Gameday Post, 2010 Preseason: Bills vs. Lions

One last time, one last tune-up, one last chance for those on the bubble.  One last game-that’s-not-a-game, one last test-that’s-not-a-test, one last dress rehearsal before the curtain goes up on 2010.  I posted the picture above from last season’s tilt with the Bills as a a warning, a preventative talisman—in case Matthew Stafford does get on the field, that picture above is exactly what must never happen.

Everything else is a bonus.  Please, gather and discuss in the comments below.

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Three Cups Deep: Preseason Week 3

This post started with a momentus gameday Tweet from @jschwartzlions:

"If you are going, STAND UP and cheer. If you hadn’t planned on going, get yourself some tix. We NEED you, Lions nation. Be loud, be proud."

When I read that, I kind of got chills.  I think it’s every fan’s delusion, every fan’s special comfort, to believe that somehow, some way, if they only cheer hard enough, they can will their team to victory.  If they wear their lucky jersey, if they watch it on TV, if they don’t watch it on TV, if they go to the stadium in face paint and cheer their guts out, somehow they can help their team win.  Here was the Lions’ head coach, in a message addressed to Lions fans everywhere, telling us to STAND UP and cheer.  To be loud, and be proud.  Incredibly, he said that the Lions need their fans behind them.

This concept has intrigued me since I chatted up Seahawks blogs and forums last year, and discovered that ‘Hawks fans really take their “12th Man” idea seriously.  They really do believe that the noise they generate has a tangible on-field effect for their team.  Yes, pure decibel levels of crowd noise can make it hard for opposing offenses to get their cadences out, but it’s more than that to them; they really believe that their cheering transfers spirit, mojo, power to their Seahawk players. 

Back in the 90s, the Lions had a fairly predictable dynamic: generally win at home, and generally lose on the road.  Some years it would be tipped towards “win,” and others towards “lose", but even in the leaner years, what wins there were seemed to always come at home.  At least part of that, I’d like to think, came from the Lions’ home-field advantage at the Silverdome: a weird inflatable surface, resting underneath a cavernous dome, and yes—a large, raucous crowd that let both benches have it with impunity.

Ford Field, in my experience, is a beautiful shell, but often it’s lifeless.  Sterile.  Empty.  The building itself has plenty of character, but it all seems hollow when the crowds don’t come—or worse, when the crowds come but sit silent, waiting for the inevitable release of failure. 

I’ve said before that there’s a certain safety in futility; to give in, to cash out, and be cynical . . . it’s easy.  It hurts, it sucks, but it’s also easy.  If you’re a constant naysayer, you don’t bear any risk!  If you’re right, you were right not to invest yourself, and if you’re wrong, then WHOO-HOO!  But to allow yourself to hope again?  That’s climbing onto a tightrope walker’s plaftorm.  To allow yourself to feel again, to cheer again, to drape yourself in the Honolulu Blue and brand yourself with the Leaping Lion?  That’s putting one foot out on that rope.  To come to the games expecting victory instead of defeat?  To stand up and exult when your team takes the field?  That’s taking the second foot off the platform, and walking little more than faith.

I don’t think the half-full stadium made Jahvid Best run like that.  Matthew Stafford has been as remarkable on the road as he was at home.  Clearly, the defense wasn’t bolstered by whatever Lions fans brought to the table on Saturday.  I don’t know if we fans really can affect what happens on the field, either directly or indirectly.  But our coach says they need us.  Our coach is directly appealing to us, the fans, to come and help them win.

I know that with all the misplaced faith, and all the wasted emotion, and all the unwearable jerseys hanging in our closets, that’s a big ask.  It’s like Jerry Maguire telling Rod Tidwell, “Help me . . . help you.”

Jim Schwartz isn’t hanging by a thread; his job is more than secure.  But this season starts with a gauntlet of divisional road games and vicious home games, and if the Lions start 2010 going 1-5, they might as well pack it in and wait for 2011.  This young Lions team needs confidence, swagger, momentum, and for that they’ll need all the light and heat the blue bonfire can provide.  I have to say . . . I dig that about them.

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions,cleveland browns,preseason,matthew stafford,jahvid best

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Gameday Post, 2010 Preseason: Lions at Steelers

 
we won’t be seeing a whole lot of this tonight

The starters won’t play for long.  The schemes will be vanilla.  The crowd will be slow to cheer, and quick to head for the exits.  Everything is made up, and the points don’t matter.  But tonight, at 7:30, the Detroit Lions  will play football for the first time this season.

It seems as though this offseason has evaporated, the long bleak period of silence unexpectedly filled with the chatter and buzz of building expectations.  The call for, and drafting of, Ndamukong Suh has stoked the little blue flame.  More and more folks are coming ‘round to see what’s happening in Detroit: Matthew Stafford developing into a real leader, Calvin Johnson coming out of his shell, Jahvid Best primed to explode onto the scene, and Kyle Vanden Bosch cranking up the intensity on one of the most talented defensive lines in football. 

Besides new national attention, old friends are coming back home to sit by the fire.  I’m seeing Lions hats and T-shirts more than I have in years.  I’m talking Lions with people—really talking about what’s happening, not just “Oh you’re still a fan, huh?”  People really are eager to see the Lions take take the next step: they’ve gone from oblivion to existence; now from existence to worthwhile existence.

Of course, as I’ve said multiple times, there’s a danger in this: now that the Lions have taken one step forward, it’s possible that they could take a step back.   Now that they’ve made progress, they may regress.  It’s no longer true that the only way to go from here is up.  Of course, it’s evident that this year’s Lions are more talented than last year’s iteration—but that safety net is gone.  With the possibility of hope fulfilled, comes the possibility of hope denied.

In terms of the mechanics of the game, I did a guest game preview column for a very cool Steelers blog, The Steelers N'at.  Pop over there and check it out (I included a little Aaron Brown highlight action for ya).

So, friends, are you ready?  Is your parka off, and your jersey on?  Are you feeling the heat of the blue bonfire?  Let’s pour some cider, clink our mugs, and hang out in the comments section!

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions,pittsburgh steelers,matthew stafford,ben roethlisberger,the steelers n'at,ndamukong suh,calvin johnson,kyle vanden bosch

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