provide one more high-profile entertainment option in a town already blessed with a world-class symphony and art museum, as well as baseball, opera, ballet and theater? Or have the economics of the National Basketball Association grown so insane - the Bucks' $60 million payroll for 15 players, for example, ranks 15th among the 30 teams - that pro basketball no longer has a place in a city like Milwaukee? These are the kinds of questions we need to be asking ourselves right now, because before you know it this thing is going to be right up in our grill, kind of like Gary Payton when he was still Gary Payton. Unlike in Seattle, where they've got 11 months to decide if the SuperSonics are a worthwhile civic concern, Milwaukee is on the clock only to the extent that the Bucks now have a lease with the Bradley Center through at least 2008.</div> Source
