"Nobody on the Milwaukee Bucks wanted to lose" - When Christian Yelich defended Giannis Antetokounmpo's 'no failure in sport' statement

Christian Yelich and Giannis Antetokounmpo are staples in Milwaukee. Both players have brought a ton of success to the city in their respective sports and are fan favorites.

When Giannis and the Bucks had their 2023 season end in the first round of the playoffs to the Miami Heat, reporters pressed the star. They asked him if he felt the season was a failure, and he dished it right back. He went viral when asking the reporter if his year was a failure given he did not receive a raise at work.

Later that year, Mookie Betts asked Yelich on his podcast, "On Base," what he thought about Giannis's response. Yelich knew exactly where the NBA star was coming from and defended his rant.

"Playing sports, like, you know there's only one team that wins the championship every year. So, did every team fail that didn't win the championship? No, I don't think that's true at all," said Christian Yelich.

Yelich brought up the fact that only one team can be crowned the winner at the end of the season. While that is every team's goal when the season starts, that does not mean the season was a failure if they did not win it all.

"Nobody on the Bucks wanted to lose. Nobody was going into that game and being like, 'Well, if we win that's cool, if we lost, that's cool too.' Like, obviously they want to win, but sometimes when you lose, you learn and it makes you appreciate the times you do come out on top and do win," said Yelich.

Christian Yelich did not have another plan if baseball failed

Milwaukee Brewers - Christian Yelich (Photo via IMAGN)

For people like Mookie Betts, he could have gone a different route if he did not play in the big leagues. He is a great bowler and often says that would have been his sport if baseball did not work out.

However, Christian Yelich had no backup plan if baseball did not work. He bet on himself that he would be a professional baseball and he is not too sure what he would be doing if he had not made the big leagues.

"For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to play baseball. Like, I never had a plan B and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But, for the most part, that's kind of how it has to be," said Yelich.

Yelich put all his focus on baseball, which is a big reason why he believes he is in the position he is in. Without having your entire focus on what you want to do, you can get distracted and that makes it harder for people to reach their end goal.