Many good suggestions (outside of the !ions one, of which I have no opinion)
I’d add, let’s stop the constant noise, music, advertisements, etc., that are part of the stadium experience now. 30 seconds of quiet wouldn’t hurt anyone
Also, how about we sit down and watch the game instead of standing and watching the whole game (forcing those behind you to stand as well).
Amen to that. Enough with the special fatigue type uniforms, dressing the coaches up like GI Joe, and especially God Bless America in the 7th inning. Did we do all that shit in 1958, 17 years removed from Pearl Harbor? No.
Some of that patriotism has been paid for by the US Department of Defense, which gave millions of dollars to multiple major sports organizations. That makes it so much worse.
I think of the Thanksgiving Day games traditions as kind of a tip of the hat toward an old NFL city that has supported its team for decades, despite not having had a lot of post-season success. Particularly given the hard times that Detroit’s had economically over the past decade or more, it’s pretty special that Motown’s managed to keep its fan base into its sports. I’m fine with Detroit and Dallas keeping Thanksgiving games.
Let’s put an end to the Pro Bowl. The NFL has tried to make it a meaningful game but it doesn’t work.
Agreed.
Wow, Michigander here and I have never heard people say “The Lions win on Thanksgiving.” Our discussion yesterday was the EXACT opposite.
I pointed out that the Lions won two years ago, but most people(me included), mainly remember the many losses. I’m 40 and have been watching the last 30 years and our record in those relevant(to me) years is terrible, including 2004-2012 where they lost every game.
I had no idea anyone thought Detroit Lions fans bragged or claimed we won on Thanksgiving.
I also support this. I’m good with announcing who earned a spot but nobody watches the game and many players decline to go. (Plus the teams that are in the Super Bowl never send players so theoretically you never really get to see the actual best players in it).
I’d be more interested in the Pro Bowl if it took place after the Super Bowl. Kind of a last chance for pro football for the year. And you could then include everyone.
Sounds like she’s onto something.
Or better yet if it’s sports and games you love, go and play something with your friends/family instead of watching strangers do it. Interact with the people in your life instead of being a passive consumer of other people’s lives.
While I’m not in Michigan anymore it’s the state I spent the most time living in. I grew up just over the border in the Toledo area. I heard the notion about Lions’ success on Thanksgiving all the time. I’ve repeated it myself. It stopped after the Wayne Fontes years ended and normal mediocrity gave way to “we suck.” It used to be mildly true for a Lions based definition of winning.
Their historical record on Thanksgiving is 37-40-2 (Adding yesterday’s result to the story cited from before the game.) If you take out all the games from 2001 on when the streak of suck on Thanksgiving day that you mentioned started they are 32-28-2. This is the Lions. The all time record is below .500. The winningest head coach in Lion’s history is also the losingest head coach with a .486 record. Having a mildly winning record on Thanksgiving was reason to brag. Lots of people repeated it …and then we stopped.
I’m surprised you never heard it if you’ve been following them for 30 years. It was still a real thing at the point you started watching.
I’m pretty sure they didn’t win on Thanksgiving in 2008.
Indeed. Add to that the playing of the national anthem before games. Maybe for games involving the US v. X team or Championship Games. Otherwise, there is no reason for it.
The NFL always played the Pro Bowl after the Super Bowl right up until 2010. It had all the same problems - players wouldn’t attend the game, the ones who did played not to get hurt, and the TV ratings were low. It’s been such a disappointment that CBS passed on broadcasting rights in both 2010 and 2014.
Exactly. The league moved the Pro Bowl into the “lull week” in between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, in hopes of building some additional interest in the game (playing it after the Super Bowl wound up making it feel increasingly anti-climactic), but (a) as noted, members of the Super Bowl teams now don’t play in it, (b) a lot of players who get named to the game avoid playing in it due to concern about injury, and (c) it winds up being terrible football.
Of all of the suggestions in this thread, I think that ditching the Pro Bowl is the one that would make the most sense, and cause the least amount of outcry (other than from Hawaii, which has used the game as a three-hour tourism ad when they’ve hosted it).
The Pro-bowl used to be a much bigger deal before the cable/dish revolution. If you had a favorite player or team that was same conference but different division as the local team, it was entirely possible you could go 2-3 years without ever seeing a down of them playing. At least the Pro-bowl would have one player from the team to watch once a year.
But now it is utterly pointless.
They should just relegate the Probowl to some type of punt/pass/kick competition between the selectees.
Oh, well, I do this already, only I might even go you one better. I hate with a passion the whole idea of being “a passive consumer of other people’s lives,” so not only do I avoid watching sports at all costs, I don’t ever read biographies or watch documentaries about people from history or the present (unless they are already “people in [my] life,” of course), and my consumption of fiction consists exclusively of stories about animals and inanimate objects so I avoid consuming “other people’s lives.” I also don’t pay attention to politics in any way, shape, or form, except in the case of stories that don’t mention the lives and works of actual politicians. I am the least “passive consumer” I know!
Or maybe you already do this too?
Not at the same time.
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Fair enough. Put the game on local Detroit TV and another one on network.
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I thought I might have had that wrong about the time it was too late to edit.
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