It has been about a week and a half hiatus since my last blog. Much has happened since then. The purpose of this entry will be to catch up on the latest significant occurrences in my world. First off, a follow-up to my previous entry about the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons went on an eight game losing streak. It was their longest since the 1994-95 season. They looked to be in absolute disarray when the improbable happened. With their next two games against two of the top five teams in the league on their home floors it looked as though the losing streak was bound to reach at least ten games if not more. But on Friday night they handed it to the Orlando Magic, a team that despite having its best season in more than a decade, cannot seem to find an answer to the Pistons. Detroit won 93-85. Then today an even bigger upset occurred as the Pistons beat the defending champion Boston Celtics. Detroit had an all around impressive game as they won 105-95. How can a team lose eight in a row and 17 of 22, look on the brink of disaster, and then turn it all around in three days to beat two of league's best teams? Well, the aforementioned (in previous blogs) Allen Iverson did not appear in either game with a back injury. This put Richard Hamilton back in the starting lineup, a place where he has been a fixture for the past six years in Detroit, until this season when he was bumped to accommodate Iverson. Hamilton scored 31 and 25 points respectively and had a great all around game against Boston adding 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Is there a correlation between losing against every opponent that came the Pistons way over the last two and half weeks then Iverson goes down with an injury and they beat two great teams away from home? I don't know. You do the research and tell me.
The university that I attend holds an annual Spring Sing where the fraternities and sororities each put on a ten minute show that follows a certain theme. It is a competition with prize money. This year the theme was children's books and my fraternity did Where's Waldo?. The premise of our show was that Waldo is a valliant hero who has just received an award for his acts of bravery. He subsequently disappears without a trace and his girlfriend Wenda hires Detective Gum Shoe to try and find him. It featured other classic "Waldo" book characters such as the troublesome convict Odlaw and the quirky, Kramer-esque Wizard, played by me. The show had a 1920s mystery feel, centered around Detective Shoe's witty monologues, and featured live music reminiscent of classic mystery films. As it turns out the detective was just a scapegoat for Wenda to look innocent as she and the other characters try to get rid of Waldo for good by shipping him to Antarctica. Our show was comical, intelligent, suspenseful, plot-twisting, and just plain entertaining. In addition to original live music played by members of the fraternity, it featured dancing, a rap, and an edge of your seat fight sequence - all in ten minutes! Everyone that witnessed said we would either win or at least get second place. According to the judges, however, our show was only good enough for third. That still won us $300 in prize money and more importantly it built a sense of comradery and accomplishment among the fraternity. Despite the results (which were still pretty good) we were still very proud of our performance. I could write an entire other entry on the travesties of mass appeal and popularity that seem to fit the criterion to win a competition such as this but I'll save it for later.
That is about enough updating for now. The Detroit Pistons seem to be a recurring theme in my blogs. It is the golden mean of basketball season what can I say? My school's spring sing was fun and rewarding even though I thought my frat was robbed by the judges. Soon I will give an update on my experimental study as mentioned in a previous blog titled Frustration into Experimentation.
Showing posts with label Detroit Pistons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit Pistons. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Mama said they're'd be seasons like this
If you have read previous blogs you know that I am a Detroit Pistons fan and I will be through thick and thin. Right now is definitely thin. Last night the Pistons lost their fourth straight game. While the loss was disappointing it was not surprising. This season Pistons fans have had to endure more losing than we are accustomed to.
In the National Basketball Association each team plays 82 regular season games. If a team wins 50 of those games then they have really accomplished something and are probably regarded as one of the league's top teams. The Pistons have won at least 50 games in each of the last seven seasons. During that span they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals six times, the NBA Finals twice, and won the NBA Championship once in 2004. Just last season they finished with the league's second best overall record at 59 wins and 23 losses. This season has been an entirely different story so far. As of right right now we are approximately two-thirds of the way into the season and the Pistons have lost 25 games. They have already lost double the number of home games this year than they did all of last year. In November they lost three straight games and I thought the world had ended. That was before they lost five straight in January and you can imagine what I thought happened to the world then. Currently, they are on a four game losing streak with an absolutely brutal schedule up ahead. Their next seven games are against playoff bound teams with five of them on the road.
Despite all this, they have had a couple of bright spots this season. One occurred in late December and early January when they won seven in a row. The other occurred when they started the season by winning their first four games. What happened between then and now to put the Pistons in such an unenviable position? They pulled off a blockbuster trade that sent Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Allen Iverson. Coming into this season Iverson had the third highest scoring average in NBA history. Adding someone like that can only make your team better, right? Apparently not. Chauncey Billups had been the Pistons' team captain for the last six years and won the Most Valuable Player award in that 2004 NBA Championship. Taking him out of the mix, regardless of who replaced him, was going to put the team in major transition mode. I had a bad feeling the day that this trade happened, but can one player really cause the team to plummet so fast? Probably not. Another factor is that they have a rookie head coach in Michael Curry. I do not think that Michael Curry is a bad coach by any means. He has not been a head coach in this league long enough to be judged anyway. Any rookie head coach of an NBA team is going to have his rough patches. I guess it's the "nature of the business" as they say.
Despite all the disappointing aspects of this season, there are certainly some positives. If the regular season ended today the Pistons would still be in the playoffs. They have shown signs of brilliance by beating five of the league's top six teams at various points. And fortunately, the future is brighter than the present. They have a core of very talented players with lots of time left in this league and come this summer they will have $20 million to spend to add even more talent to that core. You have to take the good with the bad and the Pistons have been so good for so long that the bad was bound to happen sooner or later. However, there is still more basketball to be played this season. You never know, maybe they will surprise everybody. In the immortal words of Chris Berman, "that's why they play the game."
In the National Basketball Association each team plays 82 regular season games. If a team wins 50 of those games then they have really accomplished something and are probably regarded as one of the league's top teams. The Pistons have won at least 50 games in each of the last seven seasons. During that span they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals six times, the NBA Finals twice, and won the NBA Championship once in 2004. Just last season they finished with the league's second best overall record at 59 wins and 23 losses. This season has been an entirely different story so far. As of right right now we are approximately two-thirds of the way into the season and the Pistons have lost 25 games. They have already lost double the number of home games this year than they did all of last year. In November they lost three straight games and I thought the world had ended. That was before they lost five straight in January and you can imagine what I thought happened to the world then. Currently, they are on a four game losing streak with an absolutely brutal schedule up ahead. Their next seven games are against playoff bound teams with five of them on the road.
Despite all this, they have had a couple of bright spots this season. One occurred in late December and early January when they won seven in a row. The other occurred when they started the season by winning their first four games. What happened between then and now to put the Pistons in such an unenviable position? They pulled off a blockbuster trade that sent Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Allen Iverson. Coming into this season Iverson had the third highest scoring average in NBA history. Adding someone like that can only make your team better, right? Apparently not. Chauncey Billups had been the Pistons' team captain for the last six years and won the Most Valuable Player award in that 2004 NBA Championship. Taking him out of the mix, regardless of who replaced him, was going to put the team in major transition mode. I had a bad feeling the day that this trade happened, but can one player really cause the team to plummet so fast? Probably not. Another factor is that they have a rookie head coach in Michael Curry. I do not think that Michael Curry is a bad coach by any means. He has not been a head coach in this league long enough to be judged anyway. Any rookie head coach of an NBA team is going to have his rough patches. I guess it's the "nature of the business" as they say.
Despite all the disappointing aspects of this season, there are certainly some positives. If the regular season ended today the Pistons would still be in the playoffs. They have shown signs of brilliance by beating five of the league's top six teams at various points. And fortunately, the future is brighter than the present. They have a core of very talented players with lots of time left in this league and come this summer they will have $20 million to spend to add even more talent to that core. You have to take the good with the bad and the Pistons have been so good for so long that the bad was bound to happen sooner or later. However, there is still more basketball to be played this season. You never know, maybe they will surprise everybody. In the immortal words of Chris Berman, "that's why they play the game."
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Making the Connection from Brownwood to Detroit
As you will find out from subsequent entries I am an avid sports fan and my favorite sport is basketball. When I was first learning how to walk ages ago, I believe I was also learning how to dribble a basketball at the same time. My parents quickly learned of my ingenuity as I could turn any hand held item into a ball of some sort. At the age of seven I witnessed my first NBA Finals series as the Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston Rockets defeated the New York Knicks four games to three in 1994. I remember my first Slam magazine which featured a story about Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament playing a pickup game with Dennis Rodman. It also featured an excerpt from the book Fab Five by Mitch Albom, a book that would later become one of my favorites of all-time. As soon as my family had access to the internet in the mid '90s I became a basketball historian reading everthing I possibly could on the sport. I watched games constantly keeping up with players' stats and projecting what the statistical outcome would be. My dad attributes my having a profiency in math to this. You see, being a sports fan does have its academic benefits!
This is a little background, now let's flash forward to today. I am a Detroit Pistons fanatic. How did someone from Brownwood, Texas become such an enormous fan of a team in Detroit, Michigan? I was born in Lake Charles, Louisianna where my dad was the horn teacher at McNeese State University. My dad's time at NcNeese St. coincided with that of college basketball star Joe Dumars. Dumars attented McNeese St. from 1981-1985 and in the summer of 1985 he was selected with the 18th pick of the NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. There he was part of the "Bad Boys" who won NBA championships in 1989 and '90 and was named MVP of the '89 NBA Finals. Dumars played for the Pistons his entire career and upon his retirement in 1999, he became one of the few players in NBA history to play over 1,000 games with the same team. Dumars then became the President of Basketball Operations for the Pistons and currently still holds that position. Needless to say, one my proudest moments as a Pistons fan was in the summer of 2004 when Detroit won the NBA championship by upsetting the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in a David vs. Goliath type battle. This happened in large part because of some major trades orchestrated by Dumars to assemble that championship team. In 2006 Joe Dumars was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. As I was first getting into basketball in the early '90s Dumars was in the prime of his playing career. When my dad told me about his connection with Dumars I decided I was going to root for the team he was on, the Detroit Pistons, and I have ever since.
There you have it. The circular relationship from Lake Charles to Brownwood to Detroit is now connected to explain my fanaticism for the Detroit Pistons in my own little sports world. If you don't give a flip about sports or basketball it's okay. It is just one of my many interests and I will write about many different subjects as they come to me. Go Pistons!
This is a little background, now let's flash forward to today. I am a Detroit Pistons fanatic. How did someone from Brownwood, Texas become such an enormous fan of a team in Detroit, Michigan? I was born in Lake Charles, Louisianna where my dad was the horn teacher at McNeese State University. My dad's time at NcNeese St. coincided with that of college basketball star Joe Dumars. Dumars attented McNeese St. from 1981-1985 and in the summer of 1985 he was selected with the 18th pick of the NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. There he was part of the "Bad Boys" who won NBA championships in 1989 and '90 and was named MVP of the '89 NBA Finals. Dumars played for the Pistons his entire career and upon his retirement in 1999, he became one of the few players in NBA history to play over 1,000 games with the same team. Dumars then became the President of Basketball Operations for the Pistons and currently still holds that position. Needless to say, one my proudest moments as a Pistons fan was in the summer of 2004 when Detroit won the NBA championship by upsetting the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in a David vs. Goliath type battle. This happened in large part because of some major trades orchestrated by Dumars to assemble that championship team. In 2006 Joe Dumars was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. As I was first getting into basketball in the early '90s Dumars was in the prime of his playing career. When my dad told me about his connection with Dumars I decided I was going to root for the team he was on, the Detroit Pistons, and I have ever since.
There you have it. The circular relationship from Lake Charles to Brownwood to Detroit is now connected to explain my fanaticism for the Detroit Pistons in my own little sports world. If you don't give a flip about sports or basketball it's okay. It is just one of my many interests and I will write about many different subjects as they come to me. Go Pistons!
First Blog
I decided to create my own blog as I was pondering if all of my thoughts and opinions are really worth something. Some things that have been running through my head lately are the need for the ability to improvise in life, just how much gray area there is in this world, what playing music can do for someone, the Detroit Pistons new lineup, and why Michael Vick has been subjected to such extreme treatment. I have a rule, however, that I will not air my opinions on any matters between the hours of 12 and 6 am. Since we are now in this area of time, this blog will serve as an introductory sample of what is to come.
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