Why I hate Detroit sports talk radio: Reason #26,873

As I have nothing better to do while I'm working on a blog post, 97.1 FM - The Ticket, is playing in the background. I realize it's just asking for trouble, but what the Hell, at least they are talking local sports. (Jim Rome, playing on WDFN at that time, grates on me to no end. Then there is Rome's callers, all of whom seem to believe they are auditioning for Last Comic Standing)

It being after 2 PM, the tolerable Doug Karsch and Scott Anderson are replaced on-air with Terry Foster (whom I normally like) and the absolutely moronic Mike Valenti.

Why would I call him moronic? Thanks to a couple of things he said over the air during the first half hour of the show.

One, he actually watched the ESPY's. Watching ESPN masturbate all over itself while handing out utterly meaningless sports "awards" is the biggest waste of time ever created on this planet. When the 4 Letter announced their creation back in 1993, I resolved to never watch the useless and inspid ESPY's. 15 years later, I'm proud to say I've yet to see a second of them. (Maybe I'll make that my epitath, "He refused to watch the ESPY's") Most any knowledgable sports fan has better things to do. Hell, even staring off into space is a better use of time than watching an awards show celebrating all that is wrong with sports and the ESPN.

The ESPY's admission was bad enough. But what really sent me over the edge was Valenti claiming that Justin Verlander is not a true number one starter, and he has not been "great" over the past 6 weeks. Has he even watched any of Verlanders starts? Probably not, if he spends time watching outright crap like the ESPY's.

Let's look at Verlander's stats since June 11th:

G: 8
W-L: 6-0
ERA: 2.30
IP: 54.2
ER: 14
H: 36
K: 47
BB: 19

The Tigers are 7-1 in those 8 starts. If that's not great, then I don't know what the definition of "great" is. To be on the safe side, let's look up great in the dictionary!

Great: 
wonderful; first-rate; very good
being such in an extreme or notable degree
notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding

If we go by the literal definition of the word, and not just what our eyes and the stats have been telling us, I think we can safely say Justin Verlander has been a "great" number one starter...At least over the past month and a half. 

Is this excusing Verlander for his awful start? Of course not. He didn't deserve to lose a few of those games during his 2-9 start, but he wasn't the Verlander the Tigers needed. But you cannot deny Verlander has turned his season around, and is one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.

For all the bile the MSM  spews about blogs and bloggers, I hear more moronic and asshole-ish opinion from both hosts and callers during one day of local sports talk radio than you'll ever get from any self-respecting blogger.

I've come to a conclusion....Mike Valenti is the Rob Parker of Detroit sports talk. I'm just not sure which hack should be more offended.

Clichés remain the refuge of a newspaper hack

The longer I'm a sports fan, the longer I blog about sports, the more bullshit I see being spewed from the quickly dying medium commonly known as a newspaper.

For the most part, with a few exceptions, beat writers don't insult their readers with uneducated, meant to irritate tripe. I don't always agree with their coverage, and they are all too often in lockstep, reporting the same exact stories. Nevertheless, they are on the front lines, actually reporting.

Columnists, on the other hand...

There's a reason more and more fans are getting their sports opinion from the web. Because most columnists are phoning it in. The latest example of hackery I found tonight in the Freep. No, it's not a piece from the usual hacks (Though they are often guilty themselves), but a Bernie Lincicome column reprinted from the Rocky Mountain News.

I'm not even going to bother rebutting what this clueless fool says about Detroit and the Red Wings. It's the same tired clichés we've been subjected to in the past, by every newspaper hack in the damn country. Detroit's dirty, it's crime ridden, it's not "Hockeytown," as it should be called "Loserville," Hasek is old, so are the rest of the Wings, the octopus tradition is stupid...

Har-de-fucking-har-har.

I know this clown is attempting to put semi- coherent sentences together for a Denver readership, Avs fans who probably believe this was an awful piece of writing as well. If you are going to do the same flea bitten, overdone, unimaginative "our city is so much better than the opposition city" column every other piss ant, know-nothing fishwrap columnist in the fucking country feels the need to commit to print, at least be creative and funny about it.

What actually made me laugh was this Lincicome character is writing as if Detroit-Colorado is still a rivalry! It hasn't been one in quite some time, since the moment Patrick Roy tried his "Statue of Liberty" move in 2002. Which is also the last time the Avalanche were actually a factor in the Western Conference.

Hell, I'm guessing this guy is as much of a bandwagon rider most columnists are, only writing about hockey when the playoffs come around. Which is why he has to stoop down to the level of turning in a column full of bad jokes and insults, as he knows little about the sport to begin with.

Utterly lame columns as this are a prime example as to why newspapers are an endangered species. Your daily paper is too often full of opinions spewed from old, the stuck in the past curmudgeons who think an IBM Selectric is advanced technology. In other words, it's the same shit, different day and city.

In fact, the Freep is just as guilty, as the only reason they printed Lincicome's drivel is the same reason Drew Sharp still has a job. To get a pissy, knee-jerk reaction out of Detroiters. In the world of fishwraps, a bad reaction is better than the type they usually get, which is none. If they sell a few extra papers, and get a few more page views in the process, even if it's in anger, then they're happy.

Who needs it? I don't. Those of you who have realized how homogenized and dumbed down the newspapers have become, and now get the vast majority of their news and sports opinion from the web, don't either.

We have better things to do, like seek out educated, thoughtful, well written and funny sports opinion on blogs and web sites. Finding the same in newspapers is as rare as a Nick Lidstrom goal from center ice. It happens on the rare occasion, but you should never, ever expect it.

Above the fold - Stupidity reigns in the fishwraps

Stupidity reigns in the Detroit newspapers. Today is no exception...

At Mlive, Steve Grinczel makes possibly the dumbest statement I've ever seen in print or on the web.

If Michigan State could guarantee it would win the Big Ten Tournament by agreeing to take a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament would you take it?

I think if I'm the Spartans I would.

On second thought, I have to say that is the dumbest statement I've ever seen in print or on the web.

Winning a made for TV event, one that doesn't mean much of anything in the big scheme of things (Does anyone remember who won it last season? Or even care?), is more important that a long run in the only tournament anyone with 2 functioning brain cells cares about? If there is someone out there who ranks conference tournament titles over NCAA Sweet 16, Elite 8 or Final Four runs, I've yet to meet them. Well, until now.

Conference tournaments do little more than line the pockets of the big time colleges with cash. Lots and lots of TV network cash. Having a banner in the rafters saying you won a made for TV tournament means jack shit. It doesn't prove you are the best team, just one that is hot at the right time. If anything, winning the regular season title is the true measure of a team, not winning 3 meaningless games when you are already assured a NCAA seeding.

For all the talk of how "important" conference tournaments are, the only one that EVER carried that sort of import was the ACC's. (Grinczel does mention this) Even then, in my mind, giving the conference tournament winner the automatic bid to the NCAA's was, and still is, silly.

Back in the day, some very good regular season champs were kept out of the NCAA's thanks to the ACC's asinine rules. But back then, only 1 team would get in, thus the importance of winning the ACC tournament. Today, the winning the ACC tournament still holds some cache', but not nearly as much as it did 30 years ago.

So to claim winning an overblown Big 10 tournament title should be the Spartans' priority, when Tom Izzo's program is actually measured by their performance in the big dance, is flabbergastingly stupid.

Later in the article, Grinczel tries to back away from his stupidity...somewhat.

winning the BTT gives them a better chance of making a decent run in the NCAAs because it would uncover the resolve they've heretofore demonstrated on precious few occasions.

He plays the overdone "it'll show they have heart" card. Please. I HATE the use of that cliche', as he's essentially saying the Spartans lack heart, they don't have the "grit" (Another overused cliche') to win. It's ridiculous to make such a claim about any person or team from afar, and even more so about 18-21 year old kids.

I have to say it again, as it cannot be reinforced enough. Grinczel's stand was dumbest I've ever seen a writer take in print or on the web.

Not that the Freep's Drew Sharp is far behind Grinzel in hackery, as the hit man takes another swipe at Michigan and the Big 10 today.

Where else but the Big Ten could a team go scoreless for 10 minutes -- and still maintain a double-digit lead?

I'm sure I've seen the Pistons do something similar during their lock down defense days under Larry Brown. Just sayin'.

"It's a sign of progress," Michigan coach John Beilein implored.

It's a sign that there was no discernible difference in the garbage stockpiled at the bottom of the conference standings this season.

I think it's more of a sign, at least when it comes to Michigan, that Tommy Amaker left Beilein with a roster absolutely barren of Big 10 caliber any talent, save for Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims. God forbid Amaker recruit a couple of players who could nail an open jumper.

More than anything, it shows just how badly the university administration allowed the basketball program to atrophy. John Beilein walked into a buzz saw of suck at Michigan, and it's going to take time and patience for him to lead Wolverines basketball to respectability.

But Sharp doesn't take any of that into account, just that Michigan didn't play up to his high standards. (I had to stifle a laugh there. Sharp and high standards? Is that an oxymoron? Or just moronic?)

As bad as they were, Iowa proved far worse.

And that's progress?

In Michigan's case, YES!

The dumbass seems to be forgetting one thing. The Wolverines WON THE GAME! I don't care if it was uglier than watching 40-somethings play a half court game at the Y. They won a game in the Big 10 tournament, something Amaker was rarely able to accomplish. For that matter, you could see the Wolverines improve as the season went on, something Amaker was NEVER able to accomplish.

Sharp also felt the need to give Beilein a timetable for extracting Michigan from the morass...

If Beilein cannot break U-M's more than decade-long NCAA tournament drought within his first three years, then he becomes as much a failure as Amaker.

No one will be as big a failure as Tommy Amaker. No one. But I will admit that Michigan claiming a NCAA berth by 2010 sounds reasonable. Going by Beilein's track record as a head coach, I don't think it's too much to ask.

But it's insulting to compare Beilein, who's done more with less than damn near every coach in America over his career, to Amaker. Amaker has coasted on his Duke and and Coach Kzerfgjerski ties for years. He has major conference programs (Seton Hall and Michigan) handed to him, and did zip with the opportunities.

On the other hand, Beilein had to work his way up from being a high school and community college coach, while making his won name and developing his own system along the way. He's 10x the coach Amaker can ever hope to be. But try telling that to hacks like Sharp and Rob Parker, who were Amaker apologists.

Sharp appears to favor style points in winning, and doesn't think much of the win.

When you've won as infrequently as U-M this season, you accept any victory regardless of its grotesque appearance. But quite frankly, there's little valor in the wretched getting the better of one of their fellow cellar-dwellers.

But isn't a win a win? Even if it's ugly as all Hell? It is in everyone's world but Sharp's. There will be a W in the record books, there won't be any qualifiers attached. You ever see "Ugly W" instead of "W" in the standings? Me neither.

Michigan ended up losing to Wisconsin today, scoring only 34 points, ending their season. Though Sharp may not agree (In my mind, that's a good thing), but despite some of the disappointing losses, for the first time in years, I actually feel better about the Wolverines' future in hoops.

Why Detroit sports talk radio blows: Reason #1874

WXYT's Mike Valenti and Drew Sharp have wasted the past 30 minutes of my life, 30 minutes I'll never get back, discussing Lance Armstrong dating an Olsen Twin. Disturbing? Sure. Worth even a minute of my time? HELL NO!

Valenti, not exactly a prize himself, yet being the arbiter of ALL things attractive about the female persuasion, claims the Olsen's are "Butterface's," and look like "Monkeys," while claiming that you should never be caught with "Fat chicks."

I can picture it now. I arrive at the pearly gates, and my afterlife is hanging in the balance. St. Peter will see that I actually wasted a portion of my life listening to this lowest common denominator tripe masquerading as a discussion, and even worse, wrote about it. You can close the book on my afterlife, I'm screwed.

I'm going to Hell in a God damn handbasket...

Colin Cowherd: Proof positive that the worldwide leader is the root of all evil

The Big Lead is a great blog. It's a blog that quickly became a daily must read, and has broken stories that the complacent MSM were too clueless to move on. They've been kind enough to link to TWFE a few times, and they also share a distaste for all things Rob Parker, so you know they are kindred spirits.

Today, the MSM struck back at blogs, and with extreme malice. The Big Lead was taken off line in a DDoS attack today, which was orchestrated by a talentless hack, the worldwide leader radio's Colin Cowherd.

Cowherd asked all his listeners, mostly small town sheep, as Cowherd's show isn't carried in most major markets, to all visit The Big Lead, and crash their servers. As of 8 pm est, the site is still down.

Cowherd using 2 hands to count his big market listeners, or is he calculating his IQ?

To the credit of Detroit radio, this hack is not carried in this market. The only way he can be heard is if you live on the far west side, and can tune in the the asthmatic hamster powered signal of Wolverines media mouthpiece, WTKA in Ann Arbor. Which thankfully means the majority of Detroit doesn't even know this clown exists. All the better for us.

EDSBS, Deadspin, The Fanhouse, to name just a few of the blogging big boys, are understandably furious over Cowherd's malicious douchebaggery. In fact, this is becoming a rallying point with the entire blogosphere.

This isn't the first time Cowherd has locked horns with sports blogs. Last year, he blatantly stole material from Michigan's own M Zone. The web erupted, and swamped the worldwide leader with e-mail. After first denying everything, the worldwide leader forced him into giving a half assed apology. Seems this asswipe hasn't learned a thing.

One of the reasons I started TWFE was that the MSM had become lazy, boring, and outright incompetent. The MSM long ago had stopped giving the kind of analysis sports fans like myself were clamoring for on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the Peter Gammons of the MSM world are becoming harder and harder to find. They are an endangered species, as that world is being taken over by thieving hacks the like of Colin Cowherd.

The blogosphere has been fighting back against an increasingly hostile MSM. Blogs like Fire Joe Morgan and Awful Announcing has taken it to the next level, exposing MSM stupidity at every opportunity. They have not been lacking for material. Anyone that reads TWFE even just occasionally has seen the war I've declared on Detroit's own functionally retarded hack, Rob Parker. Today, the whip smart MGoBlog escalated their own ongoing MSM hostilities, with a scathing post dropping the hammer on consistently wrong rumor monger Terry Foster.

You know where I go first for my sports fix anymore? Just look at my sidebar. There's more smart, entertaining and informative writing there than the MSM could even dream of giving the educated sports fan.

Cowherd's actions today shows the complete lack of respect most of the MSM has for blogs. It's also a sign of fear. Other than being a malicious prick, why does someone working for one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the world feel the need to use his bully pulpit to take down a blog? The Big Lead, to be honest, though influential, has a fraction of Cowherd's audience. Was he insecure? Afraid? Just a dick? Probably all of the above.

I often kid to the GF that listening to sports talk radio is slowly lowering my IQ. With asinine stunts like Cowherd's, it's obvious that I'm not the one with intelligence issues.

Attention viewers of Cold Pizza, and 1st & 10! Rob Parker alert! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

I'm giving advance notice to the viewers of the worldwide leader's Cold Pizza and 1st & 10. Consider yourselves at DEFCON 1!

Last night on WDIV TV's weekend wrap up show, Sports Final Edition, there was announcement that chilled viewers to the bone. The consensus worst columnist in America, Rob Parker, let it be known that he had been asked to return to Cold Pizza, and will be polluting your screens this coming Thursday and Friday.

If you missed Parker's previous week long stay on Cold Pizza, consider yourself damn lucky. If you are curious as to why the urgent warning, let me direct you to this post for the full Parker primer.

Please, for all that is good and holy, take this warning with utmost seriousness. If you value such things as common sense, lucidity, and actual sports knowledge, you'll avoid the deuce like the plague.

Remember, forewarned is forearmed...

"The Worst Columnist in America" continues to live up to his title...

As much as I try to avoid reading anything associated with "Rob Parker, Sooper Geenus," I just had to read his last two Detroit News columns about Michigan Wolverines basketball. They were jaw droppingly inane, and written with an obvious agenda. They also left me with a question for the consensus "Worst columnist in America."

Why the sudden outpouring of love for Tommy Amaker and the University of Michigan basketball program?

It's a misunderstood love for an underachieving program, one that is nothing more than mediocre. It's a program that become totally irrelevant to the media, the student body and Michigan fans in general. It's impossible to defend Amaker's results as a head coach, but Lord, does Parker try...

Monday, Wobb openly campaigned for Amaker to keep his job at Michigan. In fact, he claims that Michigan would have reached the NCAA's a couple of times by now, if not for one thing. What is that one thing? All of you who answered with either "Tommy Amaker" or "Late season collapses" are correct, but not according to Wobb...

Over the last few years, it appeared as if Michigan was headed for the primetime postseason play a couple of times.

But major injuries derailed everything and set the program back again.

INJURIES? In fact, he actually has the nerve to use that excuse several times in his column ode to Amaker.

Amaker, who took Seton Hall to the NCAA Tournament in 2000, probably would have made the tournament twice by now if injuries didn't undo his team two years in a row.

Don't insult the intelligence of the few readers you have left. Could you ever see Tom Izzo using injuries as an excuse? Or Amaker's compatriot at Michigan, Lloyd Carr? It's a lame excuse, considering that all teams have to deal with injuries.

There's plenty of reasons the Wolverines have never made the NCAA's during the Amaker era. To blame injuries is to ignore what every basketball fan on the planet can see. That Michigan isn't all that good, and is exposed for what they are when they actually have to play legitimate D-1 teams.

Come on now, Wobb. That's not only redundant, lazy writing, but also ignoring what is obvious to the naked eye. That Michigan's 16-3 start to the '05-'06 season was fraudulent, thanks to scheduling practices that would embarrass a community college.

Last season, Michigan's senior-laden team failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament despite starting the season 16-3. Just like the previous season, injuries derailed everything.

Bringing up Michigan's out of conference scheduling practice of playing small time directional schools, community colleges, and intramural squads would derail his "Keep Amaker" directive. So Wobb just ignores it. Notice he used "Injuries" a third time, just in case we missed the previous two?

Wobb also brings up that hoary old chestnut, Amaker's supposed recruiting acumen.

The best thing about Amaker is that he's a heck of a recruiter, landing the likes of Daniel Horton and DeShawn Sims. "

That's almost as clueless a statement as George Bush saying "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie." Amaker's recruiting classes have never ever lived up to the hype. He's a middle of the road recruiter, at best.

For that matter, the kids he does get, don't improve during their careers. Good Lord, Daniel Horton is example #1 for those that say players don't live up to their potential under Amaker. Sims was a heralded recruit who hasn't yet lived up to his accolades. The results speak for themselves...

You would think that one column ode to Amaker would be enough. You thought wrong... Wobb returned today with yet another fluff job about Amaker and Wolverines hoop.

But Michigan did what it needed to -- it won, 68-58. If Michigan (22-12) had done that against Iowa and Ohio State in Ann Arbor, it would be seen as a program on the rise instead of off the college basketball map.

There's all kinds of disinformation in that paragraph. It's just one big "What if." When it comes to Amaker, Wobb believes in the old adage, "If if's and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas."

It's silly to even bring up those painful losses to Iowa and tOSU. They both were textbook examples Wolverines basketball, a true microcosm of the Amaker era. Play well at the beginning, fade badly at the end, then be at a loss as to why it happened...

Michigan would have been a program on the rise? Get real. This was a senior lead team, a team that had been building up to this season. This was the year for their big run at the NCAA's. Next season's Michigan team is guaranteed to be a rebuilding one, and will take several steps back. That would have been true even if they made the big boy's tournament.

The NIT game played at Crisler had a little over 3K in attendance. That's if you include media, the players, and concession workers. It should embarrass the Michigan powers that be to have a nationally televised home game that couldn't draw flies, let alone fans.

It's not a good sign when a revenue producing sport isn't bringing in any revenue. Parker twisted the low attendance into a compliment of sorts, calling the crowd, "rather small, but loud." You might just as well say that, as a coach, Tommy Amaker is "rather awful, but dresses nice." Makes just as much sense.

As much sense as the following...

Winning is never a bad thing -- even if it's just the NIT. Michigan won the NIT in 2004 and made the final last season.

I agree in that winning the '04 NIT was a good for a struggling program, and a then young team. But when it's become the one and only highlight of the Amaker era, bringing up your accomplishments in the Not Invited Tournament just throw more light on not playing in the only tournament players and fans alike care about. A 3 seed in the NIT is a hollow accomplishment for a senior dominated team.

I'm not sure why Parker has taken the point position in defending Amaker. I could guess, but I do NOT want to go there. I'll just take these columns odes to Amaker with a grain of salt, and write them off as the rantings of a functionally retarded contrarian.

Attention "Cold Pizza" & "1st and Ten" veiwers, the Rob Parker info you seek is here at TWFE

Detroit's own Rob Parker is appearing on the Worldwide Leader's "Cold Pizza" (In its final death throes, according to The Big Lead) and "1st and Ten" this week, which we Detroiters think is one of the upcoming signs of the apocalypse.

As a result of Parker's polluting of our TV's, TWFE is getting plenty of hits from whom I'm guessing are ESPN/ESPN2 viewers, searching for Rob Parker, Rob Parker Detroit, Parker Detroit columnist, and so on...

As a public service to all those poor souls who are having Parker unwittingly inflicted upon them by the WWLiS for the fist time, this post can serve as a one stop shop to all things Rob Parker, or as we like to call him, Wobb Parker, Sooper Geenus.


Want to learn more about the worst columnist in Detroit? Read on. We'll start with this illuminating post...

Who are the biggest hacks in the Detroit media?

"Rob Parker: Long considered Joe Dumars lap dog, as in his mind Joe D can do no wrong. On the flip side, thinks Dave Dombrowski can do no right, despite massive evidence to the contrary. Fond of twisting the facts to suit his needs. Stats or factual events won't back up his POV? Then either ignore them, or use small sample sizes, problem solved. His columns do nothing more than point out the painfully obvious, or are just plain painful. Parker's "Clubhouse Confidential" is often nothing more than a pure slanderous rumor mongering exercise of misstating facts, most pointedly in his mistaken claim that Tom Izzo was keeping Detroit Mercy's Brandon Cotton from getting another year of NCAA eligibility. How this hack has infiltrated TV, radio, and print so ubiquitously is hard to fathom, as I don't know of anyone who takes his opinions seriously."

That's Parker in a nutshell, folks. This is the "Expert" that the Worldwide Leader thinks the 12 of you who watch "Cold Pizza" want to see hanging out with überhack Skip Bayless on a daily basis.

What follows are just a few of the multitude of posts that will explain to the uninitiated what Detroiters think of the utter drivel that Rob Parker spews in print, radio, and TV. You have been warned...

Rob Parker, Pistons apologist

Want to lose IQ points? Listen to Detroit sports talk radio

"Delusional" defined: Wobb Parker thinks he is smarter than Jim Leyland

Wobb Parker, sooper dooper geenus!

Columnists say the darnedest things

Wobb Paker, sooper geenus...;

Reading between the lines

It's almost enough to make you pine for Woody Paige. Almost...

Rob Parker, Pistons apologist

The Pistons often looked bored early on in the regular season, only playing their best when an opponent intrigued them. To their credit, they did turn on the jets, going 15-3 from mid November through Christmas.

Since that streak ended, the Detroit Pistons are once again stumbling along, admittedly much in thanks to Chauncey Billups' calf injury. Unfortunately, they do seem to be coasting. They are 1-4 in their last 5 games, while looking totally disinterested.

What hasn't helped is that Flip Murray has been a disaster as Billups' back up, and is rumored to be on the trading block. The other healthy point guard, Will Blaylock, is playing like one would expect the last player picked in the 2006 draft. He's
occasionally decent, but looks overwhelmed the majority of the time. The 85 year old Lindsey Hunter is once again injured, and will be kept on ice, much like last season, till the playoffs near.

For the most part, the Pistons have been what we expected, no more, and no less. A good team that is in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.

Seems like a strange time for a gushing column to appear in the Detroit News, one highly praising head coach Flip Saunders. All becomes clear when you see that it's a "Column" from Joe Dumars' lapdog, Wobb Parker.

The headline alone raises an eyebrow. "Saunders' efforts move the Pistons above expectations."

I'm aware that the columnist don't write the headlines, but it does fit the tone of the column. But come on! "Above expectations?" 4th in the East, 2nd in the Central is above expectations? That seems to be meeting expectations, and that's being generous at best.

Wobb does his normal shill job when it comes to anything Pistons related. This column comes off as a paid advertisement selling the sometimes dubious virtues of Flip Saunders.

"Flip Saunders has held it together. Somehow, someway, the Pistons aren't the total mess they could be at this point."

Total mess? Saunders still has 4/5 of what was considered the best starting lineup in the NBA. It'd be damn hard to screw that up.

"Saunders has a chance to turn in the best coaching performance of his career. With the loss of Ben Wallace to free agency, he had to make changes and they have worked -- without any fall-off on defense or rebounding."

The only change is that Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince are each averaging close to 2 boards more a game when compared to last season. Add that with Wallace's replacement Nazr Mohammed's 5.8 per, and you have essentially replaced what Wallace brought to the boards. It appears more to me that 'Sheed and Prince stepped up their game, knowing that Ben Wallace was no longer around to cover their asses. I honestly don't know how much of that is Saunders, and how much the players. But considering the NBA is a players league, I hesitate to give Flip a ton of credit.

"The bottom line remains the Pistons, as much as any team, have a chance to get to the NBA Finals for the third time in four years."

That is exactly what fans and experts expected, even with the loss of Ben Wallace, that the Pistons would be in the mix for the Eastern Conference title. What exactly is so special about Flip having the Pistons exactly positioned where EVERYONE expected?

But don't feel sorry for Saunders. He knew what he signed up for when he came here after being fired by the Timberwolves. He could easily have taken a less-pressure-no-expectation team gig. Instead, he took the challenge of taking over a team that went to the NBA Finals two years in a row and probably could only go down.

With all that has happened, that's where they should be. But, Saunders has them still up near the top.

I doubt ANYONE feels sorry for someone making millions on a guaranteed contract. And why would any coach worth his salt choose a NBA bottom feeder over a playoff tested contender like the Pistons? That would be outright stupid.

The last 2 sentences utterly confuse me. The Pistons are where they should be, in contention. Yet Saunders has them where they are supposed to be, in contention? What? I have no idea what Parker is trying to say, and from the confused wording, Parker doesn't either. Must have been s misprint in Dumars' latest memo...

What's interesting after reading the Dumars bought and paid for Parker column, the the News' Pistons beat writer is not quite so optimistic. Today's Chris McCoskey article is not written using the red, white, and blue colored glasses that Wobb wears when writing about the Pistons.

"Bored or not, injured or not, the Pistons have to start getting serious about securing their foothold in this raggedy Eastern Conference playoff race."

"The Pistons are squandering way too many games in this, the easy part of their schedule. And those are games that are going to be difficult to retrieve later in the season."

In my mind, McCoskey accurately describes the Pistons team that we have seen through the first months of the season. Bored, inconsistent, and making things more difficult for themselves. Why Parker hasn't seen that is a mystery...

One thing has become clear, as was noted in a post today by the go to blog for all things Pistons, Detroit Bad Boys. The Pistons don't have a chance in Hell unless Chauncey Billups is on the floor.

It's interesting to note that it took an injury to Billups to reinforce the idea that the Pistons have to sign him long-term in the coming off season. Without Billups, the Pistons just might as well go into rebuilding mode. Pistons apologist Parker would likely blow sunshine up our asses, and claim that the Pistons don't rebuild under Dumars, they just reload.

Either way, we'd all feel a little better about the Pistons if they at least looked interested as the season slooooowly moves toward the playoffs.

As quoted in McCoskey's article, 'Sheed is thinking the same thing.

"No doubt," Rasheed Wallace said. "We've got to put it in second gear right now. It's the second half of the season right now, even before the All-Star break. We have to start locking in."

I hope you take your own advice, and don't believe Parker's apologist "All is well" mantra, 'Sheed...