Conflicted: How Detroit Fans Around The Country Feel About Their Lions

I am a life-long Detroit Lions fan. I know: admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery.

Sad as it may be, I love the Lions. 

I have tried to use extended family to choose a new team. My girlfriend and her entire family are from Indiana, so I have tried to root for the Colts.  On the surface, it seems like a nice team to support.  They have one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game and a good guy of a coach with Michigan ties. 

But for me, Honalulu is the only blue I can get behind.

I have moved around the country a couple times, and have tried to use that to sever my ties with the awful Lions. 

In Maryland, I had two teams within an hour of my house that I could get behind, each with Super Bowl victories. 

The Baltimore Ravens have a suffocating defense that I like, and the Washington Redskins have hardcore fans and a legacy of winning that I respect.

But to me, it feels like I'm one of the humans in the first few versions of "The Matrix;" I don't trust perfection or even near perfection.

In Portland, I have the Seattle Seahawks and the San Fransisco 49ers in somewhat close proximity.

While I have no interest in the Seahawks, I have always enjoyed the 49ers.  Additionally, they are not winning right now, allowing me to avoid being a bandwagon fan if I can get behind them.  I also had Frank Gore on my fantasy team this year, so I had the opportunity to watch a lot of their games.  Perhaps I'll be able to root for them.

But it doesn't seem likely.

I just can't shake this team.  Rooting for anyone else just doesn't feel right.  So I am going to live the rest of my days as a hapless Lions fan.  I'm okay with that. 

Before I climb up to my roof and plummet towards Burnside Avenue in the last remaining hours before my beloved team becomes the immortally horrible holder of the winless mantle, I am reminded of one simple fact...I am not alone.

That's right, even though a lot less of us admit to it, there are a lot of Detoit Lions fans out there. 

Don't be fooled by our half-empty stadium and blacked-out television screens. There are plenty of Lions fans wandering around the United States. 

And while I am rooting for the Lions to lose today, I am curious to know how my fellow Lions fans are looking at the last game of the season.

I asked a number of people I know, most of whom are from different parts of Michigan, what their thoughts are regarding the Lions these days.

I asked these people what they thought about the prospect of a winless season and whether or not they were rooting for the Lions or for infamy.

Sherrie, originally from Fennville, Michigan, is a kitchen designer in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I have known her for years, and she has always been a die-hard Lions fan.  Her love affair with the Lions began as a way for a little girl to relate in a better way with her father, also a life-long Lions fan.

"My first thought is, who the [heck] is their quarterback again?", asked Sherrie. 

"I have decided it is pointless for them to even try and win a game by the end of the season. I am rooting for the winless season! Who cares now? At least get the first draft pick.

I am, however, going to be extremely optimistic about next year, because it certainly can't get any worse. And I definitely love that they got rid of Millen."

To get a woman as opinionated as Sherrie to become apathetic is quite an accomplishment.

Next, I talked with John Raczynski, a bartender in Holland, MI.

"Well, why not make history? I have been a fan since I can remember and we did have some good years to cheer, but that was mostly a guy named Barry Sanders. I am rooting for the 0-16. [They] will be [the] laughing stock of the NFL. This [is] maybe our only chance to turn the team around, rock bottom. In short, we will make history. And that, my friend, is hard to do!"

So far, I am kind of amazed that these die-hard Lions fans have turned to the dark side!  Openly rooting against their team!

"One more thing, just so you know," insisted John.

"I am a die-hard Lions fan and always will be. We [fans] cannot pick our players, coaches, owners, or managers; all we can do is hope and pray, and once in a while protest. And this is what I am doing. 0-16 will be sad but the franchise did it to themselves."

This makes a lot of sense to me, and seemed to be a theme amongst a lot of Lions fans that I have spoken with.  0-16 is the ultimate indictment of the past 50 years of Lions ownership.  To many fans, they believe that 0-16 is the basement.  Somehow, someway, someone will step in and end the madness.

Justin Kragt, a banker in West Palm Beach, Florida has a similar thought regarding ownership.

"I think it's ridiculous. I am rooting for a winless season. At least we can win some kind of record!

Maybe a winless season would force [William Clay] Ford Sr. to step down. If he won't sell the Lions or put money into them, at least give his son a shot. He seems to have a little more common sense then Sr. does. We have been the laughing stock of the NFL my [whole] life, and quite frankly, I am tired of it and almost ready to start rooting for another team! GO DOLPHINS!!!"

Another life-long Lions fan rooting for the team to lose.  I thought for sure he would be one of the last remaining people sitting at home, or on the beach, hoping that the Lions would pull one out. 

Okay, I have one more ace up my sleeve. 

Emily Poest, a young woman I have known since my elementary school days in Holland, Michigan, has not gone a year without making it to Detroit for the Lions. 

For people on the west side of the state of Michigan, this is a big deal.  The drive to Detroit takes about two and a half hours.  So when you take into account the three hours for the game that usually ends in disappointment and all the traffic, a trip to a Lions game usually takes about 10 hours for the Poest clan.  So for this family to make it to every home game for the past 15 years is saying something.

Emily is so into the Lions that she refers to herself online as Lionsgirl, and her myspace handle is always the Lions current record.  Of all the Lions people I know, she will be the one that is still rooting for this team...right?

"I am rooting for the 0-16 because I believe that [it] will produce changes. I feel 0-16 you make history and 1-15 or 2-14 you just plain suck. So yeah, I am a huge fan you know...season tickets for the past at least 15 years and I just want change."

There you have it.  Emily has hit the nail on the head.  She is a microcosm of all Lions fans.  The only way for there to be any chance for real top-down change is for this team to be saddled with the worst record in history.

Of course, there are no guarantees with this team.  It is possible that Ford Sr. will stay in control of this team, and the changes will be minimal.  Recently he told a Detroit sportswriter that he wants Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand, the acting general managers of the Lions, to return. 

When asked if he would bring in a top football mind for the front office, he said that he needed to figure out if there were any "slots" available.  So obviously he still does not get it.

Lions fans are a hopeful bunch.  They come across as pessimistic and they are unbearably tough on their quarterbacks.  It is said that the most popular position to hold in Detroit is backup quarterback, since most Lions fans are never satisfied with their QB and the grass is always greener on the other side.

Detroit fans do not need to be hopeful.  They have had a tough time over the past few years.  Their state is tumbling towards economic depression and Detroit's auto industry is on life support.  But these are tough people, and tough fans.  If anyone can take it, they can.

And they are hopeful because the only other alternative is to give up, and Michiganders do not give up.  So they will remain hopeful that change will come, and that change will be good.

However, the only hope that Lions fans can cling to is the thought that an 0-16 season will spur changes.  So, like so many of my fellow fans, today is the first and likely last time I will ever root against the Detroit Lions. 

We must burn this village in order to save it.