The poetic journey of the Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons have an incredible history between the Bad Boys and Goin to Work Pistons. Here’s a poem about the history of the Pistons.

Why don’t we take a trip back, I’ll tell the story

Before any of it all

Before anyone would scream in glory

These two simple words, Detroit Basketball.

At first they brought no pain

They weren’t known to be gritty

Played in a town called Fort Wayne

Where it’s nothing like the Motor City.

During a time where basketball wasn’t a big thing

The Pistons of the 70’s had a couple nice players,

Led by Bob Lanier and Dave Bing

Who went on to become the mayor.

Quickly came the end of that decade

Wherein a new one must start.

The number 2 pick who seemed unafraid

It wasn’t ignorance, he just knew he had heart.

The early 80’s was very fast paced

With Zeke and Tripuka running the show

They gave the rest of the league a taste

Offensively they made you say “Whoa.”

Though it seemed something was missing

So they decided to make a switch

Their head coach is who they were dismissing

Replacing him with Chuck Daly or “Daddy Rich.”

Along the way they brought in the Microwave and Laimbeer

But their defense just wasn’t firm

Nothing about them screamed fear

So they decided to draft a Spider and a Worm.

Now comes 87 and they were finally being heard

They were two wins from playing the Lakers

But Zeke’s pass got stolen by Larry Bird

The Pistons met their makers.

They promised next year wouldn’t be the same

The Bad Boys would start to brawl

1988 Finals in the sixth game

They’d lose on a Laimbeer phantom call.

1989 was sure to be full of thrills

Perhaps the best team Detroit ever had.

They even started playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills

They were great, but most of all, they were Bad.

A nice trade, Dantley for Aguirre

A move to help them gel

Nothing more did they need to acquire

Once, Mark was here, The Bad Boys started to excel.

That year, there was nothing tragic

The boys got their rematch

And in 4 games, finally defeated Magic

Now they were champions, there was no catch.

The next year was more of the same

There was really no one to fear

Back to back champs they became

Giving the people of Detroit something to cheer.

The next year ended at the hands of Mike

Jordan and his Bulls were too much to defend.

The Pistons walked off, much to the world’s dislike

The Bad Boys had officially come to an end.

Zeke retired as well as Bill

Joe D stuck around

Just in time to play with G-Hill

The teal era came and left, either loved, or clowned.

Joe D retired but joined the team again

Not as a player, but as a GM.

It came as a shock, but he traded Grant for Big Ben

And from that, the Goin’ to Work era began.

With Ben and Stackhouse it wasn’t quite heaven

So Dumars made a move

But not before Stack dropped 57

They traded for Rip surely to improve

Added Chauncey, drafted Tayshaun

Can’t forget about Mason and the fire intros.

They had Rick Carlisle but he was there and he was gone

Something was starting to happen, in the crowd you could see the fro’s

There was still a piece they needed

Something was missing in Chauncey, Rip, Tayshaun, and The Fro.

So Joe D went and proceeded

And with the 2nd overall pick, he drafted Darko.

Back then, no one really had a frown

Melo, Wade, and Bosh all still sound better

But I suppose Joe made up for it by hiring Larry Brown.

Darko has an apple farm, maybe I’ll write him a letter

Soon Joe D realized Darko isn’t what they need

So he got on many many different phones

And he finally knew what he wanted, Sheed.

Slowly this team resembled that one with the skull and crossbones

Now this team was finally a killer

They made it to the third round

That’s when Tay had that block on Reggie Miller

Now matched up with the Lakers no one made a sound.

The world thought the Lakers would win by far

Even when LA lost game 1, people were still asleep

They don’t care when you say they had no star

We still refer to that series as a 5-game sweep.

In 2005 I wish they got the glory

But sadly Manu was on the baseline

And Sheed doubled off Robert Horry

A brilliant Popovich play design.

The next few years went pretty much the same

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Other than Ben gone we still had Chauncey and Rip

Ben left for money and it was a shame

And he wasn’t too fond of our new head coach Flip.

It started to look as if it was time to move on

Until Joe D made a panic trade

And he traded Chauncey for Iverson.

Now all the success was starting to fade

Sweep after sweep, draft bust after draft bust

It brings us to where we are now.

In Ed Stefanski we trust

Hopefully soon we’ll have a team that makes us say “wow.”

Whether you decide to support or hate, it’s completely your call

But at the end of the day, I’ll always be there chanting

Detroit Basketball.