Luke Waltons Forehead presented by the Sports Dude.

You know, I am really pissed off today, totally and completely pissed off. Does anyone care to know why? Let me tell you, whether you want to hear it or not, it is because I am embarrassed to call myself a Piston fan today. Why is that sports dude, because they got blown out? Because they lost to the Heat? We understand, we feel your pain, we are pissed too. Sorry, all wrong answers, I mean it sucks that those things happened, don’t get me wrong, but I am pissed and embarrassed to call myself a Piston fan because I don’t want to be one of them for the following reasons:

“Fire Flip” or “Trade ‘Sheed” or “Let Ben go” or “Bring back Larry” or any other thing that suddenly has caused Piston fan to sound like one of those “bandwagon ass-cats” Rasheed was talking about earlier in the season. Now not all Pistons fans are bad, I shouldn’t lump you all together, but the ones that have suddenly fallen off are the ones that really get under my skin. Here, as briefly as I can make it, I will address the few common bitches I have heard and typed above:

“Fire Flip” – can I just say he is not going anywhere, doesn’t deserve to get fired and I hope he is the coach of this franchise for years to come. I tell you what I like him a hell of a lot more than Carlisle and a lot more than LB too folks! If you watched any playoff games this year you will notice that Stern has single handedly taking defense out of the game all together, meaning that defense first teams are being weeded out. Stern wants the Kobe’s, the LeBron’s, the Wade’s to take the game over and you can’t do that by playing defense. Remember the Jordan rules, where if you breathed on the cat it was a foul? Those days are back folks, there are staring us right in the face, and we need an offensive coach like Flip to do it. Say what you want but the man was a coaching God during the regular season, we all loved him, and then suddenly an ankle injury (I will get to that later) turns him into a devil. LB was a freak of nature who did something very rare, won a title in his first season with a team; Saunders could not do the same. So what? It is something that is rare, it is something that does not happen; give Saunders a chance to put his stamp on this team now. He came in and let a good veteran team have its way this season and now he holds the cards and will put his stamp on them next year. Look for him to be more vocal next year and to run a tighter ship because the “loosey-goosey” did not work this year as we can all plainly see. Lastly I will say this – forget his post season record in Minnesota, he had some lousy teams that had only Garnett, you ain’t going to get far with that.

“Trade ‘Sheed” – all I have to say is shame on you, ‘Sheed means more to this team then Ben does. I do not like to use injuries as excuses, that is up to Miami to do like they did last year, but isn’t it ironic that when ‘Sheed turned his ankle the offense started to really look bad and go south? I have read and heard that his ankle injury is the same, if not worse, than the one Tim Duncan had two seasons ago that caused him to sit an entire month, so give ‘Sheed some slack! The man had no lift in his shot, could not be aggressive on defense and was gutting it out the best he could and we want to trade him and throw him under a bus? I am not saying the injury cost us the series, the Heat seemed hungrier, all I am saying is that man should have been on the injured list for about a month and he never stopped trying. Besides, the Heat used game #7 as their fire and hunger for what they did to us this year, what’s to say we don’t do the same next year?

“Let Ben Go” – this one will be very brief and I say if he agrees to a reasonable contract for about three years and $27-30 million then good, come on back. If he is looking for the max and wants it then I say thanks for everything Ben, McDyess is our starting power forward now. Ben is in the declining stages of his career, he and McDyess should both share minutes evenly next year and Ben needs to understand that. Like I said earlier Stern wants an offensive league and Ben is like a dinosaur now, figuratively and literally, who will only be someone here. If he were to go to another team just for the money I am sorry, he would just waste away and be nothing. At least here he has an identity, he has a home, and anywhere else he would just be an overpaid role player.

So there you have it, I vented, I feel better and I would like to remind everyone of something I wrote last week and still feel today… Tayshaun will win another title as a Piston, you can count on it. So one streak ended and another one is about to begin, so rather than wanting to blow it all up can you all not say thank you? I know you are passionate, so am I, but there is a difference between passion and just plain ignorance! Billups, Rip and Prince are the guys they need to build around and if Ben can swallow his pride and understand it is an offensive game now than I welcome him back with open arms. You think Rasheed was motivated last year from leaving Horry open? How about this year being a shell of himself because of a bum ankle? Besides, I don’t care what anyone says, the Heat will not be able to do it two years in a row because Shaq can not do it two years in a row. Wade is good, but take away Shaq and he is in the same boat as Lebron… a one man show!

So what now? Look, please stop with the Garnett rumors, the only way it will ever happen is if he were to become a free agent and sign here. I like the Grant Hill rumors, it would make sense and be a good fit, but that is all up to Orlando and not Joe D. The bench needs a little more pop, Flip needs to not be afraid to use it and I really wish they would not screw with Delfino, something tells me he could he if just given a damn chance.

Anyway, thanks for the ride boys, see you next year. The sports dude.