Thanksgiving and Other Bullshit

Rod Marinelli made a big deal before the Thanksgiving day game about how this was the Lions opportunity to show the world something and that they craved the spotlight because it was...you know, to tell you the truth I'm not sure because it was then that Marinelli rambled on about Twinkies and creamy middles and all that ridiculous bullshit. But, in the end the Lions did show the world something, that they were a team that was even worse than most people thought. They are a franchise in freefall, which is sort of ridiculous because it has seemed that way for almost an entire decade, and if we are brutally honest, for the last half century. Which begs the question how much farther can they fall? No matter how deep the descent there are always deeper places, sadder places, unfathomably horrible places for this team to sink. Thursday's game was just another bottom in a history littered with bottoms, and if that history teaches us anything it is that there will be many more bottoms to come. Which is frightening, but that is our reality and so we must face it.

Look, at the end of the day the Lions are the Lions and not a lot is going to change that and what it means, especially not in the near future. But what can change in the immediate future is this Lions tradition of just standing pat and saying "Well, we just need to give it some time." Well, guess what assholes? YOU'VE HAD FIFTY MOTHERFUCKING YEARS. There needs to be some level of accountability here, someone who says "You know what? This shit is beyond broken and we can't fix it from within." It needs somebody who understands that what's needed is a total house cleaning, not just a change in philosophies, but a complete and total reinvention of the franchise from the top on down. We need new leadership in every single area. We need front office people who know how to win, we need coaches who know what they are doing from day one, not positional coaches who might grow into the job because they have the right attitude, whatever the fuck that bullshit is. We need players who don't give a fuck that the Lions are losers, because they are winners and they won't be part of a team that stumbles and bumbles its way through a season. We need more than a change, we need a cleansing, and then when everything is torn down and ruined and broken, we can start over and build something, anything, other than what is there now, because what is there now is broken beyond repair and will never, ever be anything more than a shambling mess.

The Titans killed the Lions. Just fucking killed them. You know it. You all saw it. There's not a lot of need to break down the particulars. That game stands as its own statement, its own snapshot of everything that is the Detroit Lions. It's sad, and it's frustrating but it's also undeniably true. What do you do when that is your team? How do you come back next week for more? Well, you just do, because the funny thing about sports is this: you never really do know. You just don't. You may be right 99% of the time but then that 1% of the time happens and it is exciting as hell. It makes you feel giddy and makes you want to say fuck you to everyone who isn't a fan of your team. The best times are when that happens over the course of a season, like I experienced with the Tigers a couple of years ago. In those seasons, you look back and remember how you thought things would never change and now that they have you just sit back and smile and take the whole thing in. And when they start to fade again you remember what that felt like and you remember that next year is always different, that next week is always different. You never know when things are going to change, when that game will come when it all starts to turn around. You could be 0-12 or you could be 7-4, you could be a perennial loser or you could be a championship team on its last legs. You never know. The Lions could pull some weird shit out next week, fire everybody, finally get their shit together as an organization and stomp the shit out of someone and we'll all be going "Holy shit, where did that come from?" Or they could lose again. And again. Which they likely will, but fuck it man, that's all just the nature of the beast. The good with the bad. That's sports fandom. One makes the other. Otherwise its just hollow bullshit.

I know this a rambling mess of a post, but in between people quitting on their teams and my own team getting the shit stomped out of them, I just want everyone to look at their teams and ask themselves why they care? I mean, there is no good reason in the world to give the slightest fuck about sports. But if you're reading this you do anyway. It's not logical, it's not rational, it just is what it is, and I know that I can't walk away from that. No matter what. Shit happens, people get hurt, people get traded, people are disappointments, but at the end of the day you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. You may think you know, but who the fuck wants to be right? Not to get too hokey, but sports is about the journey man, it's about caring when your team wins because you've been there to see the shit get kicked out of them, and it's about caring when they fall back to earth because you are proud that they are your team and about what they did when they were on top. You suffer through the shit to get back to the top and on the way back down you never stop fighting to get back up there. Sports are dumb as shit, and sports fandom is even dumber, but fuck it, if you're a fan be a fucking fan. Stay there and bitch and moan and get mad about your team. Yell about the coaches, bitch about the owners, but don't just walk away from it and pretend it's not there just because you don't like what's going on. Because when they do start winning again you'll find that you don't identify with them anymore because you won't know them, and when that happens you'll just find yourself shrugging and halfheartedly trying to make yourself care again while everyone else around you is going nuts.

Look, I have barely seen the Lions do anything in my lifetime, but there have been flashes that I remember. I remember the Lions murdering the Cowboys to get their one and only playoff win of the last fifty years. I remember Barry Sanders going apeshit on Monday Night Football. And I know how fun it can be when that happens. I'm not going to quit on the Lions because I know that someday that shit could happen again. I don't see a clear path to that happening, and much of what I write and bitch about is because of that. I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't see it and that is depressing as hell, but it could happen and that's all that matters, even if the odds are ridiculously small. And that's what will always keep me coming back for more.