Since 2014, I have spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking and talking about my local National Football League team the Detroit Lions. I have annoyed friends, family and co-workers with my interest and opinions about the Lions and yet for what ever reason I never actually sat down and typed out anything on the subject matter. I have also let my Detroit focus blog go unused for about 4 years despite having plenty of stuff I wanted to blog about (in most cases, this thought would occur well after the fact). As an attempt to provide a little more meaning to my life as well as perhaps giving myself an outlet for my thoughts on local stuff I am returning to this blog. I cannot say how often I will post here but I do believe I have let too much stuff go by of which I have had opinions (strong ones in some cases) that have gone mostly unheard by anyone else, thus this new beginning. Since we are just past the 2018 NFL Draft and the first few phases of free agency This seems like as good of time as any to start blogging about the Detroit Lions.
Just a little background on my experiences watching the Detroit Lions. I have lived in the Detroit area all of my life but I spent much of it unaware of the team ( I missed the Barry Sanders era completely). I was aware that they were a bad team in the 2000's and at family Thanksgiving gatherings Football would be on but I did not care at the time. I first watched a significant amount of Lions football in 2007 when we got our first HD antenna and started receiving HD broadcast over the air. I watched most, if not all of that season. It was actually a better than average season for the Lions that year (the Matt Millen era) as the team went 7-9 after starting hot and ending bad. It was good enough for me to get my foot in the door. I watched the first few games of the 0-16 2008 season before losing interest. I missed all of the 2009 season as well as the introduction of the team's current Quarterback Matthew Stafford. In 2010 after moving out to my own place getting a nice new TV I knew that Football would be the perfect thing to watch on it. I was treated to my first case of my Football team getting screwed by the officials as I watched a game winning touchdown taken away in grand, stupid fashion under some sort of "completing the process" rule (The "Calvin Johnson" rule as it became known as). I knew that the season was ruined at that point and tuned it out as I moved on to other distractions. In 2011 I watched the full season as the Lions with their new Quarterback (who's name I was fast learning) and their star Wide Receiver ( who I was also getting more knowledgeable about) put up crazy numbers and crazier passes and the Lions went 10-6 and to the post season for the first time in more then a decade. Even though Stafford suffered a hand injury in the middle of the season that cost the team at least a few games I though the the team did well. As a result I was very much looking forward to the 2012 season and even more let down by it as well (4-12). Once again I checked out fairly early in the season. In 2013 I watched the whole season and have been doing so ever since. I have been keeping track of the off season developments since 2015 as well as watching (when I can ) the NFL Draft every year. Since watching the team going 11-5 in 2014 I have been more optimistic about the Lions chances in the upcoming season than most of the people I know ( or know of) and while my expectations for the team have yet to be met in any year The Lions have consistently (since 2014 anyway) done better than most of the experts that I follow have predicted which I take as some sort of validation of my enthusiasm.
I know that I skipped over a bunch of stuff and only touched on the things I did mention but I just wanted to set up some idea of where I am coming from. I am someone who Has been following the team for about a decade with mild interest during the first 5 years and much more determined interest in the second 5 years. Since 2015 the off season has become longer for me in the way that I look forward to the start of the season much more. I follow every development as I try to figure out where the team is headed. I just wanted to get this blog going again with a basic post. I intend to do more detailed observations about this off season and even past seasons. Hopefully I will be more consistent in blogging from here on out. Here's to hoping.
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