Detroit Lions: The Offseason of Distractions

Much of the focus on the Detroit Lions this offseason has been on items that have nothing to do with winning or losing. But could that be a good thing?

The Detroit Lions represent an interesting story for the upcoming 2016 season because, really, we don’t know what type of season they will experience. Will they be able to carry the momentum from a good finish to a lost season with the assistance of one of the easiest schedules in the NFL? Or will they be the Lions that we’ve grown to grudgingly refer to as our favorite team, that make us wish Sundays were free from the stress of football by Week 4, as often happens?

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With the departure of Calvin Johnson, and the arrival of the Bob Quinn regime, we really have no idea what kind of football will be on display at Ford Field this season, but we are certainly getting a feel for what will be happening around Ford Field that will have no bearing on the team at all.

Wi-Fi

Perhaps the biggest clamor we’ve heard from Lions’ fans the last few years is that Ford Field’s Wi-Fi, or lack thereof, sucks. This is a problem that is rampant throughout sports as teams scramble to find ways to please fans that have a smartphone glued to their hands.

Look, I am no different and spend WAY too much time on my mobile device. A season ticket holder for the Lions until I moved out-of-state in 2007, the need for technology enhancements was simply not a concern of mine in pre-smartphone days. Perhaps it would be different if I still spent eight Sundays a year there now, but I’m more concerned about the team winning, which, of course, rarely happens.

Cheerleaders

Gimme a 1, Gimme a 9, Gimme a 5, Gimme a 7, What’s that spell? Incredible sadness.

Next on the docket: cheerleaders. One of the first major acts as team president, Rod Wood consulted with owner Martha Ford, deciding the time was right for the Detroit Lions to have professional cheerleaders on the sidelines.

For years, I’ve heard callers to local sports talk radio shows complain that the Lions needed to have cheerleaders. These are often the same people who frequent comment sections stating the certain facts that the Fords must sell the team for them to win or that Matthew Stafford must be benched in favor of third-stringer ~~Kellen Moore~~ Jake Rudock. All are rather dumb and played out talking points that have no clear logic behind them.

Having been to Lions’ road games in Florida, I have seen cheerleaders on the sidelines and have never really given them a second thought. No, I don’t think cheerleading demeans women, it just doesn’t move my personal needle one way or another. It’s just not a factor I consider when shelling out $70 for a game or $700 for season tickets.

Uniforms

Next up, the Lions’ uniforms. I’ll admit, I am a bit of a fanboy for uniforms, and avidly follow the exceptional Uni-Watch Blog. So admittedly, this perhaps piqued my interest a little more than others.

Early in the offseason, Wood said the Lions would be getting new throwback uniforms in 2017, and that a rumored “radical” uniform and logo change could be in the offing (this was later refuted). This led some to hope that the team would ditch the traditional Honolulu Blue & Silver in favor of “winning” colors. By this logic, of course, wearing different colors instead of the hues that represent the stench of 60 years of failure would immediately vault this team to Super Bowl contention. Okay, sure.

We also had the ugly specter of the black uniforms returning (Please for the love of God, no–erase the Millen-era black as much as possible) as alternates or color rush uniforms. The latest rumor is the Lions will wear red–yes red–on Thanksgiving, because nothing says “Detroit Lions” more than the red uniforms they wore for a season or two during the Harry Truman administration.

Winning Solves All

Oddly enough, things you haven’t heard a lot of have been on-the-field concerns. This is something Lions’ beat writers often take to Twitter to complain about: the lack of openness since Quinn brought the air of mystery over from the organization that invented it, the New England Patriots.

Perhaps this is a good thing though. While some have predicted the Lions to be one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2016, maybe, just maybe, the Lions are keeping everything that matters close to the vest to take the league by surprise. Perhaps this is a fairy tale, but one can certainly hope.

After all, you don’t hear fans of perennial winning organizations such as New England, Pittsburgh, and Seattle whining about their game day experience. Why? Because winning trumps everything else.

Next: Chad Ford connects 8 draft prospects to Pistons

So while some fans will enjoy powerful Wi-Fi, organized cheers, and colorful, gimmicky uniforms, I’ll enjoy wins when we can get them. And if there aren’t many victories? Well, I’m used to that by now. Thank goodness for The RedZone Channel!

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