A new look

That was immediately obvious when I wandered into The Palace’s west atrium for yesterday’s media event and was greeted by what Pistons President Dennis Mannion called a “brand test.”

The new west atrium.

This design, empty space and a sleek metallic finish accented with blue neon lights, is just one of the updates Gores has brought to The Palace, an arena some find lacking an identity. It seems that management shares that opinion, and revamping the image of The Palace was the first thing Mannion mentioned.

After a brief introduction we were led downstairs into one of the newly renovated performer locker rooms, another example of the facelift-in-progress. The team intends to have more performances during games – before, during quarter-breaks, and sometimes even after – and they are investing accordingly. Ensuring that The Palace is an elite entertainment venue is a high priority for Gores, and the early returns are good: when visiting for their recent concert both Kanye West and Jay-Z reportedly “loved it.”

We viewed a short presentation, then headed to the players’ locker room. In the way stood the largest door I’ve ever seen, surrounded by that same blue light and metallic finish, in stark contrast to the rest of the hallway.

What’s Behind the Blue Door?

I never had an opportunity to see the old player facilities, but I can’t imagine them being on par with what awaited us behind that door. There’s no doubt that Gores is serious about keeping his players happy.

Those chairs are seven feet tall.	Tempting.

The U-shaped room has that familiar blue glow (which can be switched off, of course), and each locker (including one each for Damien Wilkins and Vernon Macklin) is equipped with an iPad station for players to review plays, stats and other multimedia. The lockers open to a huge flat screen TV, where coach Lawrence Frank can show film and diagram plays. And the adjacent player lounge looks more like a penthouse suite than what you’d find in a basketball arena. I imagine changes like these might make players want to stick around a little longer, which can’t be a bad thing.

Improving the fan experience

In addition to the facilities, the Pistons want to bring the fans into the 21st century with a digital makeover. An email newsletter is in the works, and there are plans to eventually produce 24 short videos per week, each catering to multiple fan groups. New projectors and lasers have been installed above the court for more elaborate light shows, which we were assured are to be controlled by very complex software. Mannion also told us about big plans for social media integration, including live-updating Twitter boards coming in February. I wondered to myself whether Charlie Villanueva would be participating (gosh, I hope so).

The team has even made reducing traffic congestion a goal, potentially using electronic signage and even smartphone apps – a plan that is somewhere in the “observe and act” phase. It seems that nearly every facet of attending a Palace event is up for review and improvement.

The bottom line

With the focus today so heavily on expanded entertainment and the improved facilities, one might wonder how much attention is actually being paid to basketball. By the end of the day, however, it was apparent that the Pistons organization hasn’t lost sight of why people come to Auburn Hills. “The best way to thrill the fans is to win,” Mannion admitted. “We need great play on the court – number one, by far.” And with that attitude in mind, it’s easy to see what all these changes are really about – getting the Pistons back into championship form.

There are a few interesting things to note:

• As previously speculated, Detroit is serious about using advanced statistics. The word “analytics” appears under the Team Operations section at around the 0:12 mark.
• The team is looking toward expanding its web presence as well. There are 21(!) separate channels on the “Programming” slide.
• Lots of focus on entertainment. The Flight crew makes an appearance, and it looks like the Pistons are adding a Cheer Team, as well as a youth hip-hop dance group called the Mob Squad.

I also got a peek at what looked to be the new pre-game intro video that sets the bar pretty high. The new ownership seems to be making some very visible modifications to the franchise right from the start, and I would bet they don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

Pistons President Dennis Mannion gave fans of analytics a reason to get their hopes up at today’s Palace media event. While discussing his belief in the importance of advanced statistics, Mannion noted that when Dumars hired Catanella for his new role, “there was no gun to his head.”

Mannion is no stranger to advanced stats himself, as he indicated that the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of similar analysis when he served as President of that organization. If his implication is correct and Dumars is also a believer, Pistons fans have another big reason to get excited about the future of the franchise.

If you’re having trouble viewing the site, check to see if you have the AdBlock plugin enabled in your browser. If so, it’s relatively easy to add PistonPowered.com to the whitelist so that it’s disabled only when you visit here (though I’d encourage you to add other sites you trust to the list as well).

A quick Google search should give you all the details, but if you’re having trouble figuring it out, leave a comment on this post with your browser of choice and the name of the plugin you’re using and I’ll try to point you in the right direction.

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There are few things on the internet that I hate more than intrusive advertisements, so I understand any frustration you may have experienced with these new ads. They help pay the bills, but our goal first and foremost here at PistonPowered is to always make great content available to our readers without interruptions or distractions. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Now, Dan has been covering and writing about sporting events for a while, so this definitely wasn’t new to him. But even though I’ve been a fan for a long time, I’ve never had that chance as the tech guy. I decided to tag along, laptop in tow, to see what it was all about. What follows is a rookie’s perspective on the experience.

Jonas Jerebko Meet and Greet

After a brief delay getting credentials for both Dan and I, we finally got through the gate and were led down a long hallway toward the Chairman’s Club for the meet and greet. I grabbed a Diet Coke, we found a pair of seats and waited for Jonas to appear.

One of the first things I noticed was the gender distribution in the room. There were a lot of young, female fans. Some of them wore Jerebko jerseys, others sported homemade t-shirts made specially for the occasion. More than a handful brought plastic Viking helmets. Heather Zara from Pistons.com interviewed a group of girls who took the time to learn a Swedish phrase to impress Jonas – “I love you.” The one thing they all had in common: they all were eagerly looking forward to his arrival.

Of course, none of this surprised me. After all, Jonas Jerebko is not just a professional athlete; he’s also tall, young, European, and handsome, which obviously gives him a lot of appeal for casual and even non-fans. In fact, had it not been for the weather, I imagine the turn out would have been even better.

Jerebko walked into the room, and all the chatter suddenly stopped. Everyone had been anticipating this moment and now that it had arrived, no one knew exactly what to do. Jonas sat down behind the table at the front of the room, and the Swedish-speaking girls were the first to approach him. Following suit, the rest of the fans hurriedly lined up behind them to wait for their turn to get a photo, an autograph or just a handshake.

Before the event began, the staff emphasized their desire for it to be less formal than an autograph session, but that’s quickly what it became. No one seemed to mind.

As we waited for each fan to get a chance to meet Jerebko, the original Jay Sean version of “Down” played over the room’s speaker system. I joked with Dan that it was an unfortunate missed opportunity to play the more appropriate, and frankly better, version of the song you hear in the above video. (Do everyone a favor and add this version to your next playlist, Palace staff.)

Finally, after the fans headed to their seats, the rest of the bloggers and I had a few minutes to speak with Jonas and pose a few questions. I have to admit, at first it was a bit surreal standing around so casually with a professional athlete I’d seen play on TV so many times. But he was more than willing to answer anything we asked* in a manner that quickly put me at ease. I could definitely see how he’s been able to win over so many fans in his short time in Detroit.

*Earlier, Dan posted video of Jonas discussing what it takes to be a good owner, the status of his ankle injury, his prediction on the identity of the next Swede to make the NBA, and his level of dedication. Be sure to check them out if you haven’t already.

The Game

After we left the Q&A with Jerebko, we emerged into the main lobby, each wearing a media pass, and headed up the stairs toward our seats. Walking past the rest of the fans and upward, it felt very much like we were being given the VIP treatment.

Once we got to the top, however, that feeling changed a bit. We paused briefly to make sure no one had been left behind. I looked around and almost all the writers were wearing backpacks. There was a chaperone keeping tabs on us. We were on a high-school field trip!

As soon as we got to our suite, though, all that disappeared.

Midway through the first half, a Palace staffer brought up the 1989 Larry O’Brien trophy. The prospect of a photo op with the trophy seemed more exciting than the action on the court at the moment, and everyone piled into the suite for their turn.

It had been some years since I’d been to a Pistons game, and I definitely noticed some changes. I’m sure the weather was a factor, but the atmosphere was far more subdued than I remembered. Gone was the “Going to Work” mantra the team espoused during their incredible conference-championship run. It had been replaced with “DETermination,” which seemed like a good idea given the way the team has, over the past couple of years, struggled to show up every night.

But that’s not to say that the experience was a bad one. The flamethrower-accompanied team introduction never gets old for me. (And for the young fans seated just in front of us for what looked like their first game, it was a welcome surprise.) The Spare Tires were out in all their full-figured, shirtless glory (for better or for worse). And during the third quarter, one of the best promos I’ve seen in quite some time played on the video screen:

Don’t try this in Flint, Hooper.

Despite the loss, it felt good to be back at The Palace.

Postgame

After the game, we headed down one of The Palace’s inner corridors. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed into John Kuester’s postgame press conference like I’d hoped. Instead, we waited in the hall for the coach to finish before entering the interview room for our turn with Charlie Villanueva. An elevated table with a microphone, with no more than a dozen chairs facing it, stood at the front of the room. I don’t know how many writers Pistons press conferences generally accommodate, but this had to be one of the smaller groups.

After a few minutes Villanueva entered and sat down, hunched over in his chair. His voice was hoarse and he seemed unenthused (which he apparently realized). I suppose blowing a eight-point third-quarter lead against a sub-.500 team can do that to you. He humored us for five minutes or so, answering a few questions and hurriedly left the room.

The Piston representatives thanked us for coming, and we thanked them for having us and headed up and out into the frosty night air. Like Villanueva, we were eager to escape the rather uncomfortable chill for a hopefully warmer, more pleasant place. With the help of my car’s heated seats, we quickly thawed out. I hope Detroit can find a solution for their cold streak soon too.

Social Media and Feeds

They’re the wave of the future (or in 2011, maybe the present), so we’ve more prominently featured buttons for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our RSS Feed in the upper right corner of the page. In addition, each post now has its own comments RSS feed that you can use to easily keep up with the comments for any article you want to discuss further.

Menu Bar

Most of the features in the menu bar haven’t gone anywhere, but because I hate floating menus, we completely changed the way they’re displayed. Instead of hovering over an expandable menu item (now marked with a pair of "↓" characters), you can now click it once to display its contents, and again to hide them. This should make these features actually usable on a touch screen, and you won’t have to worry about accidentally moving your mouse the wrong way and having them disappear.

A couple things have moved around though. The “Archives” section now has a list of all post categories, as well as links to the last six monthly archive pages. Our search fields also live there, as well as links to RSS feeds for entries and comments.

Finally, the explanations that used to reside under “More PistonPowered” are now included in the “About” section, and you can still go there if you ever need a refresher on all the different ways you can ingest our content.

Commenting

The new design has resolved our longstanding issue with threaded comments. Not only have they been re-enabled, but they should actually be legible this time around, and you can reply up to five levels deep.

Feedback

We always love to hear any of your questions, concerns, or feedback, so send us an email (pistonpowered [at] gmail [dot] com) if you have any to offer. Of course, we love hearing how great we are too, and compliments are especially welcome.

Without getting into any of the gory details, here’s what you can expect: I’ll be bringing the blog down Saturday at noon, and it won’t be operational for a while. Any news that happens to break during the blackout will be covered on Twitter by @PistonPowered (which you should already be following…go do it now), and you can expect a full write-up here on the site after we come back.

In total, the process could take up to 24 hours to complete, so please bear with us. You can expect a comprehensive run-down of the changes on Sunday after everything’s back up and running. See you on the other side!

(Ed: We’ll still be covering the Heat game tonight, and you can read our recap until noon tomorrow.)

If you’ve already registered you don’t need to worry – you’ll still be able to log in and comment. If you haven’t, you should still be able to comment by entering your name and email.

We’ll have registration opened back up as soon as we can. If you aren’t spam and you registered today, you’ll unfortunately have to do so again when we resolve the issue. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you’ve tried to visit the site in the last few days, you’ve no doubt noticed that we’ve been having some technical difficulties. Dan’s tweet last week tried to shed a little light on the subject, allowing Twitter to prove it’s utility (really, you should follow us), but allow me to explain…

Presumably because of you, our ever-increasing band of loyal readers, our former webhost decided that we were using too many resources and suspended our account last Wednesday. It was not the first time they shut us down, but we’ve made sure it will be the last. To do our best to prevent future downtime, we decided to switch to a new host and in doing so learned even more reasons we should have made the change long ago.

Without getting into the gory details, it was a complicated process that probably shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. We’re still learning as we go with some of these things. Unfortunately, some comments posted Wednesday evening on Patrick’s undisputed stance on the ‘Mr. Big Shot’ moniker weren’t able to be included in the move. I was able to track down copies of them, however, and have reposted them under the article (here).

Though a bit painful, ultimately this is a good move. We appreciate your patience.

It’s good to be back.