I hear Mike and Mike in the Morning (ESPN radio talk show hosts) want the Thanksgiving Day game pulled from Detroit. I had always liked Mike and Mike, but, if you'll excuse me, they're bastards. Their argument: The Lions are so bad, they should be penalized and be forced to relinquish the Thanksgiving Day game.
My response: That's precisely the reason you keep it there. It's the only thing Lions fans have. Pathetic, but true. Mike and Mike want to punish the franchise, but they're really just punishing the fans. We didn't ask for seven years of Millen. We didn't ask for fifty years of championship-less football. We've been saddled with it by incompetent franchise management. And now people like Mike and Mike want the NFL to pile on the misery . . . at a time when Detroit and Michigan are taking the brunt of the economic downturn and have been for a few years. And why do Mike and Mike want to inflict this emotional jar on the people of Michigan: So Mike and Mike can see a better game.
Petty bastards, the type of people that would steal someone's household pet so they can pawn it for $5.
Link to the story that got me going this morning. Excerpt:
Eric Hipple spent nine seasons as quarterback for mediocre Lions teams, and he considers the Thanksgiving games among his happiest memories -- big crowds, national television audience, holiday atmosphere.
Hipple feels torn by the debate over keeping the game in Detroit after such a poor run. He sees in the city's economic mood an "impending feeling of doom. People are upset. The future's not sure -- 'What's going to happen?' "
But the Lions idle on Thanksgiving?
"That," Hipple said, "would be one of the worst things that ever happened to Detroit."
(Rhetoric note: My opinion of M&M is higher than indicated above, but they've really irritated me with this, so I'm not going to edit it.)
