William Davidson: December 5, 1922 – March 13, 2009

We begin this morning with a somber note.  Detroit Pistons owner, William Davidson, passed away yesterday in his home.

Davidson made his initial fortune in auto glass manufacturing, which eventually expanded to fabrication of products used in building materials and projects.

Mr D, as he was sometimes called, bought the Pistons in 1974 for $7 million.  When he first acquired the team, they had not turned a profit in almost two decades.  He would treat the Pistons like any other business, expecting the best from all his employees and expected their performance to be the precursor to the franchise generating money.  He also was never afraid of putting his own money in the team.  The Pistons home arena, the Palace of Auburn Hills, was the first privately funded arena in the NBA.  The Pistons were also the first team to charter their own private plane, which many attributed to the road success of the late 80’s Piston teams.

Under Davidson’s ownership, the Pistons have won 3 NBA Titles and 5 Eastern Conference Championships.  Davidson was also owner of the 3-time WNBA Champion Detroit Shock, and the 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.  He is the only owner in professional sports history to have 3 pro teams win championships in the same calender year.

William Davidson was 86.

Davidson’s Pistons defeated the Raptors in OT behind the resurgent Rip Hamilton.  Rip dropped in 24 pts and 15 assists, the second time in a week that he has had over 20 pts and 10 assists.

The Icon topped the 50th point barrier for the 8th time in his career, as Cleveland defeated the Kings in OT.  The win clinched the Central Division for the Cavs.

The Celtics announced that Kevin Garnett will no longer start when he returns from injury.  That isn’t true, but Leon Powe dropped 30 pts in the Celts victory over the Grizzlies.

The rest of your NBA scores.

So all those conference tourney’s are going on, what is happening?

Syracuse was the first team to win 4 straight to win the Big East back in 2005.  Can they do it againt?  Maybe they can do it without taking another game into OT.  They play Louisville tonight in the Finals after the Cards took down Nova.

Over in the ACC tournament, Duke, UNC,  Maryland and Free Shoe U all moved on.  Wake is a fraud.

No big surprises in the Big Ten, as Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois and Ohio State all moved on.  At least the big dawgs in one conference are performing the way they should.  The number 1 seed in the Midwest is there for Michigan State’s taking if they want to take it.

The Big 12 continues to show that they suck.  Baylor took down Texas,  and fraudulent Mizzou is waiting for them in the finals.

Arizona State upset the best team in the state of Washington (hear that Zags). The Sun Devils will face USC in the finals of the Pac 10.  The Trojans knocked of UCLA.

The SEC is morbid. It sucks, and we all enjoy it.  After listening to months about how wonderful SEC football is, we get to see how pathetic SEC basketball is.  Kentucky lost to LSU. The ‘Cats won’t be dancing for the first time in over 17 years. The Tigers will be taking on Miss St in one semi.  While the underachieving Volunteers and mascot Bruce Pearl will be playing Auburn in the other.  Trey, sorry man.

Memphis is winning some low-major conference, blah blah blah.

With it looking like Kentucky and Arizona are both missing the NCAA tournament, that will leave Kansas (19), Duke (13) and Michigan St (11) as the only teams with over 10 or more consecutive years of making the Big Dance.

Now if only the Philly fans were as classy.

Spencer is keeping you updated as to what is happening at Doral.

Torry Holt is a free agent now that the Rams released him.  He could be grabbed at a bargain.

Don’t be fooled about Pacman Jones.  The guy hasn’t changed.

The worst wrestling finishers.

I expect to see you all back here later today for some crazy commenting!

Popularity: 4% [?]