The Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving Day Tradition Continues

The Detroit Lions will take the field Thanksgiving morning, marking the 70^th time in the team's history that they've played football on America's day of giving thanks. Nothing is more synonymous with the aromas of turkey and cranberries and the tastes of pumpkin and sweet potato pies, than watching the Lions on a late November Thursday.

However, for most of the decade, the Lions Thanksgiving Day games have left Detroit fans with a sense of something missing.

Last year, we missed...defense. Tennessee ran up the score 47-10 in one of the more disappointing losses of the season. (Although, truthfully, the losses are beginning to blur together.) During the game's halftime, CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe donned a paper bag in imitation of the "unknown tight end", an unknown opponent who, like many others when facing the Lions, had a breakout game at the expense of our missing defense.

The year before that, we missed the reliability of superstitions, of history repeating itself. Traditionally, Brett Favre, the former Green Bay quarterback, was known to not play well in a dome. After losing the previous three Thanksgiving games, Lions' fans confidently looked forward to watching a game they were destined to win. But once again, the Lions served as a cure-all for their opponents. They can ignite an opponents' struggling offense. They can solidify an adversary's shaky defense. They can make the most insecure team feel like winners. And like the Pilgrims were made to feel at home during the first Thanksgiving, the Lions made Favre feel at home during the 2007 game.

So, my predictions for this year's Annual Thanksgiving Day game:

1. The Former Lions Coaches Support Group, a group which includes Marty Mornhenwig, Steve Mariucci, Dick Jauron (Does anyone remember this interim coach?), and Rod Marinelli, will reminisce about the past Thanksgiving Day losses while the turkey roasts. I predict the cathartic get-together will include a lot of laughter. "I told them it wasn't me."

2. Aaron Rogers, the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers will set records. In recent games, the offensive line for the Packers has not done a good job of protecting their young quarterback. Thanksgiving will be the one game Aaron can be thankful for the lackluster, uninspired defensive line he will face. No worries, Aaron. No one is looking to beat the stuffing out of you at Ford Field.

3. Divine intervention, or at the very least, financial intervention, will have to take place to ensure that the game is not blacked out. Fans are tired of the losing Lions. In a metropolitan area where employment is on the decline, it is easy to draw the wrong conclusion that it is the price of tickets keeping metro Detroiters away. The annual Thanksgiving Day parade is just around the corner. Chances of seeing a decent tackle is better on Woodward Ave. with the possibilities of parade workers corralling an escaped float or perhaps a pickpocket being chased by the police and wrestled to the ground.

4. The National Football League will revisit the idea of opening the Thanksgiving Day game up to more teams in an effort of "broadening viewer-ship". (In other words, sticking that embarrassing relative that always shows up drunk in a corner where they are least noticeable. At my house, we stick Uncle Joe in the basement. It's still Thanksgiving in the basement, but then the rest of the family is not subjected to embarrassment.

5. Oh, did I mention the Lions will lose? Long ago, in a land where tradition meant something, in a time when players knew if ever there was a time to put a best cleat forward, the Lions would play their best game on Thanksgiving Day. Many mothers have whispered in the ears of their children "Behave. Of all days, today, make sure you behave." Today, the locker room, the coaches, the organization all seems to have forgotten that whispered warning. Please, don't embarrass us on National television. We all know that stink in the house is coming from the television and not the oven. But please, don't let the rest of the nation know.

Following the Lions' loss to the Saint Louis Rams, a team that was 0-6 before facing the Lions, Coach Jim Schwartz told reporters that losing to a winless team was no more devastating than losing to, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Really, Jimmy? Then why not open the season with a game against a Pee Wee football team? Would it not be embarrassing to lose to a squad that was driven to the game by their mommies? There are games that on paper should be lost. And there are games on paper that should be won. The good teams beat the teams they should beat and challenge the ones they shouldn't. And once in awhile, the team with heart prevails over the team with talent. Let's face it, every NFL team has talent. Every player in the league is a step above players in amateur leagues. The Lions are a team without heart and until they find theirs, Detroit Lions' fans are going to have to find other things for which to be grateful for on Thanksgiving.