You know, I always say “It’s just not Thanksgiving until the Detroit Lions lose.”
But this year, the Lions are 8-2. And they are favored by a good margin over Green Bay. While I am generally sympathetic to the Packers because of their unusual structure (as you know, Bob) they are 4-6 this year, and I kind of resent the way the team is being run.
Plus, pigpen51.
So I find myself in the unusual position this year, in terms of rooting for laundry, of actually hoping that..the Detroit Lions win.
What mad universe is this, anyway?
I grew up here in Michigan liking the Detroit teams, of course. But in high school I had to read the book Instant Replay, by Jerry Kramer of the Green Bay Packers for a 11th grade book report, and became a fan of the team back then. Not so much of them today, of course. I also like the way they are a fan and city team, first and foremost, not like so many other teams. You won’t ever see them moving from one city to another depending on which city will build them the biggest stadium or offer them the biggest perks. Las Vegas I am looking at you.
I also liked the Pittsburg teams, both the Steelers and the Pirates. I am sure that it has something to do with that working class feel that made me think that way. Willie Stargell was always a favorite of mine, along with the fact that they were in the National League and there was no inter league play back then.
I still remember listening to the Tigers when they were on the West Coast on my AM transistor radio, late at night. Not to mention the CBS radio mystery theater that made me sleepy the first hour or so in school the next morning too many times. Have a great Thanksgiving yourself, and above all I keep the innocents in the middle east on both sides of the Gaza conflict in my mind. Politics aside I hope that the war ends as quickly as possible.
The data is definitive.
Lions lose. Barry Sanders did not shine.
It is not my 1980’s.