WDET News
- Luckless Lions Look for Win
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Dec 4, 2008Sports Desk - Link to AudioDetroit isn’t just known for cars. Last year, The Sporting News named it the Best Sports City in the country. Most of our professional sports teams allow fans to forget about their frustrations. But for Detroit football fans…frustration is the norm. WDET’s Pat Batcheller reports.
Since 2001…the Detroit Lions have lost more games than any other National Football League team. That was true even before they lost the first 12 games of this season. It’s a record that has made them the butt of lots of jokes…and a frequent target of Tonight Show host Jay Leno.
“Here’s something interesting. According to Newsweek, sociologists believe that nine months after election day, there could be tens of thousands of what they call ‘Obama babies’. Psychologists say this is not unusual because a lot of people celebrate a big victory by having sex. See that’s why there’s never been any Detroit Lion babies”
It isn’t just that the Lions are losing…folks around here are used to that. It’s the prospect of seeing them become the first NFL team to lose every regular season game since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went oh-and-14 in 1976. Since then, the league has added two games to the schedule… and no team has ever gone oh-and-16. The Lions are four games away from doing just that. At Malarkey’s Sports Bar in Southgate…Jerry Page is coming to grips with that reality.
"If they go oh-and-16, I never thought I would live to see that, but uh…they’re well on their way."
Despite the losing streak…and the jokes…the Lions have long enjoyed strong support at home. But their string of 50 consecutive Ford Field sellouts ended on October 26when they lost to the Washington Redskins. They’ve struggled to sell tickets this year. Football fan Dan Horvath of Allen Park says he won’t buy a ticket…he won’t even go to a game for free…but he still watches the Lions on TV…even if there’s another game on.
“I’d watch the other game, but a lot of time the other game doesn’t interest me either, so I watch em just to take the punishment and go from there.”
Watching sports is supposed to be an escape from reality. And it generally is, according to Professor Mike Bernacchi…who teaches a sports marketing course at the University of Detroit Mercy. Bernacchi says when times are bad…people turn to entertainment. But when the entertainment is also bad…reality tends to creep back in.
“I think it’s easy to take a look at the Detroit Lions who are now oh-and-12 and hope that that is as bad as it ever gets for this area. Hopefully the Big Three won’t be oh-and-12 or oh-and-16 and neither will the economy in general.”
Fortunately for Detroit, the Lions are not the only game in town. We have the Red Wings, the reigning Stanley Cup Champions…the Pistons, who won the NBA title in 2004…the Shock, who won the WNBA crown this summer…and the Tigers, who won the American League pennant two years ago. By contrast, the Lions haven’t won an NFL championship since 1957…and have won just one playoff game since. And while that may frustrate the fans… imagine how the players themselves feel. Dominic Raiola is the Lions’ starting center.
“Bottom line is we gotta go out, you know, get a win. That’s the bottom line. So sick of talking about it, you know, but we haven’t got a win yet so that’s why we’re still talking about it.”
Raiola’s been through this before. He was a rookie the last time the Lions started oh-and-12 in 2001. They got their first win that year against the Minnesota Vikings…who just happen to be this Sunday’s opponent. Even if they beat the Vikings…it may be too late to save head coach Rod Marinelli’s job. The man who hired him—Matt Millen—was fired as team president in September…and Millen’s eventual replacement will probably hire a new coach. Despite everything…Marinelli has kept his sense of humor.
"Are you saying I have a sense of humor? You’re assuming a lot. (laughter) No, I just really like what I’m doing…I can’t tell you how much every day I come to work…I really like what I do.”
He’d better…or else he could end up feeling like legendary coach John McKay did when his Tampa team went oh-and-14. When a reporter asked McKay how he felt about his players’ execution…he quipped, “I’m all for it.”