259

That is the number of consecutive games the Detroit Pistons had sold out at The Palace of Auburn Hills, their home court. That streak, which began over five years ago, ended tonight. January 19, 2004 was day one of the streak, about five months prior to the Pistons winning the franchise's third NBA championship. Over the course of the streak Pistons' fans have been honored to see some great teams as well as many past, present, and future NBA greats. Names of the past that stand out are Ben Wallace, Corliss Williamson, Lindsay Hunter, Chris Webber, and of course Chauncey Billups. Fans are currently graced by the presence of players like Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Tayshaun Prince, and Allen Iverson. And a special treat has blossomed right before our eyes this year in the form of Rodney Stuckey. These players have taken much different NBA career paths and have very diverse resumes but they do have one thing in common. They have all donned the red, white, and blue jerseys and stepped onto the Palace court. The past five years have each seen 50 win seasons including a franchise record 64 wins in 2005-06. They have seen the Pistons make it to the Eastern Conference Finals every year and the NBA Finals twice. What is quite possibly most important though is that the last five years at the Palace have seen nothing less than exciting basketball result in a winning tradition.

The reason for the streak coming to a close tonight is probably a combination of a less than stellar season for the Pistons and the sputtering economy. It seems as though the Pistons have been in transition mode all year since the November 4 trade of three time all-star and former finals MVP Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets for former league MVP and perennial scoring champion Allen Iverson. The result thus far has been an unpredictable team that has defeated four of the league's top five teams but has also lost to some of the league's worst teams leaving us scratching our heads. To this point they have a 26-21 record which is still in the upper half of the league but not quite up to Pistons' standards. Another possible reason for the streak ending now is that prior to tonight the Pistons had lost four straight games at home and six of their last seven. A more pragmatic reason, however, is the receeding economy that has significantly affected the city. Detroit is known as the motor city and the Michigan economy is propelled by the auto industry. Needless to say, there have been hard economic times in Michigan lately and in particular Detroit. This entire season people have been slower to buy tickets. It is normal to buy tickets to a professional basketball game three or four months in advance but this year the trend has been to purchase only a week to ten days in advance. Of the streak, Pistons.com's official beat writer Keith Langlois wrote, "It took a worldwide recession, the likes of which most of the world’s 7 billion people have never seen, to bring it to an end."

What is perhaps the most incredible aspect of the sold out streak is that The Palace of Auburn Hills has the largest capacity of any NBA stadium at 22,076 and was built about twenty years ago making it the third oldest NBA stadium. So the streak of 259 consecutive sold out games came to an end tonight, February 4, 2009, a night that the Pistons' faithful saw their team defeat the Miami Heat 93-90. I would not be surprised if one day in the not too distant future the headlines read: 260 - Pistons break former sold out record. And I can guarantee that if and when that happens I will still be a fan.