If Rip can do this in the comp he might just have a chance.

I’m usually not a fan of the literary stylings of a one Mr. Rob Parker, but some of the things he says in his latest column in the Detroit News are beefs I’ve had about Detroit sports fans for years now.

For whatever reason, fans here will give the Lions the benefit of the doubt any chance they get. They were duped this season after the Lions got off to a 6-2 start.

The Tigers get the royal treatment even though they lost to an inferior Cardinals team in the World Series in 2006 and failed to make the playoffs last season. And the Wings haven’t brought a Cup home since 2002.

It’s time for Detroit fans to recognize that the love of this city’s life is the Pistons and you shouldn’t take them for granted another minute.

There’s a lot of you out there that take the Pistons for granted, not all of us of course, but there are those don’t appreciate or put into proper context what the Pistons have done and continue to do. The Pistons are on a run of greatness the likes we may never see again in our life time. They’re well on their way to a SEVENTH straight season with 50 or more wins, which includes a franchise best 64 wins in 2006. They’ve been Central Division Champs 5 of the last 6 seasons. They’ve been to the Eastern Conference Finals 5 straight years. They’ve been to the NBA Finals twice, winning once in ‘04.

The Bad Boys were great, but even their run can’t boast some of the same accomplishments, and these Pistons are still in the midst of their run.

All this and they always seem to play second fiddle if there’s another hot pro team in the Motor City as any regular listener to sports radio can probably attest to. If the Wings are good, forget about it. This is still Hockey Town no matter what the Pistons do. The Lions can totally ignore the will of their fans and never put any winning product on the field and you’d still think they’re a perennial powerhouse. The Tigers were the worst team in baseball in the 1990’s and they string together two good years and it’s hard for anyone to pay attention to the ‘Stonz come the start of baseball. The worst part about the is that the start of Tiger’s season is congruent to the Pistons title run.

I’d just like to see our fans and city as a whole pay more homage to the Pistons.

ALSO SEE: JOE DUMARS: Pistons president on possible moves at trade deadline, jaded fans

[box score] After the first quarter Chauncey Billups was on pace for a 68 point performance after scoring a Piston’s season high 17.  Fortunately for Mr. Big Shot the 17 points were plenty enough production from their all-star point guard, the “Zoo Crew” took care of the rest combining for 40 points.

The final score read the Pistons winning by 9 but that was merely a push by Portland at the end to make the final score more cosmetic for them.  The Pistons led by 20 + points for most of the night with the lead getting up to as many as 27 at one point in the second half.

No Pistons starter played over 28 minutes, while five guys off the Piston’s bench playing at least 20 minutes.   Most games the Pistons look to see how the bench plays when subbing for the starting unit, but in this game the coaching staff got to see how well the bench can mesh with each other.  The chemistry was very exciting to the Pistons and their fans alike with plays like the Stuckey to Amir ally-oop .

Amir Johnson scored a season high 10 points to go along with 3 blocks and 6 rebounds.  Rodney Stuckey  recorded a new career high 13 points along with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

GAME NOTES:  The Pistons have now won 7 straight, the longest current streak in the NBA…The Pistons had 26 team assists, they’re now 18-0 when having 25 or more assists…The Pistons take on the Bobcats at the Palace on Sunday.