Hammerin Hank v Giannis

[Jimbo]

Who had the bigger impact on Milwaukee/Wisconsin sports?  Discuss.

 

[homer]

Hard to say for me since I wasn't around for Hank. All I know is the Braves left when Hank was here and the Bucks may have if not for Giannis. Obviously not apples to apples but I'll throw it out for argument's sake.

[wallus]

Cripes, at first when I saw the title I assumed it was Hank the dog.

[HarryDoyle]

6 hours ago, wallus said:

Cripes, at first when I saw the title I assumed it was Hank the dog.

LOL so did I.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm no spring chicken and I was only 2 years old when Hank retired from the Brewers... I was wondering if it was Hank the dog too. I'm guessing a few people on the board actually remember him play...but probably not many. 

I tend to think a superstar in Basketball has more impact than a superstar in baseball and football (except at QB). 

Maybe a more apt (and still difficult question) would be comparing Giannis to Kareem.  But that is pretty much the same era (though I did see Kareem play with the Lakers).  

But the common thing that Giannis, Kareem, and Hank all had was... 1 championship for Milwaukee. 

 

 

 

[nate82]

Better question would be Giannis vs Favre.  Giannis wins that one by a landslide times a billion.  There really isn’t anyone with a championship that is as big as Giannis was to Milwaukee or WI sports in recent history.  Maybe you can argue Lombardi or Alvarez as non players.  If you are looking at players only then there is no one who even competes with Giannis and only Kareem really comes close.  

[HarryDoyle]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

Better question would be Giannis vs Favre.  Giannis wins that one by a landslide times a billion.  There really isn’t anyone with a championship that is as big as Giannis was to Milwaukee or WI sports in recent history.  Maybe you can argue Lombardi or Alvarez as non players.  If you are looking at players only then there is no one who even competes with Giannis and only Kareem really comes close.  

Ron Wolf.

[Jimbo]

5 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

I'm no spring chicken and I was only 2 years old when Hank retired from the Brewers... I was wondering if it was Hank the dog too. I'm guessing a few people on the board actually remember him play...but probably not many. 

 

I guess I'm dating myself.

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

13 hours ago, nate82 said:

Better question would be Giannis vs Favre.  Giannis wins that one by a landslide times a billion.  There really isn’t anyone with a championship that is as big as Giannis was to Milwaukee or WI sports in recent history.  Maybe you can argue Lombardi or Alvarez as non players.  If you are looking at players only then there is no one who even competes with Giannis and only Kareem really comes close.  

I am curious about those dismissing Hank from the conversation and wonder if they have any insight as to his effect on the community. I am too young, but he was my Dad's idol, and Hank was a massive icon in the community and a bridge during the Civil Rights era, during a time in which baseball was far and away the country's favorite sport.

For Favre, this seems like huge recency bias, and curious how old you are. For one, the Bucks just aren't big outside of the Milwaukee metro.

It might be a conversation, but landslide times a billion? Favre was huge, HUGE when he came onto the scene. Not just in WI but all over the country, where the Packers resonate much stronger than either of the other teams. People really liked his salt-of-the-earth schtick, the beer, the tractor, etc. Then of course the Packers long-standing failure at the time. Favre really brought them back to relevance for the first time since Lombardi was there. They were going 9-7 and had the state on fire for them. Every kid in this state wanted a #4 jersey for Christmas from about 93-98.

If there were a WI Sports Mt Rushmore, Favre is probably the second guy getting carved after Vince Lombardi.

Now that's a fun topic. I'd probably go Favre, Lombardi, Giannis, Hank.

Kareem doesn't make it due to longevity and his lack of commitment to MKE during his time here. Rodgers is better than Favre but not the cultural icon. Uecker is probably my first guy on the waiting list. Yount isn't quite the pull of the others. Then there are others like Curly Lambeau, but tough to argue with the guy whose name is on the trophy.

[CheezWizHed]

9 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I guess I'm dating myself.

 

Just make sure you treat yourself right...  buy yourself some flowers and take yourself to somewhere nice! 

Hope you don't mind that I added "Hammerin" to the title. 😉

15 hours ago, nate82 said:

Better question would be Giannis vs Favre.  Giannis wins that one by a landslide times a billion.  There really isn’t anyone with a championship that is as big as Giannis was to Milwaukee or WI sports in recent history.  Maybe you can argue Lombardi or Alvarez as non players.  If you are looking at players only then there is no one who even competes with Giannis and only Kareem really comes close.  

I strongly disagree.  The Packers are FAR more popular than the Bucks. I'd guess a poll of fans last year would pick Favre over Giannis - even with recency bias in his favor. I think Lombardi, Reggie White, and Rogers beat out Giannis too. 

Overall Uecker is a great choice, but I think the forgotten name in this conversation is Bart Starr.  Obviously he had impact with the team as a player (long before I can remember), but he was a community giant his entire life.  He would get my vote. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think Favre beats Giannis, but not the others mentioned. Rodgers is the best player of those 4 mentioned, but he didn't really rescue the Packers and just carried their torch of relevance. Culturally he wasn't Favre either, he was an outsider whereas Favre gelled very naturally with WI culture. Reggie White didn't come up with the Packers and even though he was HOF quality with them, he was *slightly* down from what he was in Philadelphia.

I didn't forget Starr, just don't think he's at quite that top tier though I'm sure anyone who was 15 in the 60s disagrees. Giannis checks every box though, he grew up with MKE, stayed when he had a chance to leave, reached the promised land and embraced the city. Really put the Bucks on the map again, got an arena built...I really had doubts the Bucks would stay in Milwaukee before he got here.

I do think it's quite clear though that Favre is the most culturally iconic WI athlete during my lifetime.

 

[owbc]

Giannis saved the Bucks from being relocated. The Braves moved to Atlanta. 

 

[nate82]

1 hour ago, CheezWizHed said:

The Packers are FAR more popular than the Bucks.

You have to remove the Packers bias.  If the Packers didn’t have as much popularity would you say the same thing?

Player wise Giannis is the winner and there isn’t really anyone that close.  Giannis saved the franchise from leaving.  Yes Kohl stipulated the Bucks had to stay or he wouldn’t sell.  But he was only going to live for so long.  A Giannis less team definitely would have been on the move list.  Did Favre save the Packers from moving?  Did Rodgers do that?  Did Reggie White do that?

The answer is no.  All they did was bring a SB back and nothing more.  The Packers were never in danger of moving or being irrelevant in Wisconsin sports.  Really there are only two people in the last 30-years who made a team relevant in the state and that is Giannis and Alvarez.  Everyone else is just a side note for the franchise they represent.  

[OldSchoolSnapper]

45 minutes ago, nate82 said:

You have to remove the Packers bias.  If the Packers didn’t have as much popularity would you say the same thing?

Player wise Giannis is the winner and there isn’t really anyone that close.  Giannis saved the franchise from leaving.  Yes Kohl stipulated the Bucks had to stay or he wouldn’t sell.  But he was only going to live for so long.  A Giannis less team definitely would have been on the move list.  Did Favre save the Packers from moving?  Did Rodgers do that?  Did Reggie White do that?

The answer is no.  All they did was bring a SB back and nothing more.  The Packers were never in danger of moving or being irrelevant in Wisconsin sports.  Really there are only two people in the last 30-years who made a team relevant in the state and that is Giannis and Alvarez.  Everyone else is just a side note for the franchise they represent.  

I mean, no you don't, because it is relevant to the question of overall impact on the state. The team moving isn't relevant either, really, since the structure of the Packers make it impossible otherwise it would have happened a long time ago.

>All they did was bring a SB back and nothing more

That's a huge simplification, especially since Favre was HUGE before they ever won it. Giannis may have saved the franchise from leaving, but a huge population in the state would have just shrugged if that had happened. They're by far the state's 4th team, after both professional teams and the Badgers. If the team's stature doesn't matter then we might as well throw Dennis Hall and Bonnie Blair in the conversation.

Favre absolutely saved the Packers from a brutal period of basement dwelling and is the single person most responsible for the expectation of winning that has persisted since he got there.

The whole relocation thing is just a bit disingenuous. It's not like if Hank Aaron had done a little more the Braves would have stayed in MKE. Because Herb Kohl kept them in MKE if we're getting technical, not Giannis. Giannis had no pull as far as Elon Musk buying the team and moving them to wherever.

[homer]

there are like 5 Giannis murals in Milwaukee. People love(d) the guy. I get that the Bucks are more a Milwaukee team than a state team.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

4 minutes ago, homer said:

there are like 5 Giannis murals in Milwaukee. People love(d) the guy. I get that the Bucks are more a Milwaukee team than a state team.

Yeah, that is the crux of it though. There's nothing even remotely comparable about the Bucks to the city of GB on a Packers game day even if the team is bad.

Also, if you walk into a bar in the Northwoods in March, you're more likely to see House Hunters on the TV than the Bucks game. They're just not a state team.

[homer]

When Favre left, at least half of Packer fans (if not more) were totally fine with it, some probably saying, "don't let the door hit you in the rear". Most Bucks fans are sad that Giannis is gone. 

At the height of their fame/skills, Favre had a bigger impact on the state sports scene. 

 

I do think Favre has tarnished his legacy since leaving for a variety of reasons starting with his desire to play for an NFC rival. Not sure if Giannis will do the same. I doubt he gets booed when the Heat play in Milwaukee.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

When Favre left, at least half of Packer fans (if not more) were totally fine with it, some probably saying, "don't let the door hit you in the rear". Most Bucks fans are sad that Giannis is gone. 

At the height of their fame/skills, Favre had a bigger impact on the state sports scene. 

I was one of people pushing Favre out the door, and years before he left and had the surgent 2007 season. But Favre would had to have left in like 1999 for that to be an apt comparison, and it would have gone, very, very poorly.

[CheezWizHed]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

You have to remove the Packers bias.  If the Packers didn’t have as much popularity would you say the same thing?

Player wise Giannis is the winner and there isn’t really anyone that close.  Giannis saved the franchise from leaving.  Yes Kohl stipulated the Bucks had to stay or he wouldn’t sell.  But he was only going to live for so long.  A Giannis less team definitely would have been on the move list.  Did Favre save the Packers from moving?  Did Rodgers do that?  Did Reggie White do that?

The answer is no.  All they did was bring a SB back and nothing more.  The Packers were never in danger of moving or being irrelevant in Wisconsin sports.  Really there are only two people in the last 30-years who made a team relevant in the state and that is Giannis and Alvarez.  Everyone else is just a side note for the franchise they represent.  

I will stipulate that to Milwaukee, Giannis had a bigger impact.  To Wisconsin, it is Favre hands down.  You need to remove your anti-Packer/anti-Favre bias to see it. Wisconsin is about the Packers first, Brewers second and Bucks are a distant third. 

You forget that the Packers were struggling in GB and playing a few games in Milwaukee every year.  There were discussions about them moving to Milwaukee permanently or worse. But then all of that reversed.  It wasn't just because of Favre, but he became the figure head of it. But people tend to forget those days... 

Though Roger's 25-6 record against the Bears does trump Favre's record of 22-10.  Either one of those is enough to win the state though! 😂

Reggie's impact was legitimizing GB as a free agent destination.  Maybe not as big, but as a personality overall, I'd go with Reggie. 

 

50 minutes ago, homer said:

When Favre left, at least half of Packer fans (if not more) were totally fine with it, some probably saying, "don't let the door hit you in the rear". Most Bucks fans are sad that Giannis is gone. 

I had the opinion of letting Favre stay until he retired... but then he waffled...and hemmed and hawed.  Retired and then didn't. It became time to go.

Rogers did likewise.  Skipping OTAs and telling the team to have the WRs ready for him?  Bah... egos just get too big.

Enter Giannis.  I love the guy, but there was just too much smoke to ignore the rumors.  The ego grew too big, he stopped being a team player, interfered with coach hiring  decisions... blah. No thanks. 

The only difference between Giannis leaving and Favre/Rodgers is that there are no succession plan and no hope of getting one in the future because they bet the farm on Giannis when he was here. 

I'm sad that 2020-22 Giannis is gone, but I'm happy that 2025 Giannis is gone. If you took a poll, I'd guess you'd find that opinion more often than note.