After years of futility, it’s time to let another team play on Turkey Day.
Article By: Alex Mellion
Turkey, stuffing, yams, pie, family; those are just some of the many traditions that come along with the Thanksgiving holiday every year. I, along with pretty much everyone else, look forward to Thanksgiving every year because it is a relaxing holiday that allows me to reflect upon my many blessings.
Unfortunately this year, I was forced to watch another tradition that has been taking place for quite a while, one that needs to be stopped as soon as possible. The “tradition” that I am referring to is being stuck watching the Detroit Lions play what they refer to as “football” year after year.
Being exposed to the Detroit Lions every Thanksgiving is like watching a car wreck: you don’t want to look at all the damage they’re doing, but you do anyway strictly out of morbid curiosity. This is a team that once lost 19 regular season games in a row, (in comparison, the New England Patriots once won 21 games in a row, while also winning 18 games in a row in a single regular season). The Lions are 3-32 over their last 35 regular season games, and have now lost six straight Thanksgiving Day games.
In their long and putrid history, the Lions have won their division only three times (most recently in 1993), won four NFL championships (the most recent one coming in 1957) and have made the playoffs a total of 14 times in their 75 years of existence; in contrast, the Dallas Cowboys, one of the most storied NFL franchises, have made the playoffs 29 times in their 49 years of existence, and the New England Patriots have reached the playoffs 16 times in their 38 years of existence.
It’s time for Commissioner Roger Goodell to stop letting the Detroit Lions play on Thanksgiving. They’re a more dysfunctional group of individuals than your crazy extended family who you only see on the holidays. Goodell should let a good team like the Colts or the Patriots have an annual Thanksgiving Day game, I mean come on, they are the “Patriots” right?
And if the Lions continue to get the opportunity to play on Thanksgiving Day every year, at least people around the world can take solace in the fact that if the tryptophan in the turkey doesn’t make you sleepy enough to take a nap after dinner, then watching the Detroit Lions sure will.
