As the Raptors and Pistons do battle for survival in the early rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs, all the talk seems to be directed towards the nation?s national anthem.  Sunday night as the two teams opened their series a rumble of boos could be heard as the Canadian national was introduced before tip off.  If this wasn?t enough to get the blood boiling north of the border a chant of ?USA. USA? could be heard thundering from the upper seats of The Palace, prompting Raptors fans, players, and Toronto residents to rip on Detroit and the Pistons.

"Just given the times, with everything going on in the world, I think people were pretty shocked by it," said Dan Dunleavy, a sportscaster on Toronto's FAN 590 radio, the flagship station for Raptors broadcasts. "It was pretty poor timing."

Said Eric Smith, host for Raptors pregame and postgame shows on FAN 590: "From what I've heard so far, people have been pretty cheesed off. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say it was 50-50 as far as reaction. The fans who were upset, were really upset."

According to Pistons president Tom Wilson the organization received numerous phone calls and e-mails from Toronto-area residents who were on hand for the debacle, calling the crowd actions insulting.

"Yeah, the reaction to the anthem -- we were disappointed," said Wilson. "Players are booed all the time, but you don't do that to a country's anthem. They deserved better."

"I just never imagined that kind of response," Wilson added. "Wednesday night, we'll be asking our fans to please show respect to our neighboring country.?