The NFL Lockout is Over: What it Means to This Detroit Lions Fan

Finally I get to write an article that only mentions the NFL lockout because it is over! I’m a Detroit Lions fan first and a blogger second, so what does this mean to me? I have come up with a few thoughts.

1. We can start getting excited about the Lions season in earnest
There has been a lot of excitement about what the future holds for the Detroit Lions. All the talk, discussion and debate about just how good the Lions season could be has been done in the shadow of a lockout. I always felt like there would be football in 2011 but the uncertainty about what the season would look like added a wrinkle into the way all Lions fans have thought about the upcoming season. The shadow of the lockout has been lifted, training camp will start soon and we now know that the Detroit Lions will hit the field as scheduled. There is no reason to hold back that excitement now.

2. The ride is about to start and it won’t end for months
The Detroit Lions in free agency, the Detroit Lions in training camp, the Detroit Lions playing preseason football, the Detroit Lions playing regular season football…Things are going to get serious very quickly and it won’t end until January or February. The dead periods are over and it is time to focus on Detroit Lions football all the way until the time comes to talk about the 2012 NFL Draft. Take a moment to ponder what is about to happen, it just kind of occurred to me last week.

3. That thought about season tickets in the back of my head will grow.
The combination of a good home schedule and the potential for a good Lions season has had me thinking about buying a season ticket package a few times over the last couple months. The certainty of the season will only cause that to grow. Not sure if I’ll actually pull the trigger but it is going to get more difficult to say no to myself.

4. I don’t have to use the word “lockout” unless I want to
Look along the right side of the page and you’ll find a heading labeled “archives”. Under the banner you’ll see a number of words that represented the most commonly used post tags on this site. It was sometime last week that I noticed “lockout” has made its way on the list. I hated to see that. I wouldn’t have been doing my job if the lockout was never discussed on this site but I’ll be glad to let that one fall off the list.

As an aside, I’d like to thank each and every one of you that have found or continued to read this blog during the lockout. I have been humbled by the amazing consistency this site’s traffic has seen since the 2010 season ended and the lockout dragged on. You’re the best! If this is the first article you’ve read on this site, welcome. I hope you come back and spend some time with us through what figures to be an exciting season of football.

What does the end of the lockout mean to you?

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