Detroit Pistons Will Win the NBA Title

Well, not this year, but I'm sure they will get there if they do the right things this year and continue to draft well and make a few key free agent acquisitions. I didn't miss the NBA lookout at all. It is tuff to relate with millionaires complaining about multi millionaires. So I didn't jump through the roof when they decided to come back and play.

The best thing that the NBA did was start the season on Christmas day and showcase the better teams in the league. Unfortunately, the other 20 teams in the league now need to play and this is where the Pistons will fall this year.

The game between the Pistons and Pacers is unwatchable as the Pistons are being clowned by an average team. It is amazing that the Pistons front office decided to keep so many of the players that stunk the place up last year and didn't deserve another chance. The Pistons were 30 - 52 last year. I would have been much more happy with them going with a heavy dose of the young guys and let them play.

They Pistons lack size and athleticism on their front court. The still have three of the four guards that were on the team last year and several of the players are playing out of positions.

The player that I most disappointed with last year was Tayshaun Prince. The guy made over $11 million dollars last year and was poised to take over the team and be the leader... he didn't. This year he looks a step slower and still doesn't look like he hustles on the floor.

The coaching looks improved in that they don't seem to be yelling at each other or the refs. It drove me nuts last year as it seemed that every time they had a foul, they would raise the hands palms up towards the roof saying that they didn't foul. At least they aren't doing that anymore. The ball movement is average and they don't rebound the ball well. I hope that Joe Dumars is just showcasing some of the veterans so that they can be traded later in the year for draft picks... then again, he did resign Stuckey, Prince and Wallace this year... and two of the three are just stealing money this year.

Christmas in the D

The older I get the harder my parents are to shop for. When did this change occur? I used to get my dad a crazy tie and make something in shop class for my mom and now that I am an adult and can afford anything they would ever need, I can’t seem to find anything they want.

So it is no surprise but they enjoy going to the casino and spending their entertainment budget gambling. I have no problem with this as they set a limit that they are going to spend and they never have a problem with their method.

So I figured that I would buy them some chips so they could go gamble on my dime. I figured, this makes me happy and also makes them happy… the classic win/win situation.

I typically start my shopping on Christmas Eve (don’t ask me why, I just always do this) and this year was no different. I headed to the casino on Christmas Eve to find out that my idea of buying the chips on my credit card became an epic fail as the casino does not take American Express cards. So today on Christmas Day I headed back to the casino with green backs and bought chips with them.

The thing that I found shocking was the amount of people at the casino on Christmas day. I was not expecting to see the amount of people that were spending time there instead of their families. I wonder if they were real hard core gamblers or if they had nothing better to do.

Update... I taped the Casino chips to the bottom of a Santa Clause and gave the gift to the parents. Both the parental units liked the chips and they didn't give me any grief for getting them the chips... I may have struck gold with this gift as I can give this gift year after year. Tomorrow I will need to head out to see if I can find a Santa for next year while they are still cheap and readily available.

Things Wrong With Christmas During The Information Age

It is 2011 Christmas day and the kids are just opening gifts. The air is filled with excitement as the kids open their gifts.

A few minutes later the kids are depressed and are complaining to their parents. What happened???

It is the information age and the way we communicate with each other has changed with the times. When I was a kid we would open our gifts and when we went back to school we would all be wearing our new clothes that we got and a few of us where in awe of some of the other kids that got the cool gift.

Move forward 40 years and things have changed. This morning’s joy of finding out that they are going to a cool concert this summer is broken a few minutes later when one of them found out that their friends are also going to the concert but are sitting closer to the stage.

This would have never happened “back in the day”, but the speed in how information travels makes the mood shifts much more severe in this new age.

Have a Merry Christmas.