WESTLAND, Mich -- Have you heard the one about how the Detroit Lions are so lousy that the NFL might ban them from playing football on Thanksgiving?
Since the hire of Matt Millen in 2001, the Detroit Lions and thier losing ways have been a punch line for comedians like Jay Leno, sportscasters like Chris Berman, and to everyday folks all over America who enjoy football. Unfortunately for the Detroit Lions, losing the annual Thanksgiving game, an NFL tradition played since 1934 may become a reality due to inept play.
The Lions have not won a game on Thanksgiving since 2003. Local folklore has suggested that this annual Thursday afternoon game, once considered a guaranteed win amongst Lions fans, has become a dinner spoiler due to stress and disappointment, as if undercooked turkeys, feuding in-laws, and spilled gravy weren’t the only Thanksgiving Day problems, unless of course, you are one of those who love watching them lose.
“The Lions are dead to me. I don’t even watch football anymore unless it’s college,” said Robert Moore, a movie theater employee from Detroit.
Moore is just one of the many people in the area who has grown tired of this franchise.
The angered masses can be seen in the stands cursing out football players who only swear back, and heard on AM sports radio stations going on five minute rants about how the Lions are putrid, only to have the hosts tell them that they forgot to mention 20 other reasons why the Lions stink.
Fans who usually call in to talk shows like The Jim Rome Show or WDFN's Shep and Sharp, usually cite poor coaching, horrible general managing, sub-par talent, bad decisions, and rising ticket prices as reasons that have lead to local frustration with this team in the city. It’s not only the local fans who are concerned with the Lions poor play in front of a national spotlight.
In 2008, there were talks with other NFL team owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about revoking the Lions right to host the game due to insultingly bad play; however the team will be allowed to play the game for the 2009 season.
Mlive.com has reported that Goodell said that the Lions always hosting a Thanksgiving game was an issue that has come up with owners and will be discussed in the future.
Ibraheem Algabry, a Schoolcraft College student who was shopping for new jerseys at Champ Sports in Westland wouldn’t be so heartbroken if the Lions were blackballed from playing on Thanksgiving.
“I love the Lions man, don’t get me wrong, but if they blow leads like the one they did in Seattle, I don’t want to watch them,” said Algabry, a Canton Township resident who was wearing a Tom Brady New England Patriots jersey.
Rickey Hayes, also a Canton Township resident, said he has other teams he'd like on.
“I’d like to see the Steelers play the Saints or New England and teams that win,” he said.
At 12:30 p.m. on November 26th at Ford Field in Detroit, the Green Bay Packers will come into town to play the Lions in the Thanksgiving Classic, a game the Lions have not won since 2003.
Even if the Lions didn’t get barred from playing on Thanksgiving this year, fans in Metro Detroit still may not get a chance to watch the game on TV due to the NFL blackout rule for teams that do not sell out the stadium for game day.
For those traditionalists who feel that watching this game is as important of a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey, family, and pumpkin pie drowning in a sea of whipped cream, have no fear. Because, whether you love them or hate them, the Detroit Lions are here to play the Thanksgiving Classic for at least another year.
About the Photograph – An illustration drawn by Scott Mullin shows the possibility of what could happen if some NFL owners get thier way.
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