Patrick Hayes is a Flint, Michigan,-based freelance journalist who has covered news, sports and features in his career.He has covered the Detroit Pistons, first for MLive.com, and currently for ESPN's TrueHoop Network blog PistonPowered, since 2008.Hayes is a former sports reporter and editor for the Flint Journal, a mid-sized daily news operation, and a former local news reporter and editor for View Newspapers, a chain of weekly community newspapers in Mid-Michigan. He's covered inner-city high school basketball in one of the top talent-producing regions in the country in Flint, and he's a former beat writer for the Mott Community College basketball team, one of the top JUCO teams in the country. Currently, he is the Director of Publications in the communications office at a Flint university.His work has been published by ESPN, Good Men Project, SLAM, The Flint Journal, Saginaw News, Bay City Times, Johnson City Press, Grand Blanc View, Burton View, Lapeer Area View, Swartz Creek View, the Oakland Post, The Only Colors, Great Lakes Hoops, Technorati, MLive and Michigan Preps/Rivals.He has a BA in general studies with minors in history and political science from Oakland University and a master's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.