Should the Lions really still be considered a national joke?
Apparently, The Simpsons took a cheap shot at the Lions the other night. Some weak joke about nothing good ever happening for Lions fans. I’m not going to get into how absurd it is that the show even still exists, but I am feeling a little sensitive to the diss.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2017/03/13/simpsons-detroit-lions/99116216/
“Lions fan, huh? Sorry about that.”
Currently living in Boston, I can’t seem to wear my Lions hat anywhere around here without somebody apologizing to me. Not trash talking. Not gloating about fricking Tom Brady. Actually apologizing. I get the joke, I support a team that isn’t all that successful. Haha.
The crazy thing is, most of the time they sound like they’re barely even joking. If I walked around the city wearing a hat that says “My pet cat just died” I would garner less sympathy than my Lions one does. It’s happened at Stop n’ Shop, on the elevator at my apartment complex, and while riding on the subway, all within the last two weeks. I get it, but I also don’t get it.
The Lions aren’t bad enough right now, and really haven’t been for about eight years, to still be considered the national laughingstock among football teams. Since Stafford’s six-year streak of consecutive games began, their regular season record is an even .500, with those three recent playoff appearances.
“Jay Leno can kiss my a**”– Johnnie Morton
Obviously, it’s pretty unlikely that any team would ever tap a “We don’t suck as much as we used to!” sign as they run onto the field, but the point here is that the Lions have been gradually improving for some time now. Insisting that they’re still a comically terrible punchline right now is incorrect and lazy.
The Browns and Jaguars are far worse at the moment, the Bears have jumped off a cliff in recent years, the Redskins front office is reaching Millenesque levels of dysfunction, and the last time the Bills had a playoff game was one week after Y2K. Yet Homer Simpson goes after the Lions when he needs something besides another donut joke.
Sure, some of it they bring on themselves. Yes, they once went 0-16. Yes, they once had Matt Millen. They somehow didn’t win the division in 2013. Contrary to the old saying, in Detroit they actually do hang up banners for playoff appearances. The rest of it though, is a tired meme that needs to be buried.
What’s it going to take to earn a little respect and put an end to the joke? Okay, that’s an easy one. You need to win some postseason games at some point, but there’s reason to believe that they’ll take care of that one sooner rather than later. In the meantime, the apologies and pop culture pot shots can stop. Especially coming from an obsolete cartoon show that’s also had about three decent seasons in the last 25 years.
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