The Lions need to go.

Folks, I hope none of you had the displeasure of watching the Lions epic failure yesterday. I'm sure we are all jumping for joy because the game wasn't blacked out, it was either we were jumping for joy or after the 4th play we were jumping to the bathroom to go puke. Seriously that was the worst I have ever seen any NFL team ever play...I'm not kidding the Lions are just awful. The only good thing that can come out of this is that everyone saw how TERRIBLE they are thanks to the idiots who bought the tickets to make it a sell-out, and now no one will ever go near Ford Field when the Lions are playing....EVER AGAIN!

This ladies and gentlemen is the EXACT reason why we need some sort of promotion & regulation system in American sports. Now I know most people will say, "But Marc, American owners will never go for it. They invest a lot of money to have professional teams." But people lets look at the facts, first there are a ton of semi-pro leagues for every sport around the country...baseball and hockey are the most obvious with their Minor League System, but there are minor leagues for football and basketball too.

Most of the time people who make cases against promotion & regulation are from cities whose teams aren't that bad...but seriously folks when the Tigers lost 119 games a few years back, they should have been sent down to AAA...at least. Now I'm as big a Tigers fan as anyone in the entire world, but I would have much rather seen the Tigers rebuild their proud franchise as they work they way back up to the Major leagues. Honestly that would have been easier to take than another massive losing season.

Now here is another thing I dislike about American sports. The idea that franchises can be relocated...with promotion & regulation that wouldn't happen. Lets take a look at the Seattle Sonics issue. If there was pro/reg they would have simply been regulated to say the league below NBA, but the Sonics would still exist in Seattle and after regaining their footing if they won the league they would be promoted back into the NBA. Now to everyone saying this is a stupid idea, go ask anyone in Seattle if they would rather have this happen and still get to keep their Sonics or if they would rather have their Sonics leave to just go suck in some other city? Nearly every Sonics fan I'm sure would say they would much rather have the team stay in Seattle and work its way back up to NBA.

So here is the thing, if pro/reg existed in America, the Lions would have been regulated years ago, we would have never had to suffer through this terrible excuse for a Major League franchise, Ford would have probably sold the Lions and some new owner who actually cared would have bought them and began to turn them around. I bet any money if the Lions were regulated in say 2000, they would be back in the NFL and playing respectable (notice not good, just respectable...thats all we can hope for) now in 2008. And here is why they would...

In order to get promoted back into the league above you, you have to prove things. You have to prove that you can win first off. You have to prove you have a coaching staff that knows how to push the right buttons, a General Manager who knows how to sign the right players, and an Owner who actually cares about his teams play. There are enough good football players in America that when put on a team could be very dangerous, think about how many college football players never play after college football, and there are some good ones out there. For example, whats John Navarre doing these days? Sitting 3rd string in Arizonia? Look we know he wasn't great, but could he lead a 2nd league football team? I'm sure he could and he could probably do it better than any Detroit QB right now. So you have to remember there is a ton of football talent in America...a second division would be very competitive (That is after all the teams form and begin to gel..give it a year or two). So a team being promoted into the NFL would have to prove itself worthy.

I think its a great system and this way, the Lions would have a better chance to avoid becoming the worst team every year. It may not be perfect but its better than watching the Lions look like they couldn't beat Farmington High. If you still don't believe me than fine, but enjoy a HUGE laugh after watching these Lions Bloopers...from one game.