Detroit Lions: Beer Thinker Wants to Know, Can Lions Fans Handle Success?

 I want to thank everyone who gave up some of their valuable time to post on my last article, Detroit Lions Continue To Head In The Right Direction.  I was, and still am, absolutely blown away by the support.

Second, I want to dedicate this particular article to my wife.  Without her encouragement, I may not have decided to write again for The Bleacher Report. 

She is going in for surgery Wednesday for thyroid cancer.  I know without even asking that everyone here wishes her for a speedy recovery.  As she says, "This aging process is hell."

Lastly, please thank fellow Detroit Lion nut, er fan, Alex Hoag for resurrecting my Beer Thinker series.  I was never quite sure how they were received.  Thanks Alex for saying you miss them.

What has prompted this article were some of the recent ones that depict us Lions fans as having our heads in the clouds.  Three in particular:

Why The Lions Won't Be A Playoff Team In 2011

The author acknowledges the Lions picked up some "solid" players in Nick Fairly, Titus Young and Mike LeShoure.  But he asks, and quite fairly, if the Lions did enough to address the defense.

Once again, the subject of contention is the Lions secondary.  He alludes that both Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler will "slice and dice" our secondary. 

 He fails to mention that in the three out of the four games we lost, we lost by an average of just over three points a game.  And in those games, against respected defenses, we scored a collective 60 points.

He says the Lions have improved but won't win the NFC North.

2011 Draft: Detroit Lions Draft May Be Looked On As A Disappointment

This article ticked off a lot of people.  While the author insists that he wasn't putting the Lions in a negative light, if you read the article, he does slam them pretty good:

"The problem here is that I think many fans are forgetting that Detroit arguably had one of the best defensive lines in the league in 2010, and they still got torched in the secondary."

On taking Titus Young, who he calls a "luxury pick." 

"No offense to the mid-major conferences of college football, but Young played at Boise State. What has always been the knock on Boise? They don’t play high-level competition.

That’s the guy that you feel was best to take in the second round? With all the holes that your defense still has!?"

He goes on to say that the second round draft choices of Young and LeShoure are going to come back to haunt the Lions.

The Lions have been looking for a reliable third WR behind Nate Burleson and Calvin Johnson, and Young, despite being from Boise State, is a very talented wide receiver. 

As for the competition level of their conference, I can think of a few wide receivers that have had fantastic careers from even lesser know schools:  Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State; Randy Moss, Marshall; Marques Colston, Hofstra; and Steve Largent, Tulsa.

Lions Fans Need To Curb Their Enthusiasm

This one in particular really got to me.  I'm not even going to quote anything from the article since the title is what really made me angry.

After a decade of pure misery, we finally had a modicum of success that gave us Lions fans something TO get enthused about, and this guy has the gall to say to "cool it."

Yup, I was just as angry at all three of these articles as anyone, and I posted my opinions as respectfully as I could.

However, it got me to thinking: Just how will Detroit Lions fans handle a successful NFL franchise?

I think it's pretty simple and really doesn't need a lot of elaboration.  WE ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!

What does concern me is if and when we do make the playoffs, the articles that will come out on past celebrations when teams won championships. 

Most notably, when the Pistons won back to back titles, Detroit made national headlines as a few moronic people thought the best way to celebrate was to flip police cars over, start fires and loot downtown establishments. 

We were still living in Detroit at the time, and I have never been more ashamed of being a citizen of Detroit in my life.

But let me tell all of those folks that plan on jumping on that bandwagon: We learned from our mistakes. 

When the Detroit Red Wings won Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008, celebrations were enthusiastic but not destructive.

Detroit Tigers were in the World Series in 2006.  When they became the American League champs, fans were cheering with respect toward each other...no one took advantage of celebrating to cause any hardship to anyone.

Before the Pistons won the NBA Finals in 2004, I cringed when articles and sports shows dedicated an inordinate amount of time on how Detroit celebrated their championships in 1989 and 1990.  And there was no one prouder in Seattle than me to say I was from Detroit when all fans celebrated with so much class.

We're going to handle our first Super Bowl victory with class, dignity and respect.  Of that, I have no doubt.