On multiple fronts, this is a terribly important day for the Detroit Pistons. Not only does the NBA trade deadline hit today, but the two-week extension on private negotiations between Davidson and Gores comes to a close. If things are going to get any better, today is the Pistons last chance for change until draft night.
I'm not a praying man. The name "Payne" actually dates back to post-Christian Ireland to mean pagan, heathen or non-believer, it was a curse on locals who who were drunk, surly and didn't subscribe to an established order. Sounds dickishly fitting, right? Actually, those paganic drunkards who used my name dated even earlier to the druids-- very early Paynes were forest mystics who practiced a nature-focused spirituality and held a high command in Celtic society. You know that Merlin dude from the legend of King Arthur? Paynes were his peoples. After the Romans suppressed druidism and executed most of the high druids, the remaining Paynes were rather drunk, surly and had a tough time subscribing to the established order.
I'm not a praying man, but I think it's about time I call upon my ghostly ancestors, spend some time in the forest and build a second Stonehenge down here in Florida. I will walk out of the forest in a dark, dirty robe, a beard down to my junk, an ornate viney magic staff and an otherworldly look in my glassy, gray eyes. Upon this atonement with my druidic ancestors, I hope that the whims of the great magnet will be to make a sale and a trade of consequence befall the Detroit Pistons today.
...if not, I will be drunk and surly, not to mention having a very difficult time subscribing to this established order.