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The Big Fella Gets Droped
By David
By Richard Curry
On the night of June 15, 2004, what's grandpa doing at center court of The
Palace lifting the gold trophy? It's Bill Davidson (81-year-old
billionaire industrialist) who's the only person in America piling up more
frequent flyer miles than Ronald Reagan in the last two weeks.
Mr.
Davidson, the man with the warm smile and big ears (those things never stop
growing) flew back & forth from L.A. to Auburn Hills and Tampa to Calgary and
back to Michigan during the Stanley Cup and NBA playoffs to see
his Pistons and his Lightning win two world titles. That now makes three, as he
also owns the basketball world champion women's
Detroit Shock.
There goes the adage that good guys and old guys don't finish first. They all
finished first.
These
Detroit Pistons of 2004 were something special. They played like a
team throughout the playoffs and looked adversity in the face and stomped on it.
They were told an endless amount of times they had no chance of beating the Hall
of Fame laden
L.A. Lakers.
Series MVP Chauncey Billips said after the four games to one blowout,
"Don't nobody say we ain't gonna beat the Lakers ever again. It was like the
varsity beating up on the junior varsity."
COMPARABLES
FANS:
L.A. has Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Simpson, Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Detroit has Tommy Hearns, Bob Seger, Kid Rock and Saginaw's Mayor Momma Ham. We
also had Aretha Franklin lip-syching the National Anthem with an orchestra in
the background that wasn't there. They should've used a Ray Charles recorded
version instead. Jack Guttowsy would have done a better job.
EGO & TEAMWORK: LA has lots of ego. Rick Foxx: "A team always beats a
group of individuals. We picked a poor time to be individuals." Detroit: MVP
Billips: "This is kind of a community MVP (while alluding to teammates Ben
Wallace, Rushed Walled, and Richard Hamilton as suitable MPV's. "I've got this,
but it's really all of ours." Yes, it is.
COACHES: LA has Phil Jackson. Nine NBA titles (but not this one). Phil,
less than a year ago said, "Why would Larry Brown want to coach in that town?
Big mistake." Yeah, a big mistake for you. Detroit: Larry is now the only coach
to ever win a NCAA championship (Kansas, 1988) and the NBA title. That's one I
find hard to believe - that it's never been done before. At Kansas, Brown was
146-44. Larry's NBA record is 933-713. When the TV cameras focused on Shelly,
Larry's wife, she looked like his daughter. Ah, no. That was the 63-year old
coach's third wife - a sassy, very attractive looking brunette with two very
young children. Larry also had grand kids from his first marriage. It's good to
be the NBA coach. Soon Larry will be doing one of those Viagra commercials where
he leaps out the front door of his house and clicks his heels in happiness.
Larry is a class act.
JOY: LA - no joy here. They're probably lining up at the Forum as we
speak for game 6. Shaq and Kobe hate each other. Malone has been dropped from
the roster. Kobe's heading to Colorado and free agency. Gary Payton is also
looking for a new place of employment. Detroit: Delirious. Richard Hamilton: "I
wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love these guys and we love each other. We
sacrificed a lot for one common goal." Big Ben Wallace: "Me and DetroitŠcoming
to this city - we started rooting for each other. Everything was meant to be."
Yes it was.
Winning/Losing: LA - TV commentator Al Michaels when it was over: "The
Lakers are shocked." Michaels is now a believer. Detroit: Joe Dumars: "A shock
is when you lose one game in a NCAA tournament. That's a shock. This ain't no
shock. It's a seven game series. We beat them soundly five straight games." (The
only win they had came on a desperation 3-pointer in the last 2.1 seconds of
game two). I do not know how anyone could be shocked after seeing the Pistons
weeks earlier hold Jason Kidd to 0 points in New Jersey. Hello! This team has
won over 50 games the last three years.
Moments: LA - The ever-sweating Shaq, on the bench at the end of the
game, sitting there with a vacant look on his face while the Buddhist Phil
Jackson looked like his dog just got run over by a Mack truck (which his team
did). I got a kick out of Phil's enthusiasm - every game he had a new excuse
for getting pounded and for what he had in mind to turn it all around. It
reminded me of Iraq's propaganda minister with the red beret telling the people
that U.S. soldiers are losing the war and they're not anywhere near Baghdad just
hours before we overthrew Saddam. The Shaq makes $30 million a season and has
asked to be traded and Phil Jackson quit (wha, wha, wha). Detroit: an
overwhelming feeling of satisfaction knowing they did something together through
hard work, unselfishness, and by being prepared. Maybe this country and Congress
can take something from this. Instead of tearing each other apart for selfish
gain, we can start working together for the common good of America.
Life is Good: We're on 'Wheaties' boxes. Arnold Schwarzenegger is wearing
a Ben Wallace wig in LA. (He lost a bet to our governor, Jennifer Granholm). And
Detroit did not burn its city to the ground after the game. Joe Dumars is
celebrating. Joe said, "When I was young we celebrated in 1989 and 1990 for
weeks late into the night. Now that I'm 41 I call home and ask my wife if I'm
celebrating when I get there."
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