By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
January 17, 2014
The moment that Joe Dumars idiotically passed on Trey Burke last June, I knew there would be at least one Pistons game that I would attend during the 2013-14 season.
Utah at Detroit.
I used to be a regular at the Palace during the glory days of the Aughts when the team was competing for championships year after year, but since the rebuilding era commenced a few years back, I have done all of my viewing from my sofa. Not because I am a bandwagon fan — I have continued to regularly watch this abortion of a product on Fox Sports Detroit — but because going to games isn’t my thing any longer.
But tonight was going to be different. I wanted to watch the point guard who should be playing for the Pistons right now in person. And I also wanted to bomb Detroit News beat writer Vincent GoodShill in the flesh. Ya know, so the pussy couldn’t open a can of blocking on me.
So DSR co-founder Gregg Schultz, his seven year-old son Jack and I traveled out to Auburn Hills sans tickets. We showed up early and trekked our way to the box office and selected three seats in the section directly behind press row.
Walking around the Palace before the game was hilarious. You couldn’t go ten feet without seeing a fan wearing a Trey Burke Jazz jersey or a #3 Wolverines uni. There weren’t many people in attendance on Friday evening, but the ones at the game were clearly there to see the 2013 NCAA’s Most Outstanding Player.
Now, I am not going to get into a rehash of Dumars’ awful decision to take Kentavious Caldwell-Pope over Burke in the draft and the slapdick, bought-and-paid-for beat writers’ hilarious defense of that pick this evening. That will come over the weekend. If you must read an excellent takedown of Joe’s horrid choice, you can read Jamie Samuelsen’s excellent Freep blog here:
Jamie “Tapioca” Samuelsen FINALLY gets something right
Anyway, once the game started, I screamed a few bombs at GoodShill when the nearly silent crowd was napping (when Burke wasn’t doing something exciting or Automotion wasn’t on the floor), but my plan was to wait for the fourth quarter to really let the clown have it.
But I found myself facing a predicament. One of the DSR’s biggest fans (14 year-old Jake Weiss) was located in Section 110 and alerted Schultz that the Pistons General Manager was sitting just a few feet away in a suite looking suicidal as the Jazz were running the emotionless Pistons out of Oakland County.
Should I stay in my seat and go after Canada’s Most Wanted Beat Writer or move over a few sections and let Joe have it? Being a man of the people, I put the decision up for a vote on Twitter.
The most influential response came from THE Brian Cook, the founder of MGoBlog.com.
@JeffMossDSR Dumars
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) January 18, 2014
Welp, I couldn’t let MGoBrian down, so Schultz, his young son and I made our way to Section 110 near Dumars.
I started slowly in my verbal attack on Dumars. Since I couldn’t bomb GoodShill, I figured I would give a shot to Dumars about his lapdog Vinnies always protecting his ass and going the extra mile to defend the 2013 draft.
I then proceeded to berate Dumars with a “You didn’t want that guy” reset. That guy being the kid who put up 20 and 12 on Friday night while Joe’s team basically quit on Mo Cheeks. Again.
And then another shot at Goodwill ……
Now, you can see from the videos that I wasn’t swearing. I am a crazy person, but I wasn’t about to use profanity in front of a seven year-old kid and another adolescent who is only one year removed from his Bar Mitzvah. I was just taking this opportunity to blast a GM who made a short-sighted decision to draft a dime-a-dozen two-guard instead of a potential franchise point guard because the exec was trying to save his OWN ASS and not worried about the overall future of the organization.
So, when Dumars is soon shown the business end of Lapeer Road, WE THE PEOPLE™ (Jack Swagger) will have to deal with the Burke/KCP nuclear fallout for the next decade-plus while his agent, Adrian Wojnarowski, lands Dumars a cushy new GM gig in another NBA town.
For the record, Dumars never looked at me. Never moved a muscle, really. A pyscho to his left kept staring me down while I voiced my displeasure and someone must have alerted the Palace Guards to the disruption in Section 110.
So, here is the video of me getting thrown out of the Palace. I did take one last opportunity to BOMB Dumars for comparing his passing on Burke for KCP to the Indiana Pacers drafting Reggie Miller instead of Steve Alford — a comparison that has no basis in reality, mind you.
A possible ejection? A possible ejection? Like they thought I wanted to stay and watch the rest of that garbage?
“We might ask you not to come back.”
Oh, what will I do? I mean, do the Pistons really have the luxury of keeping people out of the building who want to attend?
The Palace was half-empty on a Friday night and many in attendance were only there to see the guy the Pistons passed on. I can’t imagine the crowd if the Bobcats were in town. I thought venture capitals were smarter businessmen than that.
After I got tossed, Schultz and his son were escorted out of the building as well. They were leaving anyway, but Gregg wanted to get one more shot in at Dumars. Schultz asked security why I was ejected since I wasn’t saying anything profane or derogatory.
Gregg was informed that you can’t talk to the GM like that and get away with it. Which means I should only have to wait another 48 hours before yelling at Dumars in that fashion is okay.
I wrapped up the evening by interviewing Jack on the way home to see how he enjoyed the game.
Hopefully, Social Services won’t be visiting the Schultz home anytime soon.
It’s been an eventful week. On Wednesday, the Lions changed security protocol in order to keep me out of Ford Field for Jim Caldwell’s introductory presser. Tonight, I was given the boot at the Palace.
This coming Wednesday, I have tickets at the Joe to see the reigning Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks take on the Wings.
Shall we start a pool?
(You can follow me on Twitter @JeffMossDSR)