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are the lions any longer entitled to a t-day game?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Herbert Anchovy, Nov 28, 2008.

  1. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    Or a Bud Selig solution. The Seahawks have sucked... should they have been allowed on TV to play Dallas?

    Let the Lions play on Turkey Day. Eventually the team will get better. Might be 2030 before it happens, but it will happen.

    Oh, and 75 or so days until spring training, Pallister. :)
     
  2. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    I haven't waded through all the posts on this thread, but my two cents:

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it NFL policy to ensure every team gets one nationally televised game per season (i.e. Thursday, Sunday or Monday night football — and there's also Thanksgiving Day). If that's the case, the Lions will still be seen in all their awfulness on national TV at some point each season. So, that said, what's it matter if it that day is ALWAYS Thanksgiving? Like someone said on Page 1 of this thread, they invented the Thanksgiving Day game (back in 1932, I believe). That alone is enough for me to say the day should to belong to the Lions, good or bad. The fact they're going to be paraded out there for all the nation to see at some point each year is just another reason to say let it be Thanksgiving Day.
     
  3. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    In the NFL, even blind squirrels get a nut every now and then. Keep in mind, for Cincinnati, it was 15 years between nuts.

    If the NFL were run like baseball, then teams like Arizona, Detroit and Cincinnati would be as forlorn as Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Washington are in baseball.
     
  4. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    If you're thinking about the NFL handing Thanksgiving Day games as a perk for running one's franchise well, you're putting a lot more thought into it than the NFL does.

    It's much simpler than that.
     
  5. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Bud Selig's solution would be for the Lions to play a home game in Tokyo on August 28.
     
  6. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    On that last point, we most definitely agree.
     
  7. CitizenTino

    CitizenTino Active Member

    I have very few positive things to say about the Browns this year, but in their defense, they're 2-0 on MNF this year, including a blowout of the otherwise-undefeated Giants.

    And Incaviglia, the NFL absolutely does not try to get every single team onto national TV during the year. With the NFL Network adding more national TV games, you're likely to get a wider variety of teams, but there are still plenty of examples of teams going the entire season without an appearance on national TV.
     
  8. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Count me in with the traditionalists here. There's no reason to throw it out the window, even if the Lions do suck. It's just a tradition with too much good history to toss just because it's in a trough. Since 1934, for crying out loud.

    The way to save it, as some have mentioned, would be to have Detroit play a divisional opponent or another traditional pre-merger rival. I'd say, in order of preferability: Packers, Bears, Vikings, Browns, Giants, Redskins, Eagles. Though I guess a Browns game would be a rarity owing to Cleveland being in the AFC. The divisional games would be best for competitive balance and interest, I'm guessing.

    As a side note, strengthening the Thanksgiving tradition instead of abandoning it would be a nice gesture toward NFL fans in Detroit, who have had to put up with a shitty team in their town even going back to the days when Detroit was a more prosperous and influential city.

    Dallas should also play either a divisional rival or a traditional NFC playoff foe like Minnesota or San Francisco.
     
  9. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    The game was still rather interesting and fun from a fantasy perspective. Lots of scoring, turnovers - the best team in the league. It could have been worse; it could have been Minnesota at Detroit.
     
  10. D-Backs Hack

    D-Backs Hack Guest

    At one time, the NFL got every team at least one national-TV appearance a season. The TNT/ESPN Sunday night games served as that purpose for the league's woebegone teams, which is why you always used to see the Cardinals on Sunday night in Week 2 or 3 during the 1990s.

    Since the most recent expansion, though, that hasn't been the case. Don't know why; you'd think the NFL Network games would serve as a way to get the bad teams on national TV.
     
  11. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    Through Week 14, 27 teams will have played either a Sunday, Monday or Thursday night game — and the Lions got Thanksgiving.

    Here's who won't get a "nationally televised" night game/Thanksgiving Day game this season:
    Cincy, Atlanta, St. Louis, Miami and KC.

    That's if I didn't screw up while I quickly went through the schedule.
     
  12. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    Cincy got an NFL Network Thursday night game last week.
     
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