NFL: Cause For Celebration

Reliable sources inform me that the Lions' victory yesterday resulting in the front page treatment in the local paper. Not just glowing headlines in the sports section, but a banner headline pasted right there front and center for everyone to see, with a column by the increasingly irrelevant Mitch Albom (I mean, these days it feels like he's not just writing the same column over and over, that his shtick isn't just wearing thin, but that there's some kind of Album-bot deep within the bowels of the Free Press that they feed scores, the biographies of players, and a choice dopey metaphor or two which churns out reams of the stuff.), the dean of the Detroit sports writers. Or something. You ask me, he should have been fired when the news of his fabrication/plagiarism broke. Hence, no link for you. My views on the matter, though, are much closer to Mr. Sharp's. Without, you know, the optimism.

It's Oakland!

If there was one team that was worse than the Lions last year, who can stack their record of futility against the gold standard of Millen's own, it's the Oakland Raiders. I know, for some reason, like the Lions, the Raiders have become a fashionable pick for some but, as far as I can tell, they're awful. This is a team, after all, that spent a first round pick on a kicker. A kicker who missed three field goals on Sunday.

Sure, the Lions managed to avoid the fourth quarter meltdown, and although they recovered from another Kitna Klassic of a drive-killing interception, they still almost lost. Most teams wouldn't be so kind as to hand it right back when you try to give the game away. Being barely competent isn't a cause for congratulation. Doing what you're supposed to isn't a reason to be slapped on the back. Talk to me after this team beats someone for real. Someone, say, like Chicago. Wake me up when beating the Oaklands of the world isn't notable, it's expected.