The word from DC

My cousin, Jeff Pink, attended Saturday night's Pistons' victory against the Wizards in DC... So, I decided to interview him via electronic mail. My questions are in bold, his answers in italics, and my comments in [red].

1. From the pics (see previous post) it looks like the Verizon Center has a similar feel to the Palace, on the inside, whaddya think about that?
It’s a pretty interesting arena, a bit different than the Palace. It has three tiers of seats rather than having an upper and lower deck and I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house.

I didn’t remember this from the last time I was there in 2006, but they’re one of the arenas that dim the lights on the upper seats so that the floor is illuminated, like at MSG and the Staples Center (they might only do this for the Lakers and not the Clippers, but I’m not sure). Either that’s new or I just didn’t notice it last time.

2. How great is it that the Palace is not "The Verizon Center"?

I’m pretty sure the Palace was built entirely by Davidson, right? [it was privately funded and the Davidson family owns the controlling interest – Wikipedia] I’m really glad that there’s no corporate tie-in with the name. Plus, “The Palace” is a great name. I’m trying to think of other arena’s that don’t have a corporate name, off the top of my head MSG is the only one. [There are a few others in the NBA]

3. Heard some boos early in the game, how was that throughout?
They were booing Kwame throughout the game and I was thinking “Don’t boo KB, boo Jordan.” But then I thought that Pistons fans boo Darko because he’s Darko, not booing because of Dumars.

4. How did the Pistons look live?
They looked good, tons of activity on the glass. I didn’t really notice much that wouldn’t be noticed at home, but the team plays a bit more of an exciting style, so that always makes you want to be there. Imagine being there for Bynum’s dunks last week - that would have made my head explode.

It’s the second time in three years that I’ve seen a Pistons-Wizards game at the Verizon Center, Flip Saunders lost both times.

5. How were the beer prices?
Good beer prices, which is surprising because the bars in DC are pretty expensive, but the 22 oz.ers were $7.50.

6. Do you remember when we were excited because we were 3 rows away from Jud Buechler @ the Palace (circa 1999)?
Yeah, that was great. I remember barking at JYD when he was about to inbound the ball. I wonder what JB’s doing now? Maybe he’s actually pulling the strings down there in Phoenix, the master to his good buddy Steve Kerr’s puppet.

[“JYD” is former Piston Jerome ‘the junk yard dog’ Williams]
7. Do you remember how awesome Jud Buechler was? On a level of 1-10 - 10 being the awesomest - I would give him at least a double black belt. What about you?
I’d put him on the list of people who’s awsomeness can only be described in haiku. We’ll have to work on that.

8. I don't miss Rasheed Wallace, at all. (I guess that's not a question).
Nope, Charlie V is pretty much doing the same sh**, except actually goes off for like 30 every once in a while. I haven’t heard much about the Celtics this year. I know they’re off to a good start, but I don’t think that they could beat the Lakers.

[Sheed is 5 for 31, from 3-point land, in his last 6 games. In that same span – averaging 21.5 minutes of play – he’s only grabbing 3 rebounds per game. The Celtics are 3-3 over that stretch.]

~Matt Penridge / Jeff Pink