Starting All Over As a Fan

As a New England area sports fan, it's no secret that I've been spoiled in recent years.  With the Red Sox breaking an 80+ year championship drought, the Celtics reminding us of days long passed when we competed regularly deep into May, and the Patriots generally dominating everyone for a while I find myself missing something.

For a long while I couldn't figure out what that gnawing feeling was, my favorite teams were having all the success in the world, our area saw at least one major sports title almost every year it seemed like, what more could I want-and then it hit me: there was no disappointment. 

As a lifelong, and die hard Red Sox fan utter disappointment is as much a part of sports for me as a home run or a touchdown. 

With this thought in mind I have decided to take on a new team, one whose last season was filled with disappointment and despair, and whose future I can enjoy whether it brings that comfortable feeling of failure or a feeling that's beginning to grow on me known as success. 

More than likely the first few years will be failure, enough to carry me over until the glory days of the Sox, Celts, and Pats cycle back around to the misery we all know so well in this area.

This all being said, I decided to start my search for the team I'll be cheering for in the their upcoming season.  The credentials a team must fit were as folows:

1) They cannot play in the same league as a team I currently cheer for.  This is for obvious reasons of loyalty to my area.

2) They had to have a truly terrible season last year

3) They cannot have started a new season already (which ruled out baseball)

4) There must be some hope for the future that I can pin my hopes on, after all you can't have your hopes dashed if there are no hopes to begin with.

I counted the NBA in my search as their season is wrapping up and I could easily choose a team for next year, however as I moved down the list of Western Conference teams I simply couldn't find one that agreed with me.  I moved on.

I have no love for hockey, and would rather be the hitting dummy for a team than suffer through a game, the same goes for soccer, so both sports were out.

With the NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS out of the question, this pretty much left me with the NFL.  Here there were several teams that appealed to me, from the Seahawks to the Rams. 

I even thought about the Packers or the Saints, although the Saints had a little too much success last season and the Packers are poised for some real great seasons so I thought there was just a little too much chance of a great season for either team to fit the bill.  That left me with the Seahawks, Rams, and Lions.

The Seahawks are an interesting team, with what might be one of the most talented group of linebackers in the league and a returning Matt Hasselbeck as well as signing receiver TJ Houshmanzadeh. 

I think that their moves in the off season combined with the return of Hasselbeck gives the Seahawks a little too much hope, so I crossed them off my list. 

No team in professional sports history quite personified misery as the Lions' performance last season, and so between the Rams and the Lions I ultimately settled on the Lions.

As we all know they went winless last season, a feat only accomplished by a few teams in professional sports history.  With three first round picks, and finally a change of management however, Detroit could be poised for a big improvement. 

Many thought they should go with OT Jason Smith in an effort to build for the future, but in my opinion that's exactly what they've been doing, with Jeff Backus holding down one side, and last year's first round pick Gosder Cherilus with a year of experience under his belt, as well as Calvin Johnson beginning to come into his own, the Lions just may have added the pieces they need to make a serious run at a playoff berth this year. 

Promising young RB Kevin Smith has publicly guaranteed the playoffs this year on his blog found at playerpress.com, and I think that with the newfound confidence the team seems to have found they just may be able to make good on that promise.

Either way we'll see, and either way I'll likely be satisfied with the resulting season.  I look forward to watching an interesting competition in the NFC North, and a great NFL season next year.