Gentlemen,

Tonight will be considered a big step in my life. Since I was 6 years old, I have been watching the Pistons and the NBA. That tradition ends tonight. I have watched my last NBA game until David Stern steps down as the NBA Commissioner.

Let's get one thing straight - I am not blaming the Pistons season on the referees. The Pistons did this to themselves. They were the ones who blew this series. Their lack of poise (I seem to be hearing that term a lot lately) and overall disposition was terrible. They aren't the same team they once were - and that can be blamed entirely on Flip Saunders. If the Pistons are to be successful in the future, they need a coach that doesn't look more nervous than his players.

However, how are the Pistons supposed to compete? There are a completely different set of rules for both teams. Knowing that, as the Pistons do, can get in your head. And we tell our players to just accept that? I don't know about you guys, but if I'm told that I have to compete with any person were my competition gets a completely different set of rules than I do, that shit can get frustrating. I understand that these guys are paid big bucks to get over this type of thing, but tell me that you wouldn't let that bother you in your job.

Just a couple of things that I noticed all series long:
- LeBron can stick out his forearm and use it to push in our players chests, and if we touch that arm, it is a foul.
- We all know about the Rasheed reputation and the insta-techs that he gets. (by the way, I'm glad he got thrown out. At least he has the balls to say it to the referees faces what we are all thinking)
- The traveling rule depends on which player has the ball.
- If we go after a loose ball and hit someone, it's a foul. They go hard after a loose ball and hit someone, it's playoff basketball.
- Varejao is allowed to smack Sheed in the post with his chest and continue to bump him, but the second Sheed bumps back, he flops and it's a foul on Sheed.
- A flagrant foul for Dyess is an ejection, a flagrant on Gooden is one shot.
- At one point the free throw differential was 42-19. Guess what, if it was the same we are winning that game.

I'm sure you guys can think of a lot more.

Like I said before, the Pistons blew it. Leaving Gibson open for 45 or 46 open threes in a row is unacceptable. But honestly, when you have to watch your every step so you don't touch the Chosen One, that shit will get in your head and you will make tons of mistakes.

So back to my original point. I will not waste any more of my time. I have spent countless hours to watch something that is as close to fixed as possible. I kept waiting for Vince McMann to be on the sidelines grinning with a glass of champaign. The star system is not just a conspiracy theory, but a proven fact. I can't handle this league anymore.


Sorry to waste your time with my rant. I feel a little bit better. I'll see you guys in the NFL forum.

Go Lions!

I wish I could say I'll never watch again but being a loser with no life I'll more than likely watch in the fall and throughout next season and on, but I sure as hell won't be posting on WTFDetroit and trying to make excuses for this team anymore.

QFT

At least living in Australia I can get away from the media aspect.

Im gonna go watch AFL...

i said im gonna stop watching basketatball after that miami dibacle last season....but then i moved back to michigan, couldnt help it....when i move back to california, i think it would be easy to not give a damn unless they get lewis, and acie law

Sign me up halfway. and I was a year ahead of ya'll. Haven't watched one non pistons game all season. Won't next year. The only way I boycott the Pistons as a whole is if Flippity Doo da is still coach. Never in my life have I hated being right as much as I do about the rig when it went to new heights last year and our coach when we signed him.

Until this team gets back to defense. its a joke.

Tough one, guys.

if they bring back the same team next year, i wont feel the need to watch too many games. i hardly watched any piston games this year, anyway. i'll never walk away from the nba, though. as long as i have time to be watching sports, i'll be watching basketball. i dont know who had nba pass, but i had access last year, and there are SO many teams that play an asthetically pleasing brand of b-ball (basically the raptors and then 2/3 of the teams out west) that i think the nba is as entertaining as its been in a long time. its just that the pistons play about the most boring style possible.

lets face it, this team has become extremely unlikeable. whine and cheese silverspooners that are the absolute antithesis to the 2004 champs (especially presheed). while both teams were boring, 04 atleast had heart and hustle. all we've got is a bunch of top of the lottery fucks who expect their valet's to hit the floor for loose balls. cuz floor burn hurts and that's not part of their job discription.

its time for joe dumars to stop resting on his laurels and actually get to work this summer. bring in conley, play a fan friendly game of ball, and start anew. we'll be right back in it in a couple years. we pretty much have to, cuz i dont see any way, shape or form, that we bring back a similarly built team and get through cleveland, and maybe not chicago or miami either.

Shit Diddy, the '05 team (which got off to that slow start, coming off the title) even had more heart. And that got them to game 7 of the NBA finals, within 12 minutes of a repeat, with zero depth and coming off a huge win in SA, where they hadn't won in a long time, to force said game 7.

and the team im most excited about next year is portland, btw. i loved watching them last year. aldridge was my boy going back to texas (gibson too, actually. ughhh) and roy was a revelation to me. its going to be funny watching the kids work the rest of the nba. plus theres a few guys i plan to follow from this coming draft... conley, horford. i'll be interested to see how brandon wright looks in the nba (and where is he going? i have no clue). and maybe see just how big of a bust this chinese guy turns out to be (i dont buy the hype. is a gm really going to pass on lottery talent on a wild card man of the orient who has a shaky J? i doubt that.)

ps: oh, how the piston's fate would have been different if we had spent a little more $$ on coaching and went with mr sonic nate mcmillon. in hindsight, he would have been PERFECT for this team. oh well, whats done is done. i wonder what pennypincher would say about that.

What I'd pay to see a Portland-Toronto series. I'm not even kidding.


Anyway though I'll be watching EVERY game yet again next season it's gonna be really hard to get excited about anything the Pissons do.

If the same team comes back next year, I won't watch very much either. Joe D, I know Stern's NBA is garbage, but you have to adjust.

I'm just tired of watching these guys half ass it for 45 minutes a night. Three out of five of the starters are on the wrong side of their prime, and I want to get rid of all three and bring in some young players. I can stand 1-2 years of mediocrity if it means we're in the thick of things after that.

MoTown hit the nail on the head across the board. Nothing to add or subtract. Great post.

Just a couple of things that I noticed all series long:
- LeBron can stick out his forearm and use it to push in our players chests, and if we touch that arm, it is a foul.
- We all know about the Rasheed reputation and the insta-techs that he gets. (by the way, I'm glad he got thrown out. At least he has the balls to say it to the referees faces what we are all thinking)
- The traveling rule depends on which player has the ball.
- If we go after a loose ball and hit someone, it's a foul. They go hard after a loose ball and hit someone, it's playoff basketball.
- Varejao is allowed to smack Sheed in the post with his chest and continue to bump him, but the second Sheed bumps back, he flops and it's a foul on Sheed.
- A flagrant foul for Dyess is an ejection, a flagrant on Gooden is one shot.
- At one point the free throw differential was 42-19. Guess what, if it was the same we are winning that game.

Great points that make me sick to my stomach.

I feel your pain, MoTown.......but I do love basketball too much to stop watching. Honestly, what the hell am I going to watch to get my basketball fix?

Good points but I can't stop watching my Pistons.

Yeah, me too. Basketball is my favorite sport to watch and the Pistons were the first team in any sport I started watching.

MoTown, i feel for ya, just like rest of the crew.
but just like swearing off smokes, you might be able to resist for few days, weeks, maybe months or years. but the temptation remains, esp when you take that wiff at a restaurant while having a drink.

what will you do when you happen to walk into a bar when the game's on?

if you can swear off that, you are a much much better man than i, and frankly too hardcore for my taste :p

i say we get Kobe and start getting some super star calls on our side :D

I would never go to a bar or even The Palace, I get really pissed off when things aren't going well. It'd be embarassing (yes, even more than this ECF).

I would never go to a bar or even The Palace, I get really pissed off when things aren't going well. It'd be embarassing (yes, even more than this ECF).

I can relate, Tim. My girlfriend got really upset with me last night for getting mad last night (during the first half, mind you). Also, watching some regular season games against Chicago, I managed to make several Bulls fans leave the room because I was so fired up (I go to college in the suburban Chicago area, btw). However, I have been to the Palace, but never during a heated game. I'm not sure how well I'd handle it.

I hate Stern

I can relate, Tim. My girlfriend got really upset with me last night for getting mad last night (during the first half, mind you). Also, watching some regular season games against Chicago, I managed to make several Bulls fans leave the room because I was so fired up (I go to college in the suburban Chicago area, btw). However, I have been to the Palace, but never during a heated game. I'm not sure how well I'd handle it.

Yeah, I prefer to watch games alone. It'd be hard for me to watch games with girlfriends or friends with every other word I'm saying being "fuck" or "god damnit" as was the case last night (and game 5 vs. Chicago)...out loud... and alone.

My mum got really pissed off at me because I kept swearing yesterday...

Not my fault -.-

Usually that's what happens when I watch games. But Saturday night I just started laughing after every call because it was just plain humorous.

I'm with you Motown. No more NBA for me. It's turning into a boxing type of situation. Shady as hell.

If the same team comes back next year, I won't watch very much either. Joe D, I know Stern's NBA is garbage, but you have to adjust.


How? Tank it until you luck into a superstar player? There is no way to adjust to a biased whistle. You can adjust to rules (ie zone defense, hand check calls, etc). But how do you take advantage of the superstar rules without one? Stack tried. We all remember his trips to the free throw line. It wasn't enough.

By no means am I totally blaming the officials. Leaving Gibson wide open isn't their fault. We got outworked for sure. But you can understand how the team gets so frustrated when the officiating is not consistant.

I came into this thread expecting MoTown to get blasted for his thoughts, but I'm surprised to see almost everyone agreeing with him.

Count me in as well.

David Stern has made a mockery of Naismith's game. It has now completely transitioned from a game to a business. The teams with the most marketable players find favor with the refs, while those who still try to cling to team play get continuously bashed. Seriously, give LeBron the same love that the refs give Sheed or Webber and he's watching the 4th quarter of Games 5 and 6 from the bench. You can't tell me he didn't push off or put the shoulder down and ram somebody (not to mention flat-out shove our players in the back) less than 6 times before going ape-shit in Game 5. That's 6 offensive fouls, have a seat.

If the Pistons would've come up with another "Bad Boy" gimmick, things may've been different, because they would've been more marketable. As it was, this team refused to flop all over the gym like Gibson and Varegina and they paid the price. They must not've gotten the memo which stated you need to abandon all manner of self-esteem and act as if you've been shot whenever anyone is near you in order to properly receive a call this year. When Gibson yet again crumpled to the ground and writhed around in pain for 5 minutes, only to pop up and shoot his free throws, and when Stoyakobitch or what the fuck ever his name is clutched at his ear as if to keep it attached to his head, and the replays showed utterly no contact, I turned to my friend and said, "This sport has now become soccer." Then we fantasized what it must've been like, watching a game back in the 50's and 60's, when guys like Marovich, Roberts, and West were throwing in buckets and still getting calls against them. Way back when even the darlings of the league needed to watch their fouls and how many steps they took. We just couldn't imagine it.

I don't know if I'll not watch a single game next year, but I can promise you the games I do watch will be precious few. I refuse to let this corrupt league get under my skin anymore. We're already bending over and taking it in the ass from our goverment. I can't fit David Stern's fist up there as well anymore.

How the NBA once was:

6SSK9dHfasQ

in the second half of the clip, Robert Parrish doesn't get ejected......nor does he get a foul called on him, LMAO!

How the NBA once was:
in the second half of the clip, Robert Parrish doesn't get ejected......nor does he get a foul called on him, LMAO!

That's why I said "50's and 60's". The Pistons were completely screwed over all the time in the 80's.

I came into this thread expecting MoTown to get blasted for his thoughts, but I'm surprised to see almost everyone agreeing with him.

Count me in as well.




I totally did as well. I'm pretty sure that shows how blatent this shit has become...

or that the pistons are on the way down.... i seem to recall a LOT of fans of other teams bitching about football on hardwood a couple years ago. i bet thats somehow different, though.

i also what sacramento fans would say about these "new" superstar calls. or badboy fans, for that matter.

I can respect Mo's frustration and willingness to walk away, but I just can't, no matter how bad it gets.

If this is the way that it's going to be, it's interesting to me to see if we're going to try to "beat the system" again with team play or if Joe will go with the "if you can't beat them, join them" philosophy and go get a superstar.

I'm not kidding myself, I'll watch either way.

or that the pistons are on the way down.... i seem to recall a LOT of fans of other teams bitching about football on hardwood a couple years ago. i bet thats somehow different, though.

i also what sacramento fans would say about these "new" superstar calls. or badboy fans, for that matter.

Agreed. This is reaction to losing.