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Why do the Lions always play on Thanksgiving?
doubledragon
Posts: 23,033 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Must they always force us to watch the Lions,?
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doubledragon
Posts: 23,033 ✭✭✭✭✭
doubledragon
Posts: 23,033 ✭✭✭✭✭
doubledragon
Posts: 23,033 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
It’s definitely a Tradition.
Detroit vs Chicago is enough to spoil your appetite though but at least it’s NFL!
The other games should be “OK”. I would have liked them to schedule a better tilt though like a Green Bay vs KC or something
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/detroit-lions-thanksgiving-explained/5ym3h65v3d3m16ev64nuk5kfj
Ah yes, tradition.
we always have our thanksgiving meal at lunchtime, so it is perfect timing for the terrible lions game. eat thanksgiving, then dessert, then visit for awhile, then get ready to watch Dallas.
perfect.
man i love thanksgiving
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
That sounds like a good idea, plan the meal and visitation during the Lions game, and finish up right when the Bears are taking the final knee. 🤔
And Dallas too.
I haven't read the above article, nor have I researched this, so please both forgive me and (kindly) correct me if my observations are not correct. 😂😂
Having a weekly Thursday night game is now part of the NFL schedule. The players, coaches, and fans know that the product is not the same. It can't be. What we see on Sundays (or very week) is very much the byproduct of meticulous, repetitious preparation. The short week throws everything off. But it's now baked into the NFL lexicon I guess and we have to make due with what is typically less than we deserve and less than the players deserve as well.
I have heard the history of the Cowboys playing on Thanksgiving discussed many times from different voices. I know I have forgotten much of it I am sure 🙃 but the one fact that always stands out is ...... the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving because no one else wanted to and they actually said 'yes'.
Of course the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving, it's Jerry's favorite holiday.
The Lions are a terrible franchise. Just terrible. Their only cool thing in 70 years was Barry Sanders. Other than that....no one cares at all.
not to be morbid, but if you eat turkey while watching the Bears-Lions you may very well die from an overdose of tryptophan
If you watch the Lions play on Thanksgiving, one thing is guaranteed.
Jesus, Jerry, didn't Romo give you what you wanted?
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Their only cool thing in 70 years was Barry Sanders. Other than that....no one cares at all.
The Lions were one of the dominant Teams during the decade of the 1950's. they had this guy, maybe you've heard of him, Bobby Layne who was just fabulous and is credited with "inventing" the two-minute drill. they had another guy who played with Layne, Doak Walker, maybe you've heard of him because he's also in the NFL HOF. The Lions also had this guy named Billy Sims, but I digress.
History can be an annoying thing, but if you let it inform you it can be enjoyable.
an interesting and little known fact about The Detroit Lions is that they originated in Portsmouth, Ohio around 1930, one of the oldest franchises in NFL history(there's that History again). with all the BS going on in the NFL with St.Louis and franchises moving around and holding Cities hostage for new stadiums, many don't know that's the reason the Portsmouth Spartans moved up to Detroit to become The Lions.
And the curse of Bobby Layne lasted way more than 50 years
You notice I said cool thing...meaning that no one talks much about Layne and Walker anymore or really any Lions history. Sanders gets lots of talk over 20 years past his retirement. I'm well aware that Layne and Walker were terrific players. Lem Barney and "Night train" were terrific too. I will have to change my opinion- they're the best organization in the history of pro sports.
Everyone enjoy their turkey and afternoon game watching. LOL.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32646037/nfl-thanksgiving-day-games-history-why-lions-cowboys-play-every-year-best-moments-traditions-records
Steve
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.......
Thank you for the link. I definitely remember hearing the story told as no one else wanted it. But that link fills in the pieces for me. Thank you!
When I was a kid in the 1960s, it was always the Lions vs. the Packers. They used to be rivals, competing for the Western Division title back then with the Packers holding the edge. The Lions pulled the upset a couple times, if memory serves. I am not sure when Green Bay fell out of the yearly Thanksgiving schedule.
Then Dallas got a Thanksgiving game along with the Lions. Dallas has seemed to have more “pull” with the NFL leadership than most franchises.
A quick Google search gave me an answer.
In 1934, the Lions owner, George Richards, started the traditional game to draw more fans. The Tigers were the big professional sports franchise in Detroit, and the Lions were drawing poorly. That first game was a sellout with fans being turned away. Richards boosted his position because he owned the NBC radio station as well. He got the play by play broadcast, and NBC liked the idea as well.
Some people might not know this, but professional football was a bush league sport back then which struggled to survive. Baseball ruled. College football was big, but not the pros. Professional football came into its own starting in the mid 1950s and has grown to overtake baseball since then.