Sep 112011
 


In just a couple more hours the Lions 2011 season is going to start down in Tampa. Expectations for the Lions are higher than they’ve been in almost twenty years I’d say. Matthew “If Healthy” Stafford, and the rest of the offense has the football media quivering in anticipation. Ndamukong Suh and the others guys on the defensive front have opposing quarterbacks shaking in “fear.” And the secondary has wide receivers across the league licking their chops in anticipation. Clearly there’s still some work to be done, but the NFL is funny, it doesn’t allow for a team to gradually rebuild. The arc of players’ careers is generally such that you need everyone to peak at the same time in order to truly succeed. Unlike baseball where you can accrue the assets over the course of time football is much more immediate. The crucial thing for the Lions to realize is that they have to strike now.

And of even greater importance they cannot buy into any of their hype. Yes, they ended the season on the longest active winning streak in the league. Yes, they went undefeated in the preseason. But none of that matters. Every year there’s one team that all the experts anoint as the up and coming hot stuff team, and more often than not that team flames out horribly. I can all to easily see the Lions falling into that trap.

But then again maybe not, maybe they make it through the season injury free (or as injury free as any team in the NFL can make it). Maybe Stafford does develop into the quarterback, everyone hopes he’ll be, but the contrarian experts say he’s not. And maybe, just maybe, the Lions will actually be relevant as the season winds down. It’s asking a lot, but there’s hope around the team now, and hopefully that hope won’t get immediately squashed. Either way, I’ll be watching.

Oct 062010
 

another day, another RT from a member of sports media, if this keeps up I’ll stop bothering to highlight it on the blog.
https://twitter.com/si_peterking/status/26547660234

Peter King (@SI_PeterKing)
10/6/10 8:46 AM
RT @shlincoln: The bigger point Peter, made by many I’m sure, is this Pats D is not that Pats D … Absolutely right. You all are right.

Sep 282010
 

A brief rundown of the Lions’ season to date:

Week 1: Lions see victory snatched away from them courtesy of a somewhat bogus call. Plus Stafford gets broken.

Week 2: Lions put up a good fight, but don’t quite have enough to pull out a win against the resurgent Mike Vick. Still, hopes are high considering how well Jahvid Best played.

Week 3: Lions come crashing back down to earth with Best getting hurt, and the Lions losing by double digits.

Week 4: Lions are playing on the road against an angry Green Bay team. I do not predict any good things will happen. 0-4 is looking like a strong possibility.

So, as we approach the end of the first month of the NFL season the Lions are…well pretty much right where they were last year. Maybe a bit more resilient, and possessing a bit more aptitude, but still nowhere close to being even an average football team.

It’s what makes the NFL such a frustrating sport. One unlucky hit can ruin your entire season. Any chance the Lions had this year was basically flattened along with Stafford’s shoulder.

Hopefully when Stafford gets back in November, healthy. The team will go on a nice little run that positions them well heading into the lockout next year.

Aug 252010
 

https://twitter.com/jschwartzlions/status/22098022315
Detroit Lions (@jschwartzlions)
8/25/10 11:37 AM
Just had the pleasure of meeting Joe Paquette, who walked 425 miles from Munising to AP. The loyalty of #Lions fans never ceases to amaze me

Speaking as a bitter, and highly burned, Lions fan, this is quite possibly the best bit of black comedy I’ve read in ages.

Aug 232010
 

This morning on Twitter I @ replied to a comment ESPN’s Chris Mortensen made regarding Tony Dungy, and his decision to buy a home in the Pacific Northwest (a topic that deserves its own blog post, tonight most likely). Normally when I make a mention of somebody with greater than 100,000 followers like Mort, I do not expect a comment in return. I especially don’t expect to get not one, but two direct messages and a new follower of my Twitter feed! Now granted Mort follows over 500 people, and his twitterstream is probably nearly impossible to follow because of that and all the @ mentions of him. Still, the thought of my stupid musings on crap from anime to sports hitting his feed strikes me as both hilarious and vaguely terrifying. Certainly I’m probably the only person he currently follows who’s going to be tweeting about High School of the Dead! Not that I expect this to last all that long. Still, I took a snapshot of my followers list just to always have the moment a TV personality put me on follow for a change memorialized.

Jul 262010
 

EA announced the Madden 11 soundtrack today. Two thoughts about the list.

1) It would have been weirdly awesome if they included that “Mortal Kombat” techno tune. Especially since I don’t think EA owns the game’s IP
2) The inclusion of the Detroit Lions fight song. That tune is the kitchisst thing ever written. Having it in the game almost makes me want to buy the latest iteration of Madden.