Should the Detroit Lions Be Removed from Thanksgiving Day Schedule?
To truly understand this issue we have to understand how this game came to be and the tradition behind it. Unlike Sunday night football, and Monday night Football this is not a National TV game given out based on performance.
According to Profootballhof.com, this game in Detroit dates back to 1934. The year before local radio executive George Richard bought the Portsmouth Spartans and moved them to Detroit. Since this was a time when the Detroit Tigers dominated the local Sports pages, Richards decided his new Detroit Lions needed a gimmick to get people talking about them. That gimmick turned out to be the Thanksgiving Day game. Beyond a gap from 1939 to 1944 there has been a game on Thanksgiving in Detroit every Thanksgiving day since.
Now I understand that the Lions are terrible, and are an embarrassment, but every team at some point gets a national TV game. Since they are so bad ESPN and NBC balk at giving them time on Sunday or Monday night football, but tonight the MNF match up is Jacksonville Jaguars versus the Houston Texans. Is that a top tier match up? Hardly.
In fact this is the first MNF game in Houston Texan history, and even as a Lions fan I can understand the reasons behind keeping them off the MNF schedule. However in a very real sense the Thanksgiving Day game is a tradition built in Detroit, not handed out by the NFL or it's broadcast partners.
The Detroit Lions are without doubt the worst Sports franchise of this young millennium. How would kicking them while they are down improve the NFL? How would stripping them of a tradition they invented lead to better ratings?
Every team at some point in the season gets a National TV game, since the Lions are so bad how is 12:30 Eastern Time, Thanksgiving day, a bad spot for them to be in?
Published by Joshua Lobdell
I started out writing Political opinion pieces for a friend's website. That led to me writing for a sports blog, and that turned into a featured sports blog, and that led to me working at FIO as a racing exp... View profile
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3 Comments
Post a CommentThe Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving day is a tradition I would miss I've watched since the early 50's. They are going to be good again
you may be right but they built this tradtionand that should count for something tonite's MNF game will not be any better
I think the answer is yes... last week was enough!