Last season ended like a bad dream. From the sleepwalking start by the players to the brawl and disinterest from the coach. The entire summer, I immersed myself in the Summer League play of the Pistons' kids and getting this forum online.

My gut was unsettled. Not full blown nausea, but the kind of lingering discomfort that you get back on dry land after a day of sea sickness. Rubber knees and queasiness that can only be cured with sleep and a solid meal. Except there was no cure for this ill feeling but burying myself in every other possible conversation relating to this team. Hell, I even invested myself emotionally into Darko's Eurobasket run, despite skepticism about his future as a Piston.

Q. How did it feel for you knowing that you were maybe 12 minutes away from defending your championship and you were not able to get that?

RICHARD HAMILTON: It's tough. You know, like I said, it's tough. You've got to take the good with the bad. We came here to give ourselves an opportunity and we did that by winning the last game and going into the fourth quarter up by a point, we gave ourselves another opportunity, but we just came up short. These guys were handling it better than me. I don't watch the game with a jersey on or have a flag on my car. You won't catch me bidding for signed memorabilia on ebay. My drug of choice is glory. Championship memories. The kind I cherish from 1989, 1990 and 2004.

Q. How tough was it to watch another team celebrate the Championship that you guys have held for a year?

BEN WALLACE: It's tough, it's tough any time you come this close to winning the Championship and have it slip through your fingers, it's going to be tough. Q. What do you feel like happened to you guys in the fourth quarter?

BEN WALLACE: We didn't make plays down the stretch. We didn't do what we needed to in crucial points of the game. They got shots, they needed shots and made plays they needed. We didn't do those things. We lost the title. They lost the belts. This wasn't right. It was like watching someone else drive your car with your old lady in the passenger seat.

Well, now it's a new playoffs. The Pistons reduced the regular season to an 82 game snore fest. They set records, went to the All-Star game, and despite all of those achievements, I'm nervous. I've got the pre-game butterflies and jitters. And I'M NOT EVEN PLAYING!

You see, there really is nowhere for this team to go but to the Finals and Championship glory. Because they are too good to settle for anything less, and as a fan, I cannot handle another summer of feeling like my solar plexus was dealt a sharp blow. Like someone kicked me in the groin. Like I was mugged by my best friend.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/whup-ass042306.jpgSo I've adopted a new approach, effective now. The Pistons have unfinished business. Championship business, and tonight at 7:00 pm, the Palace Locker Room store opens with only one product on the shelves. Wup Ass. We sell it bulk, discounts to any pretenders.

This is the brass ring, and regular season achievement is no salve for the wounds of a defeated warrior.

So bring your arrogance, your hard-headedness, your fanaticism and your passion. There is only one way our team will go out, and only one way I will regard this post season. Like a cage match, a pit fight, the settling of a blood feud.

It's time for redemption and dominance.

It's time for punishment and pain.

It's time Detroit. Time to go to work.

To finish our business.

"This is blood for blood and by the gallon. These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They're back! There's no choice left. And I'm ready for war." Marv, Sin City

u r hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:laugh:

I'm moved, deep deep it's so deep . . .

Suppose I am a little different from other Piston fans. I did not expect a title last season. Nothing about last season seem right until the 11 game winning streak near the end. That gave me hope. Then when I saw how our team was able to comeback against Miami. Comeback and almost win 3 straight against SAN and then win game 6 in SAN. I started to believe we could do it.

This season everything seems right.

I feel you.

Being at or near the top is like walking a tightrope. There is no up. Either achieve your goal or fall. It's a no moral victory position.

I share your nervousness when I think of the fact that there is only one way to succeed for this team. It is a definite drawback to having such a great team. But then there are the advantages - for instance I chuckle every time I watch the "I am a witness" King James commercials with the signs hanging out of buildings, the kids painting their faces, and Cleveland getting all excited just for making the playoffs. That's what the t-shirts and signs should say "I am witness to LeBron making and exiting the playoffs." Or "I am witness to LeBron going fishing after the second round."

LMAO!

Great piece, Micro.

It was definitely great to see the boys open up that first "Can" last night and get off to a good start the way they did.

Let's hope they keep the can opener handy for game two and not let up. :nod:

I feel the same as you do Micro.

I love the swagger of this team. Some would call it arrogance, i call it unyielding confidence, and focus.

Think about it, a title this year would fall short within minutes of a "threepeat", just like 88,89,and 90.

I see that same win at any cost attitude in this team as in the "Bad Boys" This team is on a mission, anything short of a title would be a summer of finger pointing and secong guessing.

Sometimes it seems we the fans are under more pressure than the players are, that`s ok I thrive on pressure!..:eyebrows:

Yeah, I can barely perform under this pressure. We just have to take it one post at a time.

Good stuff. Lucky for us the Pistons seem to feel the same way.

Charles Barklay on how to beat this team, "with the '86 Celtics".

Sorry I'm late bro but...

Good Piece! :) This is the best time of the year to be a Pistons fan. I would not be shocked at all if we added another 50 - 100 members during this playoff stretch. Dynasty in the making fellas...and like many others in this forum I've followed them every step of the way. Feels good. GO PISTONS!