OT-ish: If the Lions and the Patriots meet in the Super Bowl
(ignore if you aren't a Lions fan)
If the Lions meet Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super bowl, who would you root for? Keep in mind that winning a fourth Super Bowl would allow Brady to cement his legacy as arguably the Greatest. QB. Ever. Period. Brady is a true Michigan Man and reps his alma mater as well as anyone in the league. On the other hand, if you were born and raised in the State of Michigan, chances are you rooted for the Lions growing up, watched Barry Sanders rewrite the record books without ever getting a shot at a ring, and suffered through the Millen years. A Lions Super Bowl victory might be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
Personally, I would root for Brady to get his fourth ring. Brady was our starting QB for two of my five undergraduate years at Michigan, and though I've been going to Michigan games since I was a kid, my most vivid memories of the Big House are from when he was the QB. I'm nominally a Lions fan and I enjoy watching pro football, but I find it hard to get too excited about any particular team (particularly since until now, rooting for the Lions to do well was like rooting for a lifelong alcoholic to suddenly sober up). I mainly just root for Michigan players to do well.
Thoughts?
EDIT: More context - I live in the SF Bay Area and most of my friends are annoying, smug 49er fans who think Joe Montana is the best thing that ever happened to football and that it's ridiculous to think Tom Brady is even in the same category as him. They point to the fact that Joe Montana never lost a Super Bowl and that he has 4 rings whereas Brady has 3.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
I bleed maize and blue (sub in whatever cliche you like best), but I pick the Lions. Not even close. Not even in the ballpark of close.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:21 PM ^
I'll take a seat on the fence. I don't think I could be mad either way. As a Lions fan I'd be happy just to see them in the playoffs and thrilled if they got in the superbowl. At that point I don't think I can be mad if either team won. I would probably sit back and wait to celebrate my favorite team or my favorite player winning it all.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:22 PM ^
No disrespect to Tom, but fuck him. Lions have sucked for way to long to worry about brady's legacy. I'm pretty sure his legacy is in pretty good shape.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:29 AM ^
Word of advice for life, work, and marriage: just because you said, "no disrespect," doesn't mean whatever you say afterwards is respectful.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:59 AM ^
I don't think he's under any illusion that by saying no disrespect, that it somehow in-turn makes what he's saying respectful.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
Love Tom Brady....But this is a no brainer. If the Lions won the super bowl the city of Detroit would be ashes.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:00 AM ^
Why would we burn Detroit to the ground if the Lions won the Super Bowl!?
October 4th, 2011 at 12:12 AM ^
The city would spontaneously combust. Until lately, that has seemed far more plausible than the Lions winning a Super Bowl.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:58 AM ^
You forget yourself sir. There is a large subsection of the Lions fanbase that also bleeds green and white.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:34 AM ^
OH MY GOD
I BETTER QUIT MY JOB IN CASE THERE'S SOME SECRET SPARTY FANS THERE
CAN'T BE ASSOCIATED WITH THEM IN FACET OF MY LIFE
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
You direct the question to only Lions fans, and then tell us you'd pull for the Pats? For that one night, I'd hope that Suh decapitates Brady.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:11 AM ^
But it's not for me.
I'd root for Michigan guys in the NFL, to the extent I bothered to watch the NFL. Well, there's Braylon, but he's the exception that proves the rule...
Brady:
Stafford:
October 4th, 2011 at 1:40 AM ^
You are such a tool.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^
Not just that; do you think that Detroit Lions fandom is some sort of prerequisite? A requirement for any native Michigan resident?
Do you suppose that just maybe there are Michigan students and alumni who hail from New England and are Patriot loyalists?
I didn't say I hated the Lions; I simply said I didn't care about the franchise, or the league, very much. I even said that I was not surprised by local-fan loyalty, which is of course perfectly okay by me. (Nobody needs my permission to be a Lions' fan!)
This isn't 97.1, or the local paper, all obsessional and cheerleader-y for the Detroit teams. This is a Michigan blog.
I'm presuming that NFL football is technically an OT subject to begin with, during college football season, although I'm not the Topic Police.
And for all of that, I'm the tool?
October 4th, 2011 at 2:35 AM ^
Fun fact: The NFL is not, in fact, college football
October 4th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
The NFL is not college football.
I don't have any connection with the Detroit Lions, Inc., any more than I have a connection with the New York football Giants or the San Francisco baseball Giants. Other than the pure accident of where the Lions are located and where I live and work. I didn't attend any school associated with the Lions; I don't donate to the Lions, I am not one of their alumni, and the team is composed of a bunch of guys, some of whom I actively rooted against in college. I can't even buy stock in the Detroit Lions, Inc., if I wanted to. It's a privately-held corporation.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
This is exactly why I can't get excited about any pro team the way I do about my alma mater.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^
which begs the all important question: why do you even watch the league? They play football on Saturday, it's ok that it's enough for you.
Some of us, incidentally, feel just as connected to our hometowns as we do to our alma maters. And, frankly, I feel like your attitude is the reason we have to have the horrible "IS IT OK TO BE A NON-ALUM FAN" arguments every offseason... you might not be saying it's not ok, but it can be easily inferred.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^
When it is nice, I'd rather play golf than watch pro football. I'd rather watch golf than watch pro football. And when it is not nice weather, there are lots of things to do besides watch pro football.
Going to as many Michigan games as I do -- 7 or 8 or more a year -- I just don't have much time to sit and watch pro football. Fall is a busy time. There's lots to do. I alrady watch a ton of football, between Michigan and Michigan's college rivals and other college teams that really do interest me.
It certainly doesn't bother me that other people like pro football; it's a free country. You didn't see me complaining about anybody else's fandom. It seems like people are questioning my sensibilities, for somehow being an inadequate rooter for the Detroit Lions. Tell me what that's all about?
By the way, I am okay with non-alumni fans of Michigan football. They pay a lot of bills for us. I am confident that David Brandon wants us to make them feel welcome at the Big House, and I would agree with that. Hell, I'd even try to make [most] visiting fans feel welcome at the Big House. Make them feel that Michigan Stadium is the not just the biggest, but also the classiest venue in all of college football.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:15 PM ^
if you're not watching the games, then why do you care who wins or loses at all? what are rooting for or against?
October 4th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
I really don't care. That might be the hard part for you to understand. If the Lions win, that's fine. If the Lions lose, I'll be thinking about how I played on the front nine that Sunday afternoon. I don't concern myself with who is on the team, or how they are doing.
As for how Tom Brady, Jay Feely, Jason Avant, Charles Woodson and too many more to name are doing in the NFL; I think it that is a modestly interesting diversion. It's mildly fun to see how they do, after having watched virtually all of the collegiate games. I'm really not "rooting" for or against anything.
You might want to ask about the guy above who hoped that Ndamukong Suh, from Nebraska, might someday decapitate our own Tom Brady. Obviously, it is a Lions-loyalty-against-the-world sort of thing. Okay, I guess. It's just not me. I'm just not devoted to the Lions that way. I might be on a Lions blog (there must be a Lions blog) if I had that kind of fanaticism.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:14 PM ^
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
He very well could be my favorite player in the NFL. But dammit, I would cheer for the lions without question. We've never made it to a Super Bowl, let alone won one. It would be huge for the franchise and even bigger for the Detroit. That being said, if anyone else plays the Pats in the Super Bowl, Brady has my full support.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
This thread is getting WAY ahead of ourselves.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
the lions winning a sb would be amazing in more ways than we can count. I also root for Brady but this is not even close.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
All the way. T. Brady can win the following Super Bowl for all I care. I just want the Lions to win one in my lifetime.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
I couldn't be upset with either outcome (I always cheer for UM alumni, especially Brady and Woodson when the Lions aren't involved), but I'd definitely want the Lions to win. Brady doesn't need another ring to go down as a top 5 QB of all-time. A Lions Superbowl win would simultaneously reinvigorate and destroy Detroit all at once, lol!
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
I'll entertain the debate when the Pats' defense looks a little more like a Super Bowl caliber defense than it has in the first few games...
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
THE LIONS!!! Brady's got his. He's already in the Hall of Fame. He already has the best hair and one of the hottest wives in the world.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:39 AM ^
Had* the best hair. Giselle got tired of it and had him chop it off
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
If the Lions got to the Super Bowl, I would turn around to look for the pigs flying out of my ass
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:34 PM ^
i root for the lions, except when they play the pats
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:34 PM ^
the answer is simple: you root for the team- Detroit Football Lions.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^
Then Hell has frozen over and the Horsemen have ridden forth to summon Armageddon. If that happens, a football game will be a fairly small item.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:04 AM ^
I'm a Michigan fan far more than anything else, but this isn't even close. The Lions getting their first ever Super Bowl victory? I don't know that I'd be more excited for anything.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:41 PM ^
Lions, not even any hesitation. Brady has 3 already, and Boston has had a ridiculous run of good luck with pro sports championships. Detroit has always been a Lions town, and we all know about the city and the team.
A Lions super bowl victory would mean so much to this city, and this franchise, to put it in words would only cheapen it.
A Patriots super bowl would be, "Meh, this is what we're supposed to do," for them.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:45 PM ^
Not even close. I'm a Michigan fan. And I hate the "what this would do for the city" arguments. It didn't make me root for the Saints at all. Nor would it cause me to root for Detroit.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:50 PM ^
Fuck Boston. That's a good rule in general.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:01 AM ^
it aint happening.
Be happy with a potential playoff berth.
This is coming from someone who witnessed the last 4-0 Lions start. (it didn't end in a playoff berth.).
October 4th, 2011 at 12:07 AM ^
Brady has made millions, played for the greatest school, won three SB's, married a supermodel and is a GQ icon who can wear womans footwear. You want me to grant him more good fortune at my expense of watching the Lions toil. My father was the age of my son the last time the Lions won a championship.
The last three years of UM football were brutal. It pales in comparison to the last 50+ years of Lions ball.
I take the Lions and never look back. Besides if Brady got another one this year it would reward Ocho Poko and Justin Boren's idol in work ethic aka Albert Haynesworth.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:04 AM ^
There was a baseball game going on while the OP posted this.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:15 AM ^
And people NEVER, EVER post on message boards during baseball games.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:04 AM ^
Somewhere, Jeff Backus is reading this thread and crying a single, lonely tear.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:05 AM ^
It's week 5 ...STFU.....
October 4th, 2011 at 12:05 AM ^
I would like to see a replay of the preseason game and have Tom sitting on the ground like a kid throwing a tamtrum. This time having the game watched by 200 million world wide(or some crap like that)
October 4th, 2011 at 12:07 AM ^
Whoever has the most Michigan players
October 4th, 2011 at 12:42 AM ^
My thinking exactly (well, that or the most prominent Michigan players).
October 4th, 2011 at 2:44 AM ^
what the fuck is wrong with you people
if you're only really a Michigan fan than cool, whatever. but what is with following other leagues/sports/whatever and keeping this Michigan obsession? So you cheer for the Pats because of Brady, but if they face the Steelers you do what? OH NOES, SAME AMOUNT OF MICHIGAN ALUMS! Does this carry over into other things you enjoy? Does your music collection consist entirely of Iggy Pop and Madonna? Do you only watch Lawrence Kasdan films?
October 4th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
Nothing is wrong with those people. Who are you to tell them whom to root for? And why would they listen to your arguments, when you keep insulting them?
Besides, I think you are misunderstanding most peoples' position here. The presence of U-M guys on a team gives us a reason to root for that team, in a game in which we otherwise have no vested interest. If you're not a fan of the NFL but have to watch a game for whatever reason, why not root for the team with guys from your alma mater?