Tyrese Haliburton threw the ceremonial first pitch before the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Thursday, and Nathan Marzion, a Milwaukee sports podcaster, had already told the internet who to blame if it went the other way.
It didn’t.
Haliburton’s response wasn’t just mean. It was precise, and the precision is the whole joke.
He started small: “We won, so what does that mean Nathaniel?” Marzion escalated anyway, writing that Haliburton had gone from “a likeable hometown kid” to someone who “goes out of his way to be an asshole towards Milwaukee.” That’s a strange thing to say about a Wisconsin native who grew up rooting for Milwaukee teams before he ever put on a Pacers jersey, and it’s exactly the opening Haliburton needed.
That’s when he pulled the receipts.
He posted screenshots of Marzion’s own old tweets praising him, then fired back with the reply that actually went viral:
https://twitter.com/Hali/status/2095704634232914035
Haliburton’s clapback wasn’t generic mean-online energy. It was a citation with a grudge attached, and the citation checks out.
The Indiana Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs in April 2024, according to Basketball-Reference’s series log. They did it again in April 2025, closing the series 4-1 with a Game 5 win that Haliburton capped with a go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime.
Back to back years in April.
That’s a receipt, not an insult. He wasn’t being cute. He was doing math a Bucks fan should already know by heart.
I grew up as one of the only girls in my friend group who actually cared about this stuff, and you learn fast that the sharpest comeback in the room is never the loudest one. It’s the one with a footnote. Haliburton spent the past year being talked about almost entirely through an Achilles tear and a Finals loss, the two most exposed moments of his career, and he’s spent his Achilles comeback season proving he’ll pick that material back up and swing it himself before he lets someone else use it against him.
Sure, arguing over a ceremonial first pitch is a low bar for content. But this is a Bucks franchise that just watched Giannis walk to Miami, starving for something to be mad about, and a hometown kid handed them a very specific reason.
Marzion picked the fight. Haliburton brought the transcript.
