Thirty Days To Go But Whose Counting?

A very good morning/afternoon/evening to you that are the ever faithful Lions fans!

Let me first start off to apologize to all of you that are my very loyal readers for not posting in a little while. I am not going to make excuses; I will be upfront and say that I didn’t get it done. But I am here now to bring you my thoughts and feelings on the soon to be greatest football team ever, thee Detroit Lions.

We are now exactly thirty days away from the April 25th draft. We will know within the next couple of weeks who the Lions will draft with that number one overall since it looks like we will have to eat the cost of it. There is a four-way race between LB Aaron Curry, QB Matthew Stafford, OT Jason Smith and OT Eugene Monroe.

I have warmed up to QB Matthew Stafford so if we draft him number one overall, I am okay with it. We have a critical need at QB and I have really warmed up to him. It could be fate since he is from the same high school as Bobby Layne. I sincerely believe he is not another Joey Harrington but more of a Jay Cutler type of QB. I don’t mean to sound like I am giving him an endorsement but I will say if we do draft him it wouldn’t be the end of our team. I believe he has good leadership skills, a strong arm and he will be a quality QB. I do wish he had returned to Georgia for his senior year but he has had three very productive years at Georgia.

The other three NFL hopefuls, Curry, Smith and Monroe are all very highly qualified, worthy candidates for the number one. We can only take one of them because the other three will not be there for our 20th pick in the first round. So that is the Lions front-office dilemma. We need an impact player now with that first pick so that is why I don’t think the Lions are going to draft Stafford but take the safe route with Curry, Smith or Monroe.

Most of you have seen me wear my Detroit Lions necktie and everyone feels some sort of sympathy for me. Well I am going to give you all a little insight into my psyche why I am such a hard core fan. I feel something for this team. The sort of feeling when a stone mason sees a boulder and can make a statue out of it; when a carpenter takes a tree trunk and makes a grand piece of furniture out of it; or an artist that can take a brush to a canvas and paint a beautiful portrait. It will become something really great when it is done right. I feel for this team because they have taken such a beating from fans, the media and the rest of the football world. I suppose it is like a parents love for their child.

A love that is always constant whether they are good or bad, that is the kind of love I have for this team. No I am not a fair-weather fan. Much like I root for the Spartans, Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers I believe in loyalty because it is the loyal fans that give these teams life. Without the fans no one would even bother with team names. I believe in this team because I know great things are coming.

The NFL owners recently held their annual owners meeting in Dana Point, California. They have awarded compensatory picks and the Lions received a whopping one pick! WOO-HOO! Yes I was being very sarcastic. Here is the article from NFL.com with the allocations.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80f699b6&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Here is the article from M-Live on the compensatory pick

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/nfl_rewards_detroit_lions_with.html

You know what I find sickening under this current system? Teams like the Titans got four comp picks and the Patriots got three! This is like issuing a bridge card to Bill Gates. These teams do not need them especially the Patriots. This system is set up on free agency acquisitions and departures. I thought it was based on team performance. Now since I like to give solutions and not constant bash like that no talent hack Drew Sharp, I am suggesting a better system. I believe a fair, equitable system would be for the top half of the league getting an extra pick and the bottom half getting two. The reason for that is because with these compensatory picks the New England Patriots have 12 picks in this coming draft! That is just nuts because with that many they can and will control the boards by throwing those picks around to other teams and stacking their roster with a cadre of good players.

Here is an article from M-Live on Coach Jim Schwartz’s take on the first overall pick.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/jim_schwartz_lions_might_not_g.html

It has been announced that the Lions will play the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day. Here is the official press release from the DetroitLions.com web site.

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=482974

The remaining schedule will be announced within the next few weeks. Hopefully with a new roster, coaches and football philosophy we can win this Thanksgiving Day game and stop the embarrassment of letting the country see how bad this team was. I am excited for this Thanksgiving game because of the tradition, the history and my outright hatred for the Packers. If I was only allowed to pick one team I truly despised and wish icky sticky horrible things to happen to it would be the Packers.

Another topic I want to touch basis on is the leaked new Detroit Lions logo on the nflshop.com web site.

Here is the story from M-Live about the jumping the gun on it by the nflshop.com web people.

http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/03/and_the_winner_of_the_new_detr.html

I like the new look of “Bubbles” the leaping lion. I like the new font type of the word Lions and it still keeps the tradition of the logo but gives it a much needed update. I like how they gave it a sort of lifeless eyes like it has no soul, no heart and it symbolizes cold death. That is what the team needs, an image that strikes fear into the hearts of our opponents. I think this change is good and sometime a fresh coat of paint is exactly what a team needs.

Well there is not much more to say no free-agent signings these past couple of weeks. There is still a long way to go until the draft with a lot of private work outs and pro-days to evaluate players and determine the best direction for the team. Until next time God bless and GO LIONS!