Pistons had to rouse quiet crowds when they opened The Palace
by NATHAN BIERMA on DECEMBER 22, 2017 The 1988-89 Pistons won their first NBA championship while playing at The Palace of Auburn Hills. John Ciszewski had done his job too well. The Pistons’ vice president of corporate sales was in charge of selling the pricey season tickets for courtside seats at The Palace of Auburn Hills when it opened in 1988. Ciszewski sold all the seats. The only problem was who was sitting in them . On Opening Night, Ciszewski’s customers were eerily quiet, observing passively except to offer polite applause. “Ciszewski had sold most of the tickets to corporations—what regular fan could shell out $10,000 to $40,000 for one season ticket?” writes Cameron Stauth in The Franchise, his absorbing chronicle of the Pistons’ first season at The Palace. “Whoever they were, they were awfully quiet.” It was Leon “The Barber” Bradley who pointed out the problem, Stauth says. Bradley was a Pistons superfan who specialized in hurling vile invective at opponents, rattling