Unreal. The more I follow professional sports, the more cynical I get. And to think I gave up following politics to become a sports fan. This McCoskey article (possibly ghostwritten by Karl Rove) is just one talking point after another, with no effort to even disguise it as journalism.

McCoskey is a HO. I hope the Pistons' press agent left some money on the bedside table.
I'm most sickened by the Ben talking point.

"The phrase Ben being Ben used to mean he got 15 rebounds and 5 blocks and controlled the game at the defensive end. This year, Ben being Ben meant he was in some sort of snit."

Manny being Manny. TO being TO. Who else? Barry being Barry. A recognized sports buzz phrase now that really means "being a problem for the franchise." Being the problem. Ben is going to be the escape goat for the failed championship run?

"Ben being Ben meant he was in some kind of snit." That's the kind of neatly packaged sound bite that is calculated to ruin a career, or at least sabotage a contract negotiation. The fact that the Pistons organization might be advancing that kind of sentiment means to me that they don't want Ben back.

If this is true, what does it mean about Joe? Is this Pistons Org mouthpiece speaking from his own agenda (save Flip maybe?), or is this an early warning indication of Joe's intentions?

If this is the way the wind is blowing, I agree with AHB who said he wants Ben to go where he will be happiest and most well paid. Why stick around if Flip and maybe Joe and the Pistons Org are going to set him up to be the escape goat for their future struggles as well?

Shame on whoever in the Pistons Org had anything to do with this press release disguised as a column.

It'd be hard for me to stay a Pistons fan if Big Ben gets crucified in the offseason. Incidentally, with all this going on I'm glad that he has a agent that can play hardball, not necessarily for the money discussions but for some of these kind of organizational internecine pitfalls.

Irregardless of the outcome, I want only the very best in the future of Big Ben Wallace. Future accolades and acclimades to the 4 time and likely future DPOY!

Ben Wallace to Joe: "Etu Brutus?" Say it ain't so, Joe!

Nice post.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

Stop trying to hide **** McCoskey. We know this team had some problems at the end.

Good post aurorakmw, roscoe.

ahb is that mccoskey?

Yeah...the playoff games 4 years ago fatigued this year's playoff team. McCoskey's an incredibly dumb butt-kisser. How does he still have his job?

Re-reading that article it does look like a pre-emptive slam at Ben Wallace.
And perhaps the most damaging ( as pointed out here )
Pistons have to be very carefull with this. If they don't want Ben then leave it on good terms. Now is not the time to go Bush League on us. Ben has made this francise a lot of money and has been the one constant since Dumars arrival. Many of the new fans identify with Ben and he has been the Pistons main identity throughout this resurgance which has taken the team from 3/4 capacity attendance to 100+ consecutive sellouts and doubling playoff ticket prices. Its one thing to slam LB as you can given his history but be very careful with a player who has been your teams icon, its identity, for the past few seasons. This can go very very bad for the Pistons if its not handled right and could send up red flags for any potential FA's.

Who is going to sign with us if this is how we treat our team captains when their contracts expire? If this was not a contract year then people would have wrote it off as Ben getting burned by Shaq. Shaq - arguably one of the top Centers of all time playing very well.

This last bit
Are we going back to Teal? You can still play defense. Ben Wallace still won DPY even with the new rule changes.

How is this statement untrue? Ben has been acting up this season.

I don't think it should have been published as things should stay in-house. The beat writers and the Pistons organization should be considerate of their players. But it is nothing unusual. Fair or not, sports columnists, writers get away writing a lot of crap.

It's OK to make Flip the scape goat, with none of the players being held accountable. I am not talking about Ben or any player in particular. You win as a team and lose a team. Everyone shares the blames, some more than others depending on the facts. Flip is now chief idiot, just as Ben is being Id'ed for some of locker room troubles. The truth lies in between.

For the record I don't care if Flip goes or stays. Whatever is best for the Pistons needs to be done. Because of the last 2 series the coaching has suddenly become the total focus of all fault despite a 64 win season and a butt kicking of the Bucks. Locally it is apparent the players have nothing to do with blowing a 2-0 lead against the Cavs and starting the implosion.

Maybe some information is missing in the whole picture? Now according to Micro's latest info, LB is not all that he was cracked up to be. At the time he was fired/left Joe and Mr. D appeared unfair in their treatment of LB.

Emotions are running high for fans and writers/sports talk guys are having a field day because that's what stirs up the business. I wish the best for the organization and its players.

A couple of years from now people are only going to remember the Pistons not re-signing Wallace. They are not going to remember all that other stuff. People nationwide do not care about rumors.

I hope Ben is re-signed to a reasonable contract that makes sense to both parties assumming he wants to be here and the coaching situation is resolved. He has been the face of the franchise and is a fan favorite. He has been correct in his feeling that something wasn't right within the team and coaching but he was wrong in voicing it to the public. Flip replied only after the players started calling him out. Joe should have stepped in and told everyone to shut up. Once the finger pointing starts the situation always deteriorates.