CHICAGO - While taking your order as you sit on a stool in that dimly lit bar, the bartender can be whatever you want.
Crying shoulder Cheerleader. Life coach.
Or a best friend you never had.
This is why bars are so popular, a bottled haven where merriment and tragedy freely mingle over a soapy beer, a clean jigger of vodka, and whatever strong brown cocktail is needed to appropriately blend with the drinker's mood.
But if you want to pour your joy or expel your melancholy without the aid or enhancement of alcohol, there is a sober option.
The barbershop.
It's that hair port where small talk, gossip, and secrets fly as fast as every delicate snip, snip.
The bartender and the barber each have their uncanny ways of making shy people outgoing and the major difference between the two is that one wields a blade.
And while that sharp, pointy object may not necessarily be a threat, it sure is an incentive to tell the truth.
Two days ago, a man identified as the Milwaukee Bucks team barber fired an Instagram message that was construed by many as a fond farewell to The Greek Freak.
"Love you, bro and and go do what's best for your family," said the now-deleted post that was carried by Reddit, Clutch Points and multiple other outlets,

Did Giannis Antetokounmpo, in a moment of weakness, spill the beans on his barber's apron and revealed that he was departing for agency after this 2020-21 season?
Even though he isn't beholden to any code nor sworn to an oath of confidence, there is an expectation of privacy in these intimate conversations. Did the barber betray that unwritten rule or was he simply saying goodbye on his way to another shop?
Hmmmm.
While the offseason noise has largely been about James Harden's loud demands for a trade and Kyrie Irving's media silence, Antetokounmpo's potential flight has slipped under the radar.
It's a stay or move that will alter the balance of power in the NBA.
SO WHAT WOULD GIANNIS DO?
So far, the amiable two-time MVP is committed only to non-committal answers, insisting that his focus is lasered on the upcoming 72-game schedule.
It is safe to say that, right now, the Bucks are in the driver's seat. It would take a lot of willpower for Giannis to turn down a five-year $228 million max extension. Other suitors can offer him only four years.
But after having already collected $81 million in NBA salaries since 2013, maybe Giannis is willing to take a year and about $45 million less to play for a title in Miami, Dallas or Boston.
The Bucks have made some upgrades to placate their superstar but outside of Jrue Holiday, the other assets they acquired were role players that are nowhere near mind-blowing, more so after Bogdan Bodganovic spurned Milwaukee for Atlanta.
Another thing going against the Bucks is that they're in a small market.
As Antetokounmpo's stock continues to soar, the four-time All-Star might find Los Angeles or New York a more suitable environment where he can grow and nurture his brand,
The Bucks are hoping that The Greek Freak's sense of loyalty will prod him to stay.
It's a coin toss how this goes.
And in the end, maybe the barber knew all along.
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