Rah Team Rah

As college football season starts, I'm pondering a human behavior that I don't quite understand. I'm wondering why you root for a school a) you didn't go to and b) whose town you don't live in.

Those seem to me to be the two main criteria for rooting for a college. It's not like a pro team - how many of us will ever play for the Lions? - because you probably paid your tuition at a certain school and maybe you went to the football games there to cheer for your alma mater and sing your fight song.

I do understand living in a college town and rooting for that college. It's hard to get away from that team and you probably get invited to games and see the memorabilia all around town and your coworkers in that gear.

I also see rooting for a school your kids went to - after all, you probably chipped in to the tuition - and maybe the one your parents or siblings went to. I have no problem rooting for the school my dad went to until his team goes up against my school. Same for my mom's school, which happens to be in the same conference as my alma mater. But I don't obsessively follow these teams, it's more like, if I had to pick one that's how I'd decide.

I think a lot of people pick a school and root for it because it wins. I admit it's hard not to pick a side in the big state rivalry. You won't find too many people who have nothing to say about Michigan versus Michigan State, whether they went to either school or not. But I also think a lot of people pick the state's winningest schools, whether they went there or had any connection or not. That seems just like jumping on the bandwagon because you can and so you never have to mourn losses, and that's what I don't quite get.

The Lowly Lions

So I guess the Detroit Lions lost to the Saints today, dropping to 0-15. I say 'I guess' because I didn't watch it, I'm just relying on web reports. I think the game was blacked out because of poor ticket sales.

Um.....duh?

I don't want to say I've given up on the Lions forever. But I've given up on them now. Call me a fair weather fan of you want (which, I realize, makes no sense when the wind chill is -14 and it's snowing fit to beat the band) but I'm just bored with them. It's not worth watching.

See, the problem isn't that the Lions are bad. It's that they're always bad. They never show signs of life. The team is dismal, year after year after year. It's not like a good team that has to go through rebuilding phases. This team is trying to rebuild with substandard materials and getting nowhere fast, every freaking year. And I'd venture that a lot of promising players find their careers ruined by their time in Detroit. After all, if a guy can't make it in Detroit, why would anybody else take a chance on him? I'm sure the top draft pick this year is praying the Lions win the last game so that he doesn't have to go there.

I'm not saying all the players suck and it's all their fault. They've had a hand in it, sure, but the coaching is terrible and the ownership---!! There aren't enough expletives for the mess that is management of this team. Keeping Matt Millen as long as they did was bad enough, but why the NFL doesn't come in and throw William Clay Ford out is beyond me.

Until recently, Ford didn't have too much reason to worry. Lions games were still selling out, even when the team was pretty darn bad. But this season, it's gotten worse. Oh sure, I think you can also blame the country's economic woes and everything else too, but let's face it, if you're a die-hard football fan, you'll try to find the money somewhere. I just think that the fans are finally getting wise to the idea that when you keep filling the seats, nobody is under any pressure to make positive changes.

Let's look at how a bad football team has an impact. People aren't going to downtown Detroit to the games, so they're not paying for parking and food and maybe tailgating or after-game activities. That's hurting the city. People aren't buying Lions-related merchandise. That's hurting the team and the NFL. And Detroit is only getting more of the wrong kind of attention. After the Kwame Kilpatrick disaster and the Big Three's financial woes, do we really need more negative press?? That just makes us all look like morons.

Okay, granted, in the grand scheme of things, how bad a football team is, is really not life or death. I am well aware of that. I'm just speaking in the grand scheme of sports. And you might say, "Well, gee, it has to improve next year. You've only got one way to go - up." No, this is the Lions we're talking about. With their past records, its perfectly conceivable that they could go 0-16 for years on end.