NBA
Bucks unveil new “Fear the Deer” statement uniforms for 2022-23 season
James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.
All posts by James FoglioUpdated28 Jul 2022
The Milwaukee Bucks unveiled their third set of Fear the Deer statement uniforms. In the new jerseys, antlers are visible on the sides of the uniforms. Fans have a love-hate relationship with NBA jerseys nowadays, according to tweets and Facebook posts.
Not everyone can be pleased. The new jerseys are black, and each name on the uniform will have a green outline around the lettering. A blue outline is also visible on the arms of the jersey. In addition to the Fear the Deer statement uniforms, the Association (white) and Icon (green) editions will be worn as well.
The Bucks’ City and Classic Edition uniforms for next season will be revealed this offseason.
From the woods to the hardwood. pic.twitter.com/X3GHKN0ysh
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 27, 2022
The “Fear the Deer” moniker dates back to 2010. However, no one knows who popularized the slogan. Several fans once argued in the past that the origins of “Fear the Deer” traced back to a Bill Simmons ESPN column from Mar. 23, 2010.
The writer discussed the Bucks’ regular season win over the Hawks. He happened to mention the chant at some point in his article. Simmons posted: “He has 28 for the game and 21 for the half. Playoff basketball! Bucks by three. Crowd alive. Fear the deer. I’ll explain later.”
Is John Anderson the pioneer of the ‘Fear the Deer’ slogan for the Bucks?
Nonetheless, ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt is also credited for bringing focus to the catchy rhyme in the same year. Even then, Van Pelt was not the originator. On Apr. 22, 2019, ESPN anchor Steve Levy tweeted this message shown below.
ESPN anchor John Anderson believes he was the pioneer of the beloved Bucks chant. During a phone conversation, Anderson said, “Everybody around [Bristol] says ‘Fear the Deer’ for Boston University, so it’s always the joke: ‘Fear the Spartans, ‘Fear the Packers,’ whatever. For a while, I used to say ‘Fear the Beer” with the Brewers.”
So John Anderson just revealed to me, he's the guy who coined the phrase "fear the deer" for his beloved @Bucks – he's also the guy who hasn't received a single coin for doing so…
— Steve Levy (@espnSteveLevy) April 23, 2019
“But then one night, I said ‘Fear the Deer.’ And I can still see a guy who was doing the show saying, ‘Hey, that’s pretty good — I’m going to use that next time when I’m on NBA Tonight.’ And then I’ve just said it forever.”
Though, not everyone is buying it. Milwaukee fans have their own stories to tell. On Twitter, one fan even commented that Fairfield University coined the slogan for the school’s stag symbol. Stags are larger adult male deer.
Bucks are mature and immature male deer. And red is the main color for the Fairfield University Stags’ jerseys. More news stories pertaining to the Bucks are on the main page.
