TSDMike | May 4, 2009
In a league built so that different franchises have a legitimate chance to prosper every year, it is entirely perplexing that the Lions have not been able to improve, if nothing more than as a result of the system and not of their own accord. Very few franchises in all of professional sports have displayed the ineptitude and inability to achieve success as the Detroit Lions have.
TSDMike | April 30, 2009
Yesterday a reader, ‘Dick Butkiss’, wrote in a comment:
“One thing that not many people discuss is exactly what the Lions measurement of success is. To the fans, it’s winning, and failing that, at least provide an exciting product (as in the Barry Sander’s days). To the ownership, it’s got to be the bottom line. They are making money, so maybe to them, they are a successful franchise.”
I think the Detroit Lions are one of only a very select few NFL franchises whose on field performance and win-loss record has very little effect on the bottom line. Other than the Cleveland Browns, The Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets, I don’t think there are many teams whose fans are content to support a perpetual loser. This is a byproduct of the NFL business model.
TSDMike | April 27, 2009
I’ve been a pretty loyal fan of the Detroit Lions for about the past 18 years or so. I grew up watching them achieve mediocrity year after year, with the exception of 1991 – when they were clearly the second best team in the NFL behind the Washington Redskins. I’ve seen them squander the amazing opportunities that having Barry Sanders in the backfield afforded them until he got fed up and retired. I don’t know that any team in professional sports has failed to capitalize on such a commodity as the Lions did by their inability to build a team around the greatest running back to ever play the game.
Since Sanders’ retirement, we’ve watched the Lions go from an average performing franchise to the absolute worst decade of futility in the history of the league, or any other league for that matter.
And yet I’ve had faith. I’ve had faith that the organization would be able to build a winner through the draft and through free agency over the years. But now I am done.
