Thoughts On Detroit Lion's Thanksgiving Day Game and William Clay Ford, Sr.

I’ve written a few open letters to William Clay ford, Sr.  

I have no idea how effective they have been or even if anyone bothers to show them to him.  But being a Detroit Lions fan and respectful of the game, I think using the written word is more effective than any other medium.

Not that I don’t enjoy the creative ways Lions fans voice their displeasure while at the game…some of them are downright ingenious. But living in the Great Northwest, I am at somewhat a disadvantage. I’d look pretty stupid going to a Seahawks game with a paper bag over my head saying “Ashamed of being a Lions fan.”

There has been a lot of discussion by NFL pundits about taking away the Thanksgiving Day game from Detroit and start a rotation of teams to host the game. If you are going to do that for the early game, then Dallas should also have the game taken away.  It’s only fair to have all three Thanksgiving Day games on a rotational basis...and the NFL Network already has that in place.

 But no one is going to even think about taking the game away from Dallas just because it would be fair.  Dallas may have rate seasons of ineptness but are usually in the thick of things in the NFC East. But should that be the measuring stick? The NFL requires that all teams get at least one nationally televised game.

Dallas has already been nationally featured many times this year before Thanksgiving. Does that mean the game should go to a team that hasn’t had any other games on national TV? 

Seems to me with that argument, Thanksgiving Day games would be for teams with the least amount of national exposure instead of being competitive. A dumping ground for ineptness.

I am all about tradition. I suppose the older that one gets, the more important tradition becomes. I’ve witnessed many a Thanksgiving Day Lion games though I’ve only ever actually gone to one game.

It was 1976, the year I graduated from high school. A friend of my Dad’s scored some tickets and we decided to go. We had never been to the Silverdome, heck, never even been to Pontiac before so it was going to be an adventure. We saw the Lions play the Buffalo Bills with O.J. Simpson.

O.J. ran wild, getting 273 yards but the Lions still prevailed, winning 27-14. Best of both worlds, seeing O.J. set an NFL record and the Lions still winning the game.

But four out of the last five Thanksgiving Day games haven’t even been close for the Lions.  With the exception of last year’s 37-26 loss against Green Bay, the Lions have lost on average, by 26.5 points.  

The Lions aren’t doing themselves any favors by putting on such poor showings year after year. And with the embarrassment of yesterday’s 47-10 loss, the Lions are now 33-34-1 on Thanksgiving, the last record that was at least at .500. 

So will this game, in conjunction with a possible 0-16 record finally be the last straw?  Will the NFL pull the Thanksgiving Day game away from Detroit? Will owner William Clay Ford, Sr. finally decide that he’s been embarrassed enough? That last question has to make one think: Just how much embarrassment does William Clay Ford, Sr. have to take to finally be motivated into action?

I doubt that the game will be taken away from the Lions. William Clay Ford, Sr. and the Ford Motor Company have given a lot to the NFL in the 44 years he has owned the team.

Even with these hard economic times, Ford Motor Company is still a pretty big player, and I really doubt the NFL wants to mess with that, regardless of the ineptness of William Clay Ford, Sr. the owner.  

No matter how much fans complain to Lion upper management or to the NFL, it’s not about us, the team or the owner. Bottom line is it’s all about the Benjamin’s. 

One hopes this season of failure after failure will galvanize Mr. Ford into action. One hopes that he sees the benefit and profits that come when having a contending team.  

You look to Robert Kraft and what he did for the New England Patriots and you have to know that he is raking in the bucks with sell outs after sell outs, marketing and a fan base that has faced just as much diversity as the Lions have.

But he did something about it, he is first and foremost a fan of the game. He wanted to make the Patriots a winner and in his relatively short time as an owner, 14 years, has gotten his team to the Super Bowl five times, winning three of them.

Mr. Ford has the ability and the wherewithal to duplicate Robert Kraft’s achievement with the Patriots. But Mr. Ford is not a fan of the game let alone a fan of the team.  He doesn’t appear to have the gumption to make the Lions a winner.

If it were me and I was the owner of an NFL team, I think the measure of success would be how many Super Bowls have I gotten to and how many did I win. Instead, Mr. Ford seems to be content to try and become successful based on longevity.

I liken him to Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones: He’s been dead for 10 years but his body just doesn’t know it.  

Like the Rolling Stones, William Clay Ford, Sr. just doesn’t know how to end this fiasco gracefully. Unlike the Rolling Stones, William Clay Ford, Sr. doesn’t have any fans that still want him to continue.