Up until the Seattle Seahawks-Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl debacle, I was a devout follower of the NFL. I love(d) football and even though the local Lions stunk to high heaven, it was alright because I really, really dig (dug) the Patriots. Now as a fan this naturally means I've seen all manner of crappy calls and officiating in my day (which instant replay was originally intended to fix, not encourage) but who in their right minds could watch that watershed Super Bowl which Seattle handily won on the field and not be as disgusted as Paul Holmgren when their hard earned championship was hijacked by the officials that day and gifted to Pittsburgh? It was a travesty and a mockery. Otto Graham rolled in his grave. I was so angry (and I really don't care one way or the other about the Seahawks), I never watched football again. After all, if I wanted to watch a scripted competition, I'd watch the stupid WWE (or whatever it's called these days)!
That was then. Version 1.0 which should have been enough. But nope, I'm an idiot it seems. Last year I tried playing fantasy football on Yahoo. Before you know it, I was watching the sport again. Sure, there were still some bad shenanigans but not enough to make me enraged enough to quit watching. Until now.
Let's face it, people in the Detroit area have suffered a great deal lo these many decades. The Fords are lousy football owners and Detroit hasn't seen a championship since Eisenhower was in office (that's 50 odd years for you youngsters out there). Oh we've come close once or twice but the hard luck Lions could never close the deal. Lately though, it's been downright impossible to be a devoted Lions fan. They have been terrible and talentless. Fans show up to games with paper bags over their heads so no one sees their true identity. I gave up entirely on them, which sucked. I am a Lions fan after all (though they are 2nd to my Patriots) and all I could do was cringe with the rest of America at the joke the team had become. Until now.
Today, the Lions boast a solid young core of real talent with a lot of promise. Yesterday was their coming out party in enemy territory. After Chicago posted an early field goal, the Lions roared back and despite some late 2nd quarter heroics from Chicago, Detroit went into the half up 14-13 and down their starting quarterback. Ugh! Like every Detroit fan out there, I could only hold my breath. We know that bad news follows the lions like stink on Pepe LePew and it was only a matter of time before the Lions would screw up and lose the game. Sure enough, the Lions let Matt Forte scamper 28 yards for a touchdown with 1:32 left in the game. That was it. Done. They found a way to lose yet again. Ugh! But wait! The guys on the radio got excited. Shaun Hill to Calvin Johnson. Touchdown!!! The loudly cheering crowd suddenly was silent. An official raised his hands in the air. The NFL game center online declared the Lions were ahead 20-19. Holy shit! The Lions not only won their first road game since '07, they had won their first season opener since Moses was a baby! Yes! Maybe the Lions are on the road to recovery!
Then the challenge came from the booth. Who was in the booth, I'll never know. Was it a Chicago fan? Was it another case of bad NFL scripting? You ask these things when bullshit lands square on your face. I had to see the play for myself. I watched it several times getting angrier and angrier about it with each viewing. Clearly the ball was caught. Clearly the receiver had control all the way down. He still clearly had it when he landed on his ass in the end zone. Receiver down. Touchdown. At least that's what a touchdown has been since I was a kid. Immediately after hitting the ground, Johnson, excited, got up off the ground to celebrate with his teammates and this caused the booth review. Huh?!? How can you review a clear touchdown? Yet they did and the Lions got hosed while all their fans got raped.
So I give up (again) on the sad, pathetic NFL. Maybe next week the league will hand Detroit a victory over Phillie to make it up to the Lions but who cares if they do? The damage is done. There is no war room like they have in the NHL to prevent this sort of crap from occurring and so it's going to keep happening over and over and over again. Who knows? Next time it might be your team that gets it. But Americans have shown that they don't really care about these huge flaws. They already call it the No Fun League and continue to watch this watered down, inferior football product. You can't even tackle the quarterback anymore! Not this honky though. I'm done. I've had a good run though. I watched Brian Sipe and the Cardiac Kids. I saw The Drive. I was there for the Barry Sanders years and Super Bowl Shuffled. I called the Lions rout of the Steelers on Thanksgiving Day back in '83. Those days are gone for good as this "new" NFL pisses all over my childhood memories and desecrates the teams I once cherished with their stupid mismanagement of the game.
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