The View From Here: A Lions Lament

By Ken De Laat

They’re killing me.
Love the Lions, love Coach Dan, but man, I gotta tell you they are killing me these past few weeks. A squeaker, an improbable comeback win and a truly bad loss and now this Jekyll/Hyde performance against the Saints?
Look, I have endured this team’s propensity for striving toward mediocrity since Eisenhower was president. I know what being a Lion fan is about.
You don’t allow any more than fleeting optimism.
You await big plays being called back due to penalties or third down stops evolving into pass interference calls.
Turnovers at crucial moments are not just  possible but expected
If the game hinges on an overtime kickoff return or  63 yard field goal  it will be the opposing team who performs it.

And now they’re good? I mean not like great or anything with an episodically porous defense and a propensity toward episodes of offensive ennui,  but they’re actually pretty good. They win more often than not, have a 3 game lead in their division and are heading for the playoffs, right?
I mean, they are heading for the playoffs,right? After all they’re 9-3 for Cripes sake, there’s no way they won’t get in.
Right?

You see, this is the bane of being a lifelong Lions fan. This year they have won pretty, won ugly, won when they should have and lost when they shouldn’t have.
And here  they are in first place and one of the three top teams in the whole freaking conference with 5 games to go.
And yet with a far too lengthy history of consistent disappointments to haul around  it is hard not to anticipate the eventual doom that will inevitably befall the team I love.

When the Tigers made their improbable run to the Series in ‘06 I was walking the long departed Shotgun, a quintessential quadruped, along the riverside path each day. I always ran into another dog walker who wore a Tiger hat and would speak of their impending collapse. 
They didn't. 
But it had been 22 years of futility. Who could blame him for remaining pessimistic?

Now add another 44 years.
I truly want to believe Lions, but I gotta tell you.
You’re killing me.