HISTORY! The Detroit Pistons Have Now Lost An NBA Record 27 Consecutive Games
The streak no team would want to break has finally been broken, and it happened in Detroit. The Detroit Pistons lost their 27th consecutive game tonight, breaking an NBA record for most consecutive losses in a single season. Fans have said this is rock-bottom at about ten different points when referring to the Pistons during this losing streak. I'm done declaring 27 in a row as rock bottom. I don't know what the depth of this well will be. 
Given the controversial and toxic discourse between Detroit Pistons fans and me lately, I'm sure many people would expect me to come on here and take something of a victory lap. That's not what I'm going to do. I want all Detroit sports fans to be happy. And I know some people root for the Pistons like I root for the Tigers. It doesn't matter the circumstances. They are the team you come home to, hoping they can give you a win to make your day a little bit better. You feel like you're suffocating as a fan during these moments. I believe it was 50 Cent who said, "Sunny days wouldn't be special if it wasn't for rain," but there's been way too much rain in the forecast for the Detroit Pistons over the last 16 years. The fact that I had to write a blog that even suggested the idea that I'd be okay seeing this team move to another city just shows how pathetic they've become.
One of my earliest memories as a sports fan was watching the Detroit Pistons win the NBA championship in 2004. I remember the exact moment the buzzer hit zero. My brother and I embraced each other and started crying. It was one of those sports moments that shaped you. If you had asked that nine-year-old if you would ever fall out of love with the Detroit Pistons, I'm sure he would tell you there was no chance. They went through their heyday, and then I waited. We all waited. We waited through a bunch of different coaches, multiple GMs, and multiple owners. Nobody expected this team to return to six consecutive Eastern Conference finals, but a shocking amount of apathy set in for the Detroit Pistons once Tom Gores took over his ownership. And I tried with him, I genuinely did. I felt like a spark had returned when they got the number one pick and drafted Cade Cunningham. They tanked and got rewarded for it. Maybe it was the beginning of the new age. The Pistons let Troy Weaver cook, and he burnt the fucking kitchen down.
I didn't think that it was out of the realm of possibility that Troy Weaver's rebuild wouldn't live up to the hype, but the idea of it failing this spectacularly felt like a foreign concept to me. Things are worse than ever, and as I blogged about the other day, Troy Weaver is a small part of a greater problem. I don't trust Tom Gores to hire the right leadership, even if he man up and fires Troy Weaver.
When I saw the final result of tonight's game, it was hard not to feel a tinge of sadness. Yes, this is a storied franchise. When you think of the Detroit Pistons, many people think of the bad boys or the "Going to work" group that upset the Lakers in 2004, but those memories belong to previous generations. No positive memories belong to this generation; there is only ineptitude and apathy. Maybe that storied history that we talk about died the day the Palace of Auburn Hills was torn down. I don't know when the Pistons are going to be good again. It might be next year, or it might be ten years down the road. But if it ever happens, that success will be well-earned. No fan base should have to suffer through this.
