Detroit Lions 2009

[gnome]

IN PRAISE OF APATHY

Another loss, this one to the lowly Rams and it seems no one cares. I think that is a good thing.
We have turned a corner.

The game, a game in which the Lions were 3 1/2 point favorites, failed to lure in enough believers, resulting in the draconian NFL blackout decending on TVs from Monroe to Flint, Detroit to Lansing. The NFL's blackout goes into effect when a team doesn't sell-out the stadium within 72 or 48 hrs before a contest. The NFL as the nation's only government sanctioned monoply and therefore wields its status like a bully having a hissy fit. "Fine, you won't buy my tickets, I won't let you watch my sub-par performance."

A double-think thought process but one the NFL clings to in the belief that since billionaires thought it up, it must be a good idea; but I digress.

It seems no one cares about the Lions. And that is a good thing. I believe it is not hate that will change the Lions. Hate is the flip-side of Love, and while love can cure a child's scuffed knee, it can't fix the Lions anymore than yelling will. Yelling hateful "Fire Millen, Kill Ford" didn't work. Neither did "Trade Harrington!" or "Sack Mitchell!" or "Bench Plum!".

Vitriol will not spurr the Lions to change, but not giving a flying-fig will. Not buying their embarrassing tickets, not buying their worthless foam fingers, jerseys, weak beer or over-priced parking will. By not going to the games, by not buying their merchandise, by not visiting the advertisers that appear on their in-stadium billboards or are voiced on their radio network, the only way to change the Lions is to stop caring.

Apathy, the universal cure. But are there signs that apathy is catching on?

Thankfully, yes. It seems that thousands of people cared enough to not go to the game. Barely 40 thousand sad-eyed souls went to Ford Field to see the Lions lose. The blackout fell and thousands more didn't watch, but the biggest hint that shows that people have stopped caring:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/s...yCurrentPage=0

There hasn't been a single comment on the Freep's Lions in 5 days. And the last comment before that? two weeks ago.

So rejoice, oh beleagered fans of yore, you are doing the best thing possible: absolutely nothing.