It Goes BEYOND Sucking
Our pathetic Detroit Lions found yet another (few) way(s) to lose tonight.
I’m so ungodly sick of this, I’m really – honestly – thinking about totally jumping ship. It’s something I’ve never done before… not even with the Tigers.
And that’s saying something.
If it’s not running 4 yard routes on 3rd and 10; if it’s not dropped go slants with nothing but green in front of you; if it’s not the refs getting 2 MAJOR calls wrong in the 4th (the safety and the subsequent fumble) – then it’s your ‘star’ lineman committing the most heinously stupid personal foul I’ve ever seen in an overtime.
This is what we get for our loyalty? THIS? The continued reign of a GM with the worst 5 year track record of anyone in football? These are HIS picks now. This is HIS football team. And, what? The security guards beat the shit out of a guy with the nerve of holding up a “Fire Millen” sign at Ford Field? CLUE TO THE FORDS: I saw no less than 3 of those signs AT GREEN BAY tonight.
I have no idea where these idiots go now, other than home to watch the playoffs again. There’s nothing left to be excited about. Oh, they’ll do their usual “oooh, the Lions were the best team in the Draft” bit; don’t mean SQUAT when your #1 picks are selfish whiners that give up and throw in the towel at the first sign of problems. I thought Millen was this rough-and-tumble guy… why is he drafting weak-kneed superstars? Why can’t our free agents play well for more than a year?
Forty years. ONE playoff win. And we keep buying tickets. How freaking stupid IS this town, anyway?
I look at it this way, which will offend some local readers (c’est la guerre, mon ami):
(more below the fold)
– I get POd when I see those stupid “Support Your Neighbors – Buy American” bumperstickers. Why? Buying American doesn’t help anyone. Buying the best PRODUCT does. Yes, this flaming liberal sees the free market economy for what it is, too. See, if you buy the best product for the money, then the competition will be forced to make the best product. Vote with your PURCHASE. When I feel that an American car is the best one for my money, I will buy one (and, I’ve thought long and hard about it recently, for the first time in years). If you simply “buy American”, why would Detroit stay competitive? Remember Lily Tomlin playing ‘Ernestine the Operator’ on SNL? Her famous line was “We don’t try. We don’t have to. We’re the Phone Company.” This was before the Cable Act of 1984 which split Ma Bell into competitive entities, and back then, there was little innovation and VERY little service. So, why encourage that kind of environment in the auto industry AGAIN?
So, back to football: STOP GIVING THE LIONS YOUR MONEY. They’ll get the picture. If they stop selling out Ford Field, they’ll get the games blacked out locally (again). Bad news in the new NFL. Now, is this a realistic dream? No. People here will buy a pile of Dog Shit if it has a Wings logo on it, and for the most part, it’s the same for the Lions. The difference is that the Wings have given us 10+ years of Championship hockey. The Lions have given us aneurysms.
I tell ya, I really think I’m just done. I won’t cheer against them, but I’m not cheering FOR them until they show me that the franchise can do it right – top to bottom. In the meanwhile, I’m moving my #2 team to the top slot: my wife’s hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. See, the Steelers have a tradition of more than winning — they have a tradition of blue collar, lunch pail, hard working, all-out EFFORT, because it fits the type of person that lives in Pittsburgh. They love their team, because they’re a reflection of themselves. They might go a year or two where they’re not a top playoff team, but nothing less is ever tolerated than a 100% effort, on and off the field.
Gosh, that seems like the image that Detroiters like to take pride in themselves. So, why do you accept anything less from the team that is supposed to represent you?
I’ll be at Heinz Field, cheering for the Stellers come New Year’s Day, when they completely wipe the Lions off the map.
And I’m sure you’ll be suckered in to watching. Again.
I agree with you on the Lions and on buying American. Isn’t it interesting how one of the baby bell’s (SBC) has become the new ma bell? With SBC acquiring AT&T, we are right back where we started before the split. The loser is the consumer who will have less choice, and the winner is the phone company as SBC can arbitrarily set prices without a major competitor for consmers to turn to. In terms of the Lions fans selling out Ford Field and continuting to buy Lions merchandise…your guess is as good as mine on that one. It’s simply boggles the mind.
i knew better than to stay up to watch that game… the lions have been bad for a long time, but right now, they are definitely the worst that they have ever been (which is quite a feat)… i think it’s quite revealing actually, how this town supports a team like the lions… and i agree, ford field will be sold out for a long time coming…
i agree with your “buy american” tangent… wondering about your thoughts in regards to affirmative action??? i’m a minority, but i’d feel much more comfortable knowing that the ones who had the highest scores and worked the hardest were the ones who got into medical school and became doctors… if it’s all white guys, i don’t really care…
Yes, I see your point about AA. Actually, I’m a big supporter of the measure, and let me tell you why…
Your concept about the smartest and hardest workers reaping the rewards is a great concept – in a vacuum. EVERYONE would like to see that concept be put into play if all else was equal. Unfortunately, all else is far, far from equal.
Since admissions boards are still subjective (and rightfully so), and since every school is different (different funding, different scales, etc), we have a subjective process in which certain people have the ability to choose who gets in, and who doesn’t. And since we can all agree that racism is still prevalent in this society, the system is inherently unfair.
Let me put it another way: I remember listening to Dexter Scott King, who runs the King Center in Atlanta, speak the day before the UM Admissions case decision was handed down. He said this (paraphrasing best I can, but I remember it quite well):
‘We would all love a world where Affirmitive Action doesn’t exist, where we are all perceived and treated as equals by everyone, inside and outside the boardrooms. But, unfortunately, that world does not exist today. We need to continue to level the playing field until one day when hopefully we can all share in that dream of REAL equality.”
And, quite frankly, I couldn’t have said it any better.
i hear ya UT… i can see that you’re objective and well informed, i appreciate that…
i agree that the playing field isn’t quite level… but i guess i think that there are other ways to level it out… i’d like to see more of the money that goes towards AfAc (not alcholics anonymous!) go towards school districts with high minority populations… i think it would better contribute to leveling out the playing field should school districts like Detroit’s gain more funding for better schools and better teachers… this would increase education in minority areas and hopefully as a result cause minorities to fair better when it comes to testing time, etc… does this make sense??? i admit that i am no maven on this issue…
in addition, isn’t it unfair to the person who studied harder and got better grades yet didn’t get accepted/hired because he isn’t a minority???
coincidentally, i was watching “what’s happenin?” on the WB today and it was about how D (who is black) didn’t get a cheerleading position because they needed more whites on the squad (they wanted 3 whites and 3 blacks on it)… then the white girl who got D’s spot(and wasn’t as good as D) got kicked off because they needed a hispanic on the team too… D went to go talk to the principal and she said, “shouldn’t the people who do the best job get the job?”… then the studio audience clapped for a few seconds… i found that interesting…
I agree with you 100%. We can smuggle signs into Ford Field, wear Fire Millen t-shirts, call for an “orange-out”… whatever. Until we stop putting money in their pockets, they will not listen to us. We see football as a sport. They see it as a business. From a business standpoint, the Lions are phenomenal! Lousy performance, and they still rake in beaucoup dollars. They still sell out the stadium. I’m all in favor of firing Millen, but I’d like to fire the fans, too. They only contribute to the problem.