Day of Painful Days

When I was 19 I had conjunctivitis of the eye. Basically an eye infection where a sac in the eyelid fills up with fluid. I've got almost a phobia of touching my eyes, which is why I wear glasses instead of contacts. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to the treatment. I went to the emergency room, and the doc sat me in a chair & peeled back my eyelid until the sac popped & the fluid ran down my face. I rank this pretty highly among the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had.

I went to a bar last night to catch Jose Calderon's Piston debut & was reminded of this experience. 

Earlier in the day it was announced that Titus Young had been released by the Lions. This came as a surprise to no one, not even Titus (who is a very deluded individual). The shame is this - the release of Titus Young underlines a continuation of poor drafting by Martin Mayhew. He's made several risky moves in the draft, none seem to have panned out. Now the Lions are in a similar place to where they were 4 years ago. They've slightly improved the talent level above the 0-16 team, but they still have needs at almost every position & little cap space to acquire free agents.

Filled with this depressing knowledge, I went to the bar to witness the dawn of a new era with the Pistons. The fact that I was soon the only person there (other than the bartender who doubled as my waitress) should've been a sign. I think Calderon realized pretty early on that if his team was going to score, he was going to have to do it. Monroe missed a bunny on a beautiful feed from Calderon. Maxiell, Knight and Stuckey all missed multiple shots, Tyson Chandler was corralling every available rebound and generally making Monroe uncomfortable... Even Drummond was out of sorts (apparently due to a sore back).

The fact that the Knicks found a lot of perimeter guys open for threes didn't help. At the end of the 1st quarter, the score was Pistons 13, Kicks 28. Calderon was responsible for 4 of those points. The rest of the team shot 4-17. Passes were bouncing off hands, Monroe was going right at Chandler and got smothered. 

No one really looked competent except the new guy. It reminded me a lot of the Lions' situation. And of having a sac of fluid in my eyelid popped 13 years ago.

Whew! After that I need to see something awesome...