Saturday Night Football: ATL vs DET Open Thread

Submitted by Big_H on

Looked at the board and wondered why this hasn't been posted. So I thought to myself what a damn great time to make my first thread. Honestly though I have no idea about making a thread, and ths one most likely won't end well. As i'm typing this some other young Mgoblogger will beat me to the punch and hit the submit button seconds before me, but to hell with it I'm drinking ice cold beer and might have my first ever thread on the greatest blog alive. Cheers my friends!

What are the thoughts on the game so far? Down 14-3 in the 2nd quarter.

Also Megatron!? Will he pass rice?

LET IT BEGIN!

UPDATE- It's halftime and we are down by a couple scores. What would you like to see the lions counter with this next half?

Calvin Johnson is also 65 yards away from rice, does he break the record tonight?

Who do you to see the Lions take in the up coming draft?

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allintime23

December 23rd, 2012 at 8:39 AM ^

Since the lions can't run the ball like the niners did when rice was there. And since the lions never have a lead and are always going for big plays, even at the end of games, like last night. I like Calvin Johnson but comparing him to Jerry rice is like comparing Carmelo Anthony to Michael Jordan. Show me a playoff victory-rice can show you 4 rings.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 15225

OmarDontScare

December 23rd, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^

You can't be serious. Rice was twice the player that Calvin is? CJ is routinely double and triple teamed since the Lions #2 receiver was Staffords roommate at Georgia. I have a ton of respect for Jerry Rice but he was nowhere near the athlete that CJ is. Oh, and CJ doesn't have Joe Montana, John Taylor, Roger Craig, TO or a solid OLine. If you had the ability to build a WR, you would build Calvin Johnson.

Joined: 08/13/2010

MGoPoints: 1800

Perkis-Size Me

December 23rd, 2012 at 12:14 AM ^

The Lions need new ownership. Sadly, that's never going to happen. I could easily see Megatron going the way of Barry Sanders: just one more elite, once in a generation talent that quits during the prime of his career because he's tired of playing for a team that does nothing but lose.

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105637

Buck Killer

December 23rd, 2012 at 8:47 AM ^

The Lions have never had accountability and never will. Barry didn't practice, Fontes was an alcoholic, now we have a bunch of druggies. I don't know why they don't win. Lol

Joined: 08/28/2012

MGoPoints: 1360

Don

December 23rd, 2012 at 9:33 AM ^

What defines affiliation when it comes to professional sports? Do you live in Detroit yourself? I'd guess not. You root for the team simply because you grew up somewhere in Michigan and/or your Dad was a Lions fan. If you'd grown up in KC or Seattle or Tampa you'd most likely be a Chiefs or Seahawks or Bucs fan. Sports fandom is just a form of competitive tribalism—my family versus your family—and it's every bit as irrational and arbitrary. Are people only allowed to root for the professional team that's closest to where they reside?

I grew up in Grosse Pointe (but a long way from the mansion in Grosse Pointe Shores that Ford has lived in for decades) and being a Lions fan was natural at the time because my Dad was, and the Lions were one of the strongest NFL franchises in the late 50s and early 60s when I started paying attention to football. That all changed in '64 when Ford bought the franchise, and they started their slide into mediocrity and then incompetence. I was already disenchanted by the time they moved to the Silverdome in '75, and since I despise football played in a dome I fell still further away from fandom. By the mid-80s I stopped rooting for the Lions entirely, and I've seen no reason whatsoever in the subsequent 25 years to start rooting for them again.

That didn't mean I didn't have other teams to root for. Because I spent most of my summers in Colorado as a kid, I started following the Broncos, since I would follow their training camp and exhibition exploits in the Denver Post. I rooted for them long before they were Super Bowl contenders with Elway. I became a Pats fan because my Dad lived in the Boston area for over a decade and Brady had joined the team. I now root for the Bears because I love Chicago and love the fact they still play outside on grass in a venerable old structure that's now an architectural oddity (or atrocity, depending on your view). I'm not going to be a fan of a franchise that has been so atrociously run for 50 years of my life. That would be a masochistic endorsement of incompetence.

It's unfortunate for Detroit fans that it was Ford who bought the Lions, instead of Ralph Wilson, who's been the owner of the Bills since the AFL was founded in 1960. The Bills were AFL champions in '64 and '65, and went to 4 Super Bowls in a row in the late 80s and early 90s. Ironically enough, Wilson has also maintained a permanent residence in GP Shores for decades.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148329

SalvatoreQuattro

December 23rd, 2012 at 4:16 PM ^

You live in the area. That is where you went to school, where you grew up, and often, where you work and met your spouse. The emotional connections are often deep and profound.

In relation to a sports team, the emotional connection comes with years spent cheering for the team alongside a loved one--most often a father. The fandom is an inheritance of sorts that passes from one generation to the next.

We all are tribal in some form or another. Whether it is political ideology, religion, or  a sports team, we humans willing lump ourselves into a group.  

 

I'm a Lions fan. I'll still cheer the team no matter what happens because I love football and they are the team that I have grown up watching. No team can give me the fond memories of watching Barry run or Spielman tackling because no team can give me the memories of watching these games with my dad or the years I emotionally invested in the team.

 

It's easy to cheer for another team besides the local losers. Any person can do that. But the loyal person, no matter how irrational they seem to be, is always  a more virtuous than the person who  forsakes that team to cheer teams who win all the time.

 

Joined: 11/30/2010

MGoPoints: 78698

Zoltanrules

December 23rd, 2012 at 9:01 PM ^

I saw on ESPN that the Lions' SOS is the highest in the league. Not only do they play in a tough division but it seems like they get the best of the rest Pats, Texans, 49ers, et al. Will there be any adjustment next year? How does NFL scheduling work?

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21116

WMUgoblue

December 23rd, 2012 at 10:33 PM ^

You play an entire AFC and non NFC North division every year. This year we got the AFC South and the NFC West and then they have 6 games within the division so that's 14 games right there, and I believe the last 2 teams you play are derived from similar records from the previous year, hence Atlanta (10-6 last year) and Philadelphia (8-8). 

If the rotation continues as it does the Lions will face the AFC North next year along with the NFC East, so it's not going to much easier next year. My biggest beef with the Lions schedule is why on earth do they get the best team in the league every Thanksgiving? Can't we get an average team for once on Turkey Day? PLEASE!?!?!?

Joined: 12/06/2009

MGoPoints: 12422

User -not THAT user

December 24th, 2012 at 11:14 AM ^

Try watching that game as a Falcons fan...or in fact ANY Falcons game this year as a Falcons fan...and wait for the commentary team to say something complimentary or positive about the season the team is having.  If it is possible for a team that has secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs to fly under the radar to the point where they can play the Bill Simmons' "Nobody believed in us" motivational card, the 2012 Falcons are the team to do it.

Congrats to Megatron, though...the record may be a bigger accomplishment than being named All-American at Tech with Reggie Ball as his QB, but I'm not sure it's more impressive.

Joined: 06/05/2012

MGoPoints: 2422