Yeah, the Lions are a hardcore old-school franchise that should command much more respect than it does. The whole “can’t win” thing is a lot to overcome.
I mean, I love the owners for how conservative they are, but they just don’t seem like they care about winning. At all. It kind of annoys me.
Oh yeah, and the dome. Seriously, wtf? That pretty much erases all the old-school points.
Um…Dome. End of case.
Yep, domes immediately take you out of the running.
Edit: I remember a few months back some design firm made a mock-up of a retractable dome that could be added to Browns stadium to try to sucker in a super bowl. Fans went nuts.
If they ever tried to do something like that I could imagine a giant angry mob in Cleveland forming up to wreck the construction site.
hehheh. Great minds. It really is a crime against the sport to have a dome.
I’m thinking that changing the uniform each and every year, always using bright, garish, neon colors that clash with each other; selling the stadium naming rights to Girls Gone Wild; bringing in a stripper-style cadre of cheerleaders like that football spoof movie; and then selling the naming rights to the team itself all would make it a more respectable old-school franchise if they’d just get rid of that accursed dome.
On Preview: Don’t ever let that happen in Cleveland. Same proposal happened here in Jersey. The problem is the fine print: any stadium with a retractable roof is required to close the roof in any and all inclement weather. When it comes to the NFL, a retractable roof is a dome.
It definitely wouldn’t. I don’t think it was even a solicited proposal, probably some construction company doing some basic design work to hope to win a contract. Cleveland fans are a pretty hardcore bunch - we value our old school football tradition and fight to keep it that way.
It’s sad that they’d have to do that to get a superbowl though. The superbowl always being in some warm and/or domed town is part of what usually makes the championship games better. A blizzard superbowl would be great.
Anyone know the 7 teams without cheerleaders?
I want to say Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Chicago (?), NYG, Detroit…
Close, You forgot about New Jersey’s B team.
Steelers
Browns
Jets
Giants
Bears
Packers
Lions
Jersey-B qualifies only as a technicality. While they don’t have official cheerleaders, they do have the Flight Crew, a “10-member flagcarrier/dance team.”
Some interesting news for the upcoming draft:
Niners forfeit fifth-round draft pick after tampering with Bears’ Briggs
The Niners can’t seem to stay out of their own way. Glad to see the Bears benefiting a little here, though moving up a half dozen picks in the 3rd (not sure why the hell the Bears are drafting 13th in the 2nd round and 12th in the 3rd) isn’t exactly a huge windfall, but puts us in front of a few teams with very similar needs there where a OG, RB or WR might be available.
I, for one, am looking forward to watching the Detroit Doritos go 6-10.
Does this mean the Pats will become the New England Cheetos?
Heh…New Jersey Giants…that makes me…
…Hey…wait…“thanks for trying”??
frowny face
…I just said that the Lions don’t have cheerleaders.
I completely agree with you and the dome. I remember watching NFL Films and the Vikings and how badass that was. Having a dome in the north means you give up your big home-field advantage. That is why we don’t win in a microcosm. We’re more concerned with having a stadium venue in which artists like to perform and the acoustics sound nice…not a stadium made for football.
You know, Ellis, I think we really got off the wrong foot on our relationship. Truce?
What’s up with the draft order this year?
The top of the first three rounds look like this:
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
The Bears original picks were the 14th in the first, 13th in the second and 12th in the third. Wtf? Why are the Falcons picks 3rd in the first, 6th in the second and 5th in the third? As a matter of fact all those 4-12 team’s picks seem to be a totally random. I thought this might have something to do with the coin flip but the Jets weren’t involved in the coin flip and they are drafting all over the map. Cinci goes from 9th to 15th to 14th. None of these are based on trades as far as I can tell.
I mean seriously, what the hell is the system here?
EDIT: Looking at it from afar it appears that teams with the same record (regardless of tie breakers) rotate their way up in the draft order. Atlanta was the top 4-12 team in the 1st round and they go to the bottom of that tier in the next round moving everyone in the tier up one notch. Strange, how did I never know this about the draft.
Don’t know for sure, Omni, but it looks like you’re right concerning the rotation.
Yup, that’s the usual system. Last year, for example, the Bucs lost the tiebreaker for the 3rd overall pick to the Browns, meaning they got to draft Joe Thomas, and the order was reversed for every even-numbered round.
Starting in Round 3, things can get really screwy due to the compensatory picks, but I don’t think they announce those until a week or two prior.
Where’s the outrage? Where’s all the posters gnashing their teeth about CHEATING? Where’s Arlen Specter’s press conference decrying insufficient penalty?
The lack of any of that is compelling evidence that the whole spygate thing is nothing more than sour grapes. The irony is that I firmly believe that Mangini launched spygate as a direct response to tampering charges. Sort of a “well, fuck you to.”
Sadly, it would appear that any and all cheating in football – which is full to the brim with cheating, mind you – is just fine unless it is done by the Patriots. At least in the public’s mind.
Not really the same thing. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who believes that a grey-area incident involving contract negotiations is the same as actual, in-game cheating.
This is more like a team being penalized for incorrectly reporting a player’s salary cap charge.
Briggs was pretty adamant about leaving the Bears, and I think we can all agree it was an enormous surprise when a) they offered him a long-term deal, and b) he actually accepted.
I’d argue that the contract issues are more serious, since they have long-term consequences.
As for in-game cheating, there is holding on every single play, and yet I hear nothing from the Senate about how it needs to be cleaned up. And coaches don’t cover their mouths while calling plays because they think it looks cool.
You REALLY need to let this go. You’re ruining your credibility.