11.4.2024 – irrelevant? how

irrelevant? how
bad does it have to be to
be irrelevant?

I like to start my Sunday newspapers reading two sports columns in the online USA Today.

One is a column that tracks the winners and losers, those college football teams that came out as winners the previous Saturday and those college football teams that came out as losers.

My team lost and lost big to the Number One team in the nation.

Oddly though neither team made this column.

My team lost, was expected to lose and I guess as such, was not listed among the losers.

The other team, just be a loser of a team, and I guess as such, was not listed among the winners.

The other column is the College Football Misery Index.

This column tracks which college football team’s fans feel the worse.

Your team can win and you still feel lousey like last week, Ohio State beat Nebraska, but no one felt that good about it.

This week the five top teams whose fans are in Misery, all lost.

The next group of fans are listed as being Miserable but not miserable enough.

Georgia won their game but with their QB throwing 3 INT’s, their fans still feel not so great.

But here is the point.

My team didn’t make either list.

They are so awful, that there no longer even figure in the conversation of teams whose fan’s feel awful.

My team had a very good year last year.

I should be able to manage a bad year this year.

But who planned on being … irrelevant.

My team has been here before.

We hired this feller known as the Morgantown Miracle Worker as head coach and he was reverse Amish.

He did less with more than almost any coach known in the history of the game.

My team didn’t lose often, at least until Rich Rod came along.

He even lost to the University of Toledo.

Lost to Toledo and then an odd thing happened.

Toledo had a bad season, beat my team but had a bad season.

Almost any other time in history, any team from the state of Ohio that beat my team was a reason to give the coach a better contract.

This year though was different.

Beating my team didn’t matter and that Toledo coach got fired.

My team was irrelevant to the conversation that season..

Much like my team was this past weekend.

Winner?

Loser?

In Misery?

In the wrap up conversation about the weekend of football, my team had again become, irrelevant.

Are we back in those bad old days so soon?

Oh well, there was always last year.

10.14.2024 – The Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions
made a statement to the league …
NFL’s best team

My Monday morning started as my fall Monday mornings have started for the last 40 years.

I get my coffee and review the weekend’s pro football games.

With online news, I can flip through the New York Times Athletic, The Guardian, USA Today Sports, The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit news.

This morning I read sentences made up of words I never thought I would ever see in anyone’s lifetime, let alone my life.

I read …

The Lions arrived in Dallas looking for a win — their first in three tries under Dan Campbell. They’ll leave with not only that, but a statement win. This was an all-out dismantling of the Cowboys. The offense never punted and put up 47 points. The defense forced five turnovers and held the Cowboys to three field goals. You could make a strong argument this is the most complete win of the Campbell era.

Defensively, Detroit suffocated the Cowboys (3-3) offense.

The manner of the defeat on Sunday is more impactful than the loss itself. Detroit bullied the Cowboys, on offense and defense.

Losing is one thing. Being humiliated at home – again – in a season that the Cowboys entered with championship expectations is something bleaker.

A run defense that has struggled all season had no shot against the best offensive line in the NFL.

Sunday’s 47-9 drubbing at the hands of the Lions may have felt more like watching The Substance than Love Is Blind, but seeing the Cowboys being beaten on their own home turf remains must-watch TV.

In the nearly 30 years since the Cowboys last won the Super Bowl, there have been plenty of lows. Sunday’s defeat, though, felt like a nadir. It was the team’s worst loss since 2010 – and the worst at home since before the days of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith.

The Cowboys have lost three straight since, all in embarrassing fashion. They were routed 44-19 by the Saints in Week 2, fell 28-25 to the Ravens in Week 4 in a game that was never really close, and on Sunday were dismantled by the Lions 47-9, the franchise’s worst loss since 2010 and worst at home going all the way back to 1988.

Detroit spent the remainder of the game playing with their food, trying, in vain, to draw up a touchdown for one of their offensive linemen. It almost felt like bullying.

The best division in football — which was the AFC North not all that long ago — is now unquestionably the NFC North. For the first time since the 2002 realignment, all four teams in a single division have at least four wins six weeks into the season. The Bears and Packers are 4-2, and the Lions are 4-1, trailing the 5-0 Vikings, who were on a bye.

The Lions made a statement to the league that they should be viewed as the NFL’s best team

I decided I had to be dreaming and I went back to bed.

If I was dreaming, I really didn’t want to wake up.

PS: Terrible news about the injury Hutchinson but I was intrigued that Dallas QB Dak Prescott said that he tried to talk to Hutchinson as he was taken off the field but Prescott was pretty sure that Hutchinson wouldn’t remember. Prescott said that he planned to talk to the Michigan guys who played for Dallas so he could get Hutchinson’s phone number. I was struck that Prescott was aware Hutch played at Michigan. I was struck that Prescott knew who on his team, had played at Michigan. And I was struck that Prescott sounded pretty confident that those guys had each others phone numbers and kept in touch. For some reason, a window on the pro game I hadn’t thought about.

10.13.2024 – problems often come

problems often come
being young rich immature
unaccountable

When college athletes started making money — and often more money than a lot of fans will make in their entire lives — there were concerns about how 18- and 19-year olds would handle the entitlement that often comes with being young and rich but immature and unaccountable. It’s a valid issue, even if you believe in American capitalism. Money solves a lot of problems, but it presents a few as well.

From the article, Another tough loss with Lincoln Riley has USC leading college football’s Week 7 Misery Index by Dan Wolken in USAToday.

On the one hand, this statement calls for a ‘Gee Whiz – pay those college kids! What could go wrong?’

When States started setting aside lands that would be sold to provide funding to build state colleges, the brains behind the plans decided they needed something to make a splash and give folks a reason to WANT to got to these colleges and they hit on football.

A good team, a winning record kept the school in the papers in a good way and gave students reasons to buy T shirts.

All strictly amateur of course but what could stop alumni from offering summer jobs or a little spending cash and well you all know the stories.

In an effort to stay competitive, scholarships were given to the best players.

Come play for us and go to school for free.

There was a time that the University of Michigan Athletic Department would say that they were the single largest tuition check writer the University ever had.

This wasn’t enough and now these student athletes are being compensated for their Name, Image and Likeness and offered often more money than a lot of fans will make in their entire lives.

Again, what could go wrong?

This was broken.

This needed to be fixed.

But you always hope the cure is better than the cold so we will have to wait and see how 18- and 19-year olds would handle the entitlement that often comes with being young and rich but immature and unaccountable.

On the other hand, isn’t every other sport, and maybe every other career path, including politics, filled with stories of young stars with money beyond their years and unaccountable?

Money solves a lot of problems, but it presents a few as well.

I agree.

Always good to remember what Paul the Apostle wrote to his friend Timothy saying, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Remember its not the money but the love of money and the coveting of money where the problems come in.

Pretty sanctimonious for a Sunday morning, but there you are.

10.2.2024 – can’t change that, I mean …

can’t change that, I mean …
even if I wanted to
it is what it is

The Detroit Lions played the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night.

The Detroit Lions had a 15 point lead with just over 2 minutes to go in the game.

The Detroit Lions had a 15 point lead with just over 2 minutes to go in the game but the other team had the ball and if there was a Lions fan who hadn’t worked how the Lions were going to give up a quick score, a 2 point conversion, an onside kick, another quick score and another 2 point conversion and lose the game, that person is not a real Lions fan.

Lets be clear.

I am not in any way trying to disparage the Lions.

I am telling you how, after 60 years of following the Lions, Lions fans could feel what was going to happen.

And …

And it didn’t.

Throughout the game, an area of concern was the amount of penalties, 12 by the whole team, 7 on cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Terrion Arnold.

With that in mind, I really enjoyed Mr. Davis III’s explanation of what was going on during the game.

According to the article in the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Lions CB Carlton Davis III: ‘I felt as if (refs) were just on the Seahawks side’ by Dave Birkett, Mr. Davis III said:

“I lost my cool, I did. But it was rightfully so cause not about to — I just can’t control it. It’s an emotional game, and the stakes are high. They’re driving down the field and these PI’s are keeping them in the game. It’s extending these drives. So that’s where the passion is coming from. Like, come on man, let us play ball and if they can’t get open then it is what it is, you know what I mean?”

“I don’t want to get fined because they are sensitive about this, but honestly bro, I can’t say what I want to say, but honestly it’s just like I felt as if they were just on the Seahawks’ side today. I don’t know what I did. Maybe I should take them to dinner or something, I don’t know. Follow them on Instagram, I don’t know. But today was not my day. They were just calling PIs that’s like not even, I’m not even grabbing. It’s not even like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It was just like touch-touch, bang-bang stuff, which is football, which is battling. And D.K. is a physical receiver, so that’s going to happen when you get a physical (corner) and a physical receiver, you got to let us play ball.”

“I mean that’s just who I am, bro, I can’t change that (expletive). I mean, even if I wanted to, but what the (expletive)? I’m not about to do that. I’m about to play my game, about to keep playing and it is what it is.”

Is this not fabulous?

I remember back in high school, my sister Lisa had to read the book, “The Caine Mutiny”.

I asked her if she liked it and she said she had some concerns.

She said there was this part where the sailors described what they did aboard a minesweeper and Lisa said she didn’t understand a word of what they said.

She said she read the passage over and over trying understand it all and finally gave up and moved on.

The next sentence in the book was about how one officer looked and another and said, “I didn’t understand a word of what they said.”

Lisa said she felt much better after that.

I can read the words of this interview.

And I understand that the reporter had a voice recorder running and that Mr. Davis III was answering questions just minutes after performing in a very high pressure environment.

But I am not sure I understand what he is saying … but there is that one word there.

Passion.

Again, is this not fabulous?

So that’s where the passion is coming from.

I’m about to play my game.

I’m about to keep playing.

It is what it is.

Go Lions!

Just for fun, click here for another video of a Carlton Davis III interview.

9.9.2024 – the Lions simply

the Lions simply
refuse to fold – the Lions …
they simply refuse

From the article, What we learned in NFL Week 1: in the New York Times.

Under the heading, Detroit still as gritty as ever.

The Lions backed up their wild-card victory over the Rams back in January with a 26-20 overtime win Sunday night. This was a terrific opener between two teams that figure to be players in the NFC playoff race later this season and another reminder of what makes Dan Campbell’s team so tough to play: The Lions simply refuse to fold.

I have been following the Detroit Lions as long as I can remember.

And as long as I can remember no one – NO ONE – has ever used the words The Lions simply refuse to fold in a story about their game day performance.

This is the team that snatched defeat from the the jaws of victory more times than I can count.

This is the team that produced a high light film of GREAT FIRST DOWNS in LIONS HISTORY … and there weren’t many of them.

Forgive me, but I got to repeat it one more time.

The Lions simply refuse to fold.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE …

No one I know would have enjoyed that win more and few people have waited longer to hear the words The Lions simply refuse to fold than my friend since kindergarten, Richard Derby.

Richard left us earlier this year and there aren’t a lot of people who have known me in this life longer than he did.

He was in my kindergarten class at Crestview Elementary in Grand Rapids, Michigan and he sat next to me in the very last class I took at Grand Rapids Junior College before I left town.

It’s a bit silly, I know, to worry about sports teams but I feel pretty good that I know Richard’s view on the things that really count so I am comfortable to say that Richard would have enjoyed the game last night.

He would have enjoyed it a lot and felt bad for Matt Stafford at the same time.

I just want to say that when David Montgomery went into the end zone to win the game, I thought of my friend Richard.

Haven’t talked to you in years but miss knowing you were around buddy.

As the feller said of George Gershwin when he died, “I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.”