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Hello Pistons fans! I thought it was time (also considering the 0-3 start) to tell you the story of how became a pistons fan.
First things first: my name is Mattia and I'm from Cuggiono, a small town near Milan, Italy.
Instead of playing soccer, I've always wanted to play basketball and that's why I decided to start doing that around 1st grade. I played for my home team up until 7th grade then, due to the fact that there wasn't a team for boys of my age here, I decided to take a brake and try other sports, but the passion for the game was always there. That's why I decided, after a few years playing for different teams, to come back to play for my home town team. A big part of my decision to start playing again was also influenced by a team that I started to root for during that period: the Detroit Pistons.
Having relatives in the Detroit area (my uncle lives in Grand Rapids and my cousin is from Bloomfield Hills) make that choice even easier. I was always hearing about this pistons team, but since I din't have the possibility to watch NBA games on TV, I wasn't that much interested in it, but it all changed back in 04. my uncle was back in Italy visiting the family right after the Pistons won the Finals. He gave me a Pistons jersey and that, with the fact that I finally had a pc only for me, that was it.

As a basketball player, I love playing hard–nose defense, working hard and be very physical on the defensive end. To put it simple: I just happened to have that "going to work pistons mentality" without even knowing it. with every video I watched, with every article I read, I just fell in love with this team.

(This is how I always go to practice)


Since then I started reading every statistic, every article and every rumor about the Pistons. I also watch the games whenever I can even if they are in very late here in Italy (about 2/3 am) due to the different time zone
You can imagine how pumped up I was when, in 09, being in Detroit for my Uncle's wedding, I had the opportunity of having a tour of the Palace of Auburn Hills! it was such an emotional moment for me and everyone there was extremely kind to me: they also gave me a pistons bag with some Pistons stuff in it to remember my visit!


Here are some photos from my visit at the Palace:

Photo with the champs!

Me with the sound tech guy:

what was in the bag part one:

what was in the bag (and the bag itself) part 2:

looking to the rafters from the court:

In the Locker room

Up above:

Tayshaun's suite

Lunch time with a familiar face:


I thought it would fun to remember how the love for our Detroit Pistons began and to remember that, even if we may be a few years away from being a serious contender once again, we'll always be a big blue, red and white family!

Deeeeeetroit! Basketbaaaaaaall!

Mattia

Right on man, i grew up outside the US as well , but my father is from Grand Rapids, so naturally i liked all things Detroit. Yes even our lions. I am also a avid basketball player, and i loved the hard nosed grind it out play of our boys. Believe you me, the struggle is real watching our guys play in different time zones

Im born in '92 in the Philippines, a basketball crazy country. The first time I watched a Piston team play was around '97 and '98 when they showed a hardwood classic game from the '90-'91 ECF win against the Bulls. The style of play the Pistons showed interested me, and I remember asking my dad how the Pistons won that series with Jordan in his early prime. He told me that series was all about heart and mental toughness and those words sticked to me ever since. It just sucks that I cant associate those words to our team in the past years.

I was in France during the 05 playoffs. I have a ton of respect for overseas NBA fans, every game started at ~2 am. We found a bar that had NBA tv and would watch the mid day next day replays while avoiding seeing any scores (they were perfectly timed for happy hour).

I grew up in Michigan, loved the Going to Work team (was too young to appreciate the Bad Boys when they were relevant).

I sometimes wish I could just be a bandwagon fan, but my loyalty to this team is deeply rooted in me and it simply feels wrong to root for another team in the same vein as a root for the Pistons.

I don't have a good story (born and raised in Michigan, started watching around 1980), but it's fun to hear other peoples' experiences. I live in SF, CA now, and the lure of the Golden State Warriors is tempting, but not really... I'll always be a Pistons fan.

tmorgan wrote:I don't have a good story (born and raised in Michigan, started watching around 1980), but it's fun to hear other peoples' experiences. I live in SF, CA now, and the lure of the Golden State Warriors is tempting, but not really... I'll always be a Pistons fan.

I've lived in or near other NBA cities, and wished those local teams well, but I've never professed myself as a fan of those clubs. Even when it was tempting to jump ship to a team like the Mavs or Grizz.

tmorgan wrote:I don't have a good story (born and raised in Michigan, started watching around 1980), but it's fun to hear other peoples' experiences. I live in SF, CA now, and the lure of the Golden State Warriors is tempting, but not really... I'll always be a Pistons fan.

i was in the bay during college, and only game i saw is when the pistons came to oakland during the iverson days. I was talking so much mad sh* on the bart all the way to the nose bleeds.

My local team

I grew up in West Michigan before moving around. My dad would tell me bedtime stories about the Bad Boys. A basketball hoop was a Christmas gift when I was 13. After playing every day and watching the Big Ben/Rasheed crew and all the success they had I couldn't help not being a Pistons fan.

Pretty cool post OP.

My dad was a Pistons fan.. Been watching the Pistons since Isiah was a rookie.

Born in Michigan, moved to Florida when I was 5 which didn't have an NBA team (the Atlanta Hawks were the "home" team then), moved back to Michigan in 1984 and have been a Pistons fan ever since.

Went to UM, work in automotive, live in the northwest 'burbs of Detroit, go up north a lot, campfires, fishing, hunting....all that pure Michigan stuff.

Born at the Belgian coast.
My daughter started playing Bball in 1998,
Showed her how to play defense, but needed an example to show her,
Staying up in the night to see a game, showing videos before practice, all
from the Pistons.
Well, it paid off, she couldn't make a bucket, but rebounded and blocked shots like no other.
Good thing to have the pistons as a part of our lives...
Since then pistons all the way!

Considering im from Akron Ohio i became a Pistons fan all on my own obviously. My Dad liked the Cavs but not that much so i found teams i liked on my own. I really came on to liking Chauncey Billups in the 02 playoffs and people in open gyms would compare my game to Chaunceys the way i hit open shots. In 03 i fell in love with the team the way they started playing defense and unselfish offense.

Maker_84 wrote:Considering im from Akron Ohio

It all makes sense now

I can't say I'm a fan as much as you guys because I didn't follow the team closely in recent years. And I was kind of bandwagoner when I picked this team but I was just a kid so I should get a pass . Although I had no to little idea that team was great. Anyway me and my best friend back then, around 2003, started follow and play basketball. We were playing it, we occasionally went to seeing our local club or elder guys around park, we were playing NBA Live series on PC and PS. I played around with Pistons because of Okur on those games. As a 12 year old kid who is from way back East watching the actual games was hard but I actually have watched some. Remember watching a game of Bucks series, away win, not sure which one. Billups' half court shot against Nets, the block, last match before finals. My friend said we should bet over Finals and picked Lakers. After that he became a Wade fan as Wade improved (TMac fan in West) and our competition went on as our interest in game is increased.

If I started watching basketball now with this much knowledge of sports, I'd have picked Pistons again. Both for Finals and team to follow.