I’m thinking about that as I sit in my office and look over the parking lot at The Palace before tonight’s Game One of the first round. It’s 75 degrees, the sun has been out all day, no wind and not a cloud in the sky. It looks like San Diego, without the ocean…or the Chargers.

Earlier, I watched the Tigers go to extra innings (but lose) against the ChiSox, followed by a dominating performance by the Red Wings against Calgary in Game Five of their series. Mighty chippy there Flames…and nice two-handed chop by Flames goalie, Jamie McLennan. Bye, bye Calgary…flaming out.

And the Pistons are off to a nice start against Orlando…up nine with three minutes left in the first quarter…expected with the No. 1 seed going against the No. 8.

Do you realize that if you really wanted to, you could have started at Comerica park at noon, then moved to Joe Louis Arena for the 3:00 Wings game and by the time the Wings were done, you could be on the road to The Palace for Pistons basketball. Holy smokes, if you had made a stop at Motor City Casino for a few spins of the roulette wheel and a nice cigar, you would have been in testosterone-induced Nirvana.

By the way, was walking by the press table before the game and saw some Tigers players, including Todd Jones. All of them were wearing their AL Champions bling. Pretty cool to see those guys out here and that’s what I’m talking about when I say how great it is to be a sports fan in The D.

Here’s a random question…why is it that the most muscular guys, who are usually low post players, are the worst free throw shooters. Do the muscles have something to do with touch? Is this where the term “touch of a blacksmith” comes from? Don’t think so? Evidence Dwight Howard, Shaquille O’Neal, Ben Wallace. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you are saying, “What about Karl Malone?”

Watching the Pistons/Orlando game and wondering if anyone in the game today is better than Rip Hamilton of moving without the ball, catching it, getting set and knocking down the 17-footer. Also wondering what has gotten into Lindsey Hunter lately? This time it’s in a good way…no diet pills, please.

Still thinking about The D.

We boo Darko when he gets the ball. We boo Grant Hill when he makes a shot. We booed Ben Wallace the first time he came back to The Palace as a Chicago Bull. Is there more loyalty…is there more intensity…is there a better place to be a professional ball player? No way.

Looking over the recent results published in ESPN’s Ultimate Fan Rankings I see that the Pistons are once again in the Top Five overall for the Big Four in professional sports. And I believe it’s no coincidence that three of the Top Five teams are from the NBA. We, as in the league, seem to have some of the best when it comes to fan relations, experiences, owners, coaches and even bang for the buck.

The rankings run this way: the Buffalo Sabres, the San Antonio Spurs (curse you Coyote), the Dallas Mavericks (curse you Mark Cuban), the Indianapolis Colts (they are the Super Bowl Champs, you know) and the Detroit Pistons.

Holy moly, Dwight Howard is a man-child. He’s got 10 rebounds already with 9:30 left in the second…but he’s only got four points and I think he’s 0-4 from the line. But look at those muscles!!

Looking back to the survey…a bit surprising that the Buffalo Sabres were #1, particularly if you believe that old joke that committing suicide in Buffalo is redundant. But I guess the Sabres have really turned things around since their former owner was indicted on charges of accounting fraud. I guess we can give it to them…and laugh when we hear the reports of 15 feet of snow dumped on them in October.

But Buffalo only has two of the four pro sports leagues.

Looking deeper into the rankings, here’s what I found. Three of the four of the Big Four in Detroit were ranked in the Top 20 in the Rankings. Three outta four…not bad…I’d take .750 in any one of those sports. Imagine shooting .750 from the floor for the Pistons (or the free throw line for that matter), batting .750 for the Tigers (#12 in the Rankings) or scoring .750 of the time for the Red Wings (#18 in the Rankings). Not bad for the D.

The only weak link is that team at Ford Field (ranked dead last, by the way at #122) but they are currently out of season and haven’t we really gotten used to it around here anyway? It always scares me to think what would happen in this town if the Lions had a winning season and…heaven forbid…made the playoffs or…no way…made it to the Super Bowl.

Think about that though…three outta four in the Top 20. Dallas is the only other city that has multiple teams in the Top 20 (Mavericks and Stars). Not New York…not Los Angeles…not Chicago…only the D.

In fact, thinking about it, how many other cities in the country even have the Big Four? Okay, let’s just look at the Top Five in the Rankings and see how many have the Big Four: Buffalo – nope, see above; San Antonio – nope, only the Spurs; Dallas – well, yep they do and all aren’t too bad: Mavericks, Rangers, Stars and Cowboys; Indianapolis – nope, only Colts and Pacers; Detroit – yep again: Pistons, Tigers, Red Wings, Lions.

Dwight Howard now 0-6 from the free throw line….Pistons up 12.

The D and Big D…the only two in that Top Five. And even if you go to the Top Ten, the D and Big D still reign supreme. Only Los Angeles slips in with multiple teams, but not in the Big Four – Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Kings, Angels (#7 in the Rankings).

Can you believe tonight is the first playoff game that Grant Hill has played with the Orlando Magic? That’s an amazing stat, considering he has played in only 200 of the last 547 games with the Magic.

Pistons up only 8 at halftime and didn’t look too good in the last minute of play. Gotta execute, fellas. Execute.

See, there you go. We are up eight and basically dominating the Magic and yet, we want more. If you up 10, fans in The D think it should be 20. If you win by four goals, it should be eight. And if you throw it 98 mph, it should be up to 102 mph.

The irony is that we expect so much from our sports team in Detroit. Nothing less than a world championship satisfies fans…and often times that isn’t enough – see the 2006 WNBA Detroit Shock.

We expect hard work, effort, execution and excellence from the players, coaches and front offices of our teams. Why don’t we apply those same expectations to our government, business and spiritual leaders? It’s the ultimate contradiction.

Isn’t it funny that Comerica moved from The D to – Big D? Or maybe Big D has carried over their expectations from the fields, courts and ice to the offices, the boardrooms and the congregations?

The D – wouldn’t it be great if we could go from being a great sports town to just a great town? Pardon the pun, but it’s certainly something to shoot for.