win one, one win won
thousand mile journey begins
with a single step
The Detroit Lions have won one game.
According to multiple online sources, which perhaps is the greatest cite-able non-attribution attribution since “everyone is saying it down at the club” that it was the Chinese Philosopher, Lao Tzu, who said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.“
Maybe this is that single step.
It was the other Tzu, Sun, no relation that I can find, who said, or at least who Gordon Gecko said he said, “Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.“
I have the feeling that before the game starts, EVERY team in the National Football League thinks that when they play the Detroit Lions, they will win.
I also have the feeling that before the game starts, the Detroit Lions think that when they play any other team in the National Football League, they will not win.
Did you see what a did there?
I did not use the L word.
The L word being lose.
As in loser.
The Detroit Lions are not losers.
Until yesterday, they were winless.
The Detroit Lions were the first team in NFL history to … go winless for an entire season.
They DID not lose every game.
They just DID NOT win any game.
The National Football League has long be recognized as one the world’s greatest examples of psychological marketing.
It was the first NFL Commissioner, Bert Bell, who gave fans reason to watch any game with his statement, “On any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team.“
Bert Bell was succeed as NFL Commissioner by Pete Rozelle.
What was Mr. Rozelle?
Mr. Rozelle was a PR specialist for the Los Angeles Rams.
Mr. Rozelle was so good at PR that he convinced the world his name was PETE and not his given name of Alvin Ray.
I put it to you that Alvin or Al or even A. Ray Rozelle would never have made a go of it.
Anyway, Pete embraced that phrase, On any given Sunday, and pounded it into the county’s collective consciousness as he turned football into ‘America’s Game.’
Any team can beat any other team!
But can any team really win any game?
Statistically speaking, on any given Sunday, half the teams win.
And half the teams do not win.
Really, you can look it up.
Okay, there are ties.
But for every team that wins, there has to be a team that does not win so that has to be 50-50.
Right?
Have to love statistics.
I loved go to a meeting and report that statistics showed that a heavy internet user was also a heavy TV watcher.
I would wait until everyone was nodding their heads that, yes, that made sense.
Then I would add, that’s because you don’t lose weight using the internet.
WHOOSH.
You could hear it go right over their heads.
I had so much fun in meetings.
I was so much fun to have in meetings!
ANYWAY ….
There are 32 teams.
14 of those teams, just less than half, will make the playoffs.
And the way it is supposed to work, the half of the teams that do not make the playoffs get first dibs on getting the better players coming into the NFL from the college game.
A team would almost have to TRY to not win to not win games in the NFL.
Again, notice that I am not using the L word.
Somehow, someway, in their corporate history as a Professional Football Club, the Detroit Lions have managed to not win more games than they have won or not lost.
The Lions are 1 of 4 teams to NEVER have played in the Super Bowl, let alone not won one.
(Just for the record of the other three, the Browns are right there with the Lions while the Jaguars and Texans are relatively new teams.)
Not even played in the BIG GAME.
Tell me all about the Chicago Cubs, but they HAVE BEEN IN 11 World Series even if took 100 years to not lose one.
I guess I have to throw the City of Atlanta into the discussion.
With Atlanta’s representation in the four major leagues for Baseball, Football, Hockey and Basketball, the city has 2 championships of any kind.
That is including the latest World Series win.
Atlanta also has the honor of the GREATEST SUPER BOWL choke in history when after leading 28-3, they managed to not win the game.
But they MADE it the game.
The city of Detroit (Counting four – YES 4 – NFL titles before the Super Bowl Era) has 22 Pro Championships and ranks #5 on the list of Cities by Chamipionships.
11 of those are Red Wings Stanley Cups.
Does it matter?
I consider myself a Detroit Lions fan, win or not win.
It took me a long time to realize that Pro Football was entertainment.
Each game can be taken as a movie that is watched for its entertainment value.
Maybe you don’t like how the movie ends, but it, well, held your interest.
As Michael MacCambridge writes in history of the NFL, America’s Game. “What those who were contemptuous of sports misunderstood was not merely that a middle-class sports fan might revere football to the same degree that an inveterate theatergoer revered Shakespeare, but that he might do so for many of the same reasons.“
On the other hand, Amanda Lane, in the article, So Your Baseball Team Has Never Been to the World Series:
Ask yourself, if the Mariners win the World Series [or if the Lions win a Super Bowl], what will my life have that it doesn’t have now? You’ll probably answer something like a championship t-shirt, the pride and satisfaction of knowing your team is a winner, and the feeling that staying loyal to the team for all these years was worth it in the end.
A championship t-shirt is something you purchase to wear on airplanes and when you travel to other cities. In doing so, you are seeking the acknowledgement from other that you support a winning team. By extension, you feel that this means you too are a winner.
You feel that this means you too are a winner.
If you are a Lions fan though, Ms. Lane has this advice (which I paraphrased).
Seek personal satisfaction in pursuits outside of Detroit Lions fandom
No Haiku For You 