This is why I want the Lions to go 0-16

This article summarizes much of the frustration that I have felt with the Lions during my lifetime. I'm 41 years old and they have won 1 playoff game since I have been on the planet. During that time, Mr. Ford has been either 1) grossly incompetent and unable to find competent front office personnel and coaches; 2) unlucky; or 3) indifferent to the plight of the fans and unconcerned about winning, just making money.

I do feel bad for the players on the Lions. It's not their fault that Mr. Ford gave Matt Millen a 5 year extension at $5 million/year when it was apparent that he didn't know how to run a team and the fans were marching in the streets calling for Millen's dismissal. The Lions just don't have talent, and Mr. Ford just doesn't seem to care. Before last week's drubbing at the hands of the Saints, he announced that he is bringing his current management team back next year. Obviously he is pleased with their performance, so much that he isn't willing to interview anyone who might be considered a "genius" or even above average.

So, I'm going to follow the lead of my younger daughter and become a Dolphins fan. She switched because she cannot handle the losing and she likes Jake Long and Chad Henne, who were drafted by the Dolphins.

At least I can leave with a clear conscience and say that I have never given the Lions any of my money. The games I have attended were as guests of suite holders, and I didn't pay for anything, including parking.

Adios Mr. Ford. You have made it clear that you are indifferent to the fans, and either don't care about building a winner or don't know how. Either way, I'm taking the energy I have as a fan and giving it to a team that actually tries to win. Not one that is the plaything of a rich kid who wasn't allowed to play in the family game of auto manufacturing.

I'm embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get to this point. Maybe I'm just a slow learner. But, at least I learn.

Annual Thansgiving message

This year as you stuff your face and watch the Lions lose, spend a moment to reflect on these two things. Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation and an account of the first Thanksgiving by Edward Winslow:

Lincoln:
"Inasmuch as we know that nations, like individuals, are subjected to the punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of Civil War that now desolates our land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people.

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.

We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all of these blessings were provided by some superior wisdom or virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our national sins and pray for clemency and forgiveness."

Winslow's account:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

May your Thanksgiving be blessed by good food, good friends, and the love of your family.

Roy

What have I done to William Clay Ford Sr. to deserve this

In a season where the Detroit Lions are halfway to perfection (they are 0-8) and quite possibly the worst record since Mr. Ford purchased them in 1963, they find a way to stick a dagger in my back. I've suffered with this disastrous franchise for all of my 41 years. So this year, in my fantasy football league I decide to pick up players playing the Lions, since they are destined for banner days against an awful defense. So far, so good.

Then yesterday the Lions knock out my quarterback, Kyle Orton, in a game that they had no business competing in. What have I done Mr. Ford? Why do you torment me like this. You put garbage on the field year in and year out, and when I finally get smart enough to play against your steaming pile of refuse, they jump up and bite me. What have I done to you to deserve this?

I'm going to go sit in a corner and rock for a while.

There may be hope

Bill Ford Jr., son of the Lions hapless owner, sounds off. This is the first time I can remember him directly opposing his father's decision.


The photos below are courtesy of Sean Baligian at WDFN.

My Ode to the Detroit Lions

Click on the clip and listen. The chorus says it all.

I need deliverance

Pray for me please. I am in the throes of a terribly abusive relationship, and I do not know how to end it. I've tried, trust me, I have tried, but I can't break free of this. Please pray for me.

Who is my abuser, you ask?

The Detroit Lions.

I can't stop watching them. I'm reading preseason stories even before training camp begins. In my lifetime, the Lions have been a horrendous team. The one year they won their only playoff game since Mr. Ford bought the team in 1963, I was in South Dakota. They have been an unending source of disappointment and heartache, punctuated by moments of competence and hope, only to be dashed on the rocks of reality. Even the great Barry Sanders and coach Bobby Ross quit because they couldn't handle the losing. Yet I continue to give them my attention and affection, and they give me bupkus in return.

Watch the clip below to see a synopsis of their recent futility.

To quote Brokeback Mountain: "I wish I knew how to quit you."



Pray for me please. I'm tempted to get rid of my television, but then I'd just listen on the radio.

Chutzpah

The Detroit Lions, 31-81 under their current management, have decided to raise ticket prices 18% in order to "stay competitive." No kidding, that is what Tom Lewand said. They haven't been competitive in more than 10 years. They have only won 1 playoff game in my lifetime. But they want to stay competitive?

Sadly, people will pay it and keep watching the slop they put on the field.

They grow 'em big in Allen Park. I'll say that much for them.

Maybe these explain the Detroit Lions

Let's get this straight. Matt Millen is 31-81 as President of the Detroit Lions. what is the logical thing to do to fix this sorry situation? Fire the offensive coordinator of course! Then promote the offensive line coach, who had 2 guys in the top 5 in sacks allowed, to offensive coordinator. That my friends is Lions Logic.

I wish I knew how to quit this team.

These fine posters from Despair.com pretty much say it all.

Thanksgiving

This year as you stuff your face and watch the Lions lose, spend a moment to reflect on these two things. Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation and an account of the first Thanksgiving by Edward Winslow:

Lincoln:
"Inasmuch as we know that nations, like individuals, are subjected to the punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of Civil War that now desolates our land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people.

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.

We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all of these blessings were provided by some superior wisdom or virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our national sins and pray for clemency and forgiveness."

Winslow's account:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

May your Thanksgiving be blessed by good food, good friends, and the love of your family.

Roy

Now we know why the ancients were spooked

Comets were often seen as portents of doom and messengers from God. If you get a chance, go out and look to the North in the next few weeks. You should get a decent view of Comet 17P/Holmes, which recently increased in brightness by about a million times.

I don't know if the comet has anything to do with the Lions going 6-2, but pigs are flying and comets are appearing. I'll let you be the judge.

It should be fun to look at in the meantime while we wait for the mothership to arrive. :)

The Detroit Lions are 6-2

This is what I saw out my window yesterday.

This is so petty

It seems that the Detroit Lions are concerned about protecting their brand. So, they have decided that after more than 10 years, WDFN is no longer allowed to call their after-disaster report "The Detroit Lions Post-Game Show." That is the property of the Lions flagship station. Never mind that WDFN has been doing this for years. Never mind that the Lions have basically been a big steaming pile for this entire decade. They were 24-72 going into this season. But they had to put their lawyer's foot down. The story is here. This just makes me shake my head. They should be happy people are still talking about their pitiful excuse for a team, not squishing the discussion.

You can't put lipstick on a pig. The Lions have been an awful team for some time. The fans are going to talk. They should be happy that the fans keep showing up, even if they grouse on another station. At least they still care.

When up is down and down is up

Props to Kurt's Korner for his call on the Bizarro World- Michigan Style. I sense that the apocalypse may be upon us. Michigan is 0-2 and has been beaten like a rented mule at home. They have been humiliated by a 1-AA team and a not-great Oregon squad. And they have looked totally discombobulated in the process, which is atypical for them.

The other bizarrity is that the Lions looked good and are undefeated. I think I'm going to sell all my possessions and move to the mountaintop. This is so odd. The clip below encapsulates my thoughts this morning.

When Time passes you by

You become the Michigan football team. One week after a humiliating loss to a Division 1-AA school, they get pounded by Oregon at home. I credit Bishopman for calling me out on this yesterday. It appears that the modern version of football has eluded Michigan's coaching staff. Every time they see a spread offense and a mobile quarterback, they struggle. It's been that way for nearly 10 years, since Donovan McNabb did them in when he was at Syracuse.

I think it is time for a change at the helm. And please, do not promote any of the current staff to the head job. We need a winner in Ann Arbor to offset the mess that is the Lions.

Wait! Then what are the Lions?

This headline confuses me. I thought that is what we have been watching for the past several years at Ford Field.

Detroit to get minor league football team

Decisons Decisions

Bishopman had a good post on freedom and decisions recently. As did Kurt's Korner on the wisdom of decisions. I was thinking about that this morning as I listened to sports talk radio in Detroit discuss the legal troubles of Detroit Lion's player Shaun Rogers. It is alleged that he was in a seedy strip club in Detroit and groped a stripper in her dressing room. She also alleges that he was carrying a gun, which is a mandatory 2-year felony if he was in possession of a gun during the commission of a felony.

The Sean Baligian made a great point on WDFN this morning about our responsibility to others. In this case, he is talking about Sean Roger's responsibility to his team, his family, and himself. Even if he did not do what is alleged, he was in an awful situation where nothing good can happen. With all of the legal troubles in the NFL, this was just plain stupid. It's not like Shaun Rogers is unknown in this city. He is 300+ pounds and his face is on television every Sunday in the fall. What he did may or not be a crime. It may also be a money grab on the young lady's part. I don't know what the truth is. But I do know that Shaun Rogers made a series of bad decisions that got him to this point. And now his name, and his teammates names, are being dragged through the mud.

Too many in the church have this same selfish attitude about their lives. It's as if they can do what they want and it doesn't affect others. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When a Christian sins, the entire body suffers. When the world sees bad behavior from Christians, we are all tarred with that brush. Just like Shaun Rogers' teammates are all looked at a little differently now. People are thinking "What kind of organization is that?" about the Lions. The same thing happens when prominent and ordinary Christians fall.

Take heed of Kurt's advice here:

Here's what I'm taking away from these verses based on the following scripture:

"As I stood at the window of my house
looking out through the shutters,
Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,
I spotted a young man without any sense
Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived,
then turning up the path to her house.
It was dusk, the evening coming on,
the darkness thickening into night.
Just then, a woman met him—
she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him."
(Proverbs 7:6-10, The Message)

1. Only the mindless even "stroll by" temptation's dwelling. The smart person in this text (the narrator) was observing from a distance. He was safe and sound in his own home, "looking out through the shutters." Who was frequenting the corner of Mindless and Senseless? "The mindless crowd." How often are we mindless about the temptations we're susceptible to, only to fall?

2. Giving in to temptation requires action on my part. The "young man" being observed in this text isn't a passive victim; he's more like Samson, flirting with disaster as he (a) arrives at the adulteress' corner, (b) walks up the path to her house, (c) at night. Even though v. 10 says the adulteress had been "lying in wait for him," she would have had to wait all night long if this young man had simply avoided this danger zone altogether. When we "end up doing something wrong," it's not as if we were ambushed. We were close enough to the problem to do something wrong in the first place!

3. You can always walk away - even when you've been ambushed. Even though this young man did every wrong thing he could possibly do, the temptress didn't tackle him, drag him into her bedroom, and forcibly take advantage of him. That was her intent - she was lying in wait, "dressed to seduce him" - but even when she surprised him with her offer, he could have walked away. So can I. And so can you.

Let's do ourselves a favor and just stay away from the tempting corner of Mindless and Senseless.

That is some great advice. Many problems can be avoided by staying out of situations where nothing good can happen. Some to consider are;

1) Parties with large numbers of people and volumes of alcohol
2) Being out after 1:00 a.m. Unless you are working, there is little good that can happen.
3) Going to places where criminals and seedy folks are known to hang out.
4) Going anywhere your wise friends are cautioning you against. In Mr. Roger's case, reports say that his coaches have instructed the players to avoid these types of establisments.

We can learn a hard lesson from this. I pray we don't have to learn it first-hand.

Launching the Pat Patrol

Back in the 1990's sports fans around the country engaged in the "Wayne Watch" - a vigil to see when Detroit Lion's coach Wayne Fontes would be fired. It became an ESPN staple as the flamboyant Fontes rode the roller coaster that is Lions football.

I'm starting the Pat Patrol. Our purpose is to catalog the seemingly endless series of inane remarks that flow from the mouth of Pat Robertson. The secular media loves Pat, because he is a great source of inflammatory remarks and material for late-night comedians.

His latest pronouncement is a doozy. He is telling the people of Dover, PA not to call on God if a calamity comes their way, because they rejected school board members who favored the introduction of intelligent design. What God is he talking about?

Even in the Old Testament Prophets where Israel was getting pummeled for their idolatry and neglect of God's laws, God made it clear that he wanted them back. Sure there were consequences, but there was always some hope of redemption after repentance. Pat didn't seem to leave much room for repentance and redemption in his comments.

Intelligent design is a watered-down Deistic theory that nature is too intricate to be left to chance. The Designer is as vague as the Higher Power in AA meetings. It's a start, but it is only a small step. Why on earth would a Christian call down fire and brimstone for a half-measure at best? If we are going to toast some people, let's at least make it a real hill to die on. Not a molehill as this one is.

I reiterate my call to take away Pat's microphone before he speaks again.