Pistons Fanfest

On October 10th of this year we went to The Palace of Auburn Hills to attend the Detroit Pistons open practice session. There was free pop and chips for every one who attended (I thought that there was free hot dogs too, but apparently that was only for the first 5,000 people in attendance). There was also tours of the locker rooms available - we didn't take the tour because the line was halfway around the Palace concourse by the time we got managed to find it's end. The Pistons also held a "garage sale", with old t-shirts, hats, and other memorabilia going for dirt cheap prices (some of the shirts could be had for as little as a dollar). Since Samantha had a football game this morning we arrived to the practice a little bit later than we would have preferred, but I think that a fun time was had by all anyway. After the team scrimmaged, younger fans were allowed onto the court for a chance to shoot a free throw. Sam wouldn't go, but Tyler jumped at the opportunity (he rushed a little bit when it was finally his turn and ended up missing his shot).

Detroit Pistons Hoops Happiness Fanfest
	Drew and Jayden standing by the giant shoe in the atrium lobby.
	Tyler, Drew, Samantha, and Jay standing nicely together beside the shoe.
	The Detroit Pistons players lining up during team introductions.
	Drew and Jay sitting in their seats, watching the action on the floor.
	Ben Wallace getting free for a slam dunk during the scrimmage.
	The scoreboard, showing the event that we attending. Thanks to Coca-Cola for providing us with free pop and chips!
	Drew and Jay liked dancing to the music that was played during every break in the basketball action.
	Drew and Jay dancing again, hoping to get their moves shown on the scoreboard.
	Another slam dunk during the scrimmage game.
	A wider shot of the Palace during the game.
	Tyler shooting his free throw on the Detroit Pistons home floor inside the Palace.
	Tyler standing on the basketball court after his free throw attempt. He was thrilled to have had the opportunity to be able to do something like that.

The Pistons also give away tickets to various preseason games, and we managed to get seats for the game on the day after the practice, October 11th. Attending that game turned out to be a mess, though. Our seats were literally in the last row of the second level (row 20 to be exact - never buy those seats!). The view of the court wasn't really that bad - if only we could have seen it while sitting down. These particular seats were actually added in after the building was originally built, and they were sitting on a small riser instead of the usual steps that the other seats are on. Well, this meant that we weren't high enough to see over the seats or the people in the row directly in front of you. I tried sitting on the edge of the seat (with it tipped up), Tyler and Sam sat on top of the seat backs (with their feet on the seat itself), and Drew and Jay couldn't see at all. Tara finally found an usher and asked if we could move to another spot, and he was nice enough to move us to the press box area (what I assume is a press overflow area). The seats were just folding chairs, and it was still in the second level, but the view was a million times better. Oh yeah, the Pistons won the game, so at least we had that going for us!

Detroit Pistons Hoops Happiness Fanfest

Drew and Jayden standing by the giant shoe in the atrium lobby.

Tyler, Drew, Samantha, and Jay standing nicely together beside the shoe.

The Detroit Pistons players lining up during team introductions.

Drew and Jay sitting in their seats, watching the action on the floor.

Ben Wallace getting free for a slam dunk during the scrimmage.

The scoreboard, showing the event that we attending. Thanks to Coca-Cola for providing us with free pop and chips!

Drew and Jay liked dancing to the music that was played during every break in the basketball action.

Drew and Jay dancing again, hoping to get their moves shown on the scoreboard.

Another slam dunk during the scrimmage game.

A wider shot of the Palace during the game.

Tyler shooting his free throw on the Detroit Pistons home floor inside the Palace.

Tyler standing on the basketball court after his free throw attempt. He was thrilled to have had the opportunity to be able to do something like that.