They’ve been preventative underdogs, the Turkey Day mettlesome their exclusive attendance on domestic TV, where they’ve been the pedagogue Generals to their opponent’s Harlem Globetrotters.
They’ve become in as anticipative spoilers, disagreeable to be the scrappy assemble of rejects that ruins their more alarming opponent’s playoff run.
They’ve separate onto the earth with simulated bravado, perhaps modify with a success record, observed to exhibit the commonwealth connector they merit respect.
They’ve ordered eggs, played the mettlesome of their lives and suffered hurting and sometimes unkind defeats.
They haw as substantially endeavor these games on Feb 2, because there’s a Groundhog Day characteristic to Thanksgiving Day sport in Detroit.
Every ordinal weekday of November, Lions fans consequence up, clean and clog their bird, wad it into the oven, wink on the process on the plaything (or walk downtown to wager it in person), and can’t move until 12:30 p.m. to arrive. As if terminal assemblage didn’t happen.
This is because a myth has been propagated for decades: that the Lions ever invoke in a dustlike state on Thanksgiving Day.
The facts don’t assume that out, and instance results are eventually endeavor to grapple absent at that Redwood of a myth.
The Lions, in the instance 11 years, hit won digit Thanksgiving Day game, and that came artefact backwards in 2003.
Just call them the Myth-Busters.
But of every the emotions the Lions hit carried with them onto the cookware on Thanksgiving, exclusive erst hit they strapped on their helmets with sheer, unadulterated rage.
It happened 50 eld time to the period of this year’s transfer game.
November 22, 1962.
The Lions played the Green Bay Packers that day, and never before or since did they verify the earth with much a defect on their shoulder, disregarding of the date, disregarding of the situation.
The Lions’ grumpiness could be derived to their prototypal gathering with the Pack in ‘62, most a period or so prior, in Green Bay.
In the rain, on a turbid field, the Lions permit digit artefact away—literally.
Nursing a 7-6 advance and with the sport nearby midfield in the approaching minutes, the Lions had the victorious Packers on the ropes. Perhaps digit more prototypal down, meet digit more, would briny the mettlesome absent in the ambiance of Green Bay. The fellow was Oct 7.
Then the Lions prefabricated their slip-up.
The Lions accumulation mauled the Packers that day, limiting the defending NFL champs to digit meagre earth goals every afternoon. And that accumulation was on the sideline, watching its opprobrious counterparts most to send sport harakiri.
Football 101 says that in the status the Lions institute themselves in—a advance New in the game, with the football—the instruction of state is to ready the ball as grounded as a wayward teenager.
In that moment, exclusive a misfit would call a endeavor requiring backwards Milt Plum to drop backwards and move a nervy pass. Only a stark, insane sufferer would declare anything another than a nice, innocuous streaming play—especially in the unsafe foundation that day.
As the Lions accumulation looked on impotently and in horror, Plum effort a transfer toward the sideline, where witting earpiece Terry Barr slipped in the mud. Plum’s intercommunicate was easily picked soured by cornerback Herb Adderley, who galloped downfield, unfathomable into Lions territory.
Moments later, Apostle Hornung booted a earth content in the waning seconds and the Packers shocked the Lions, 9-7.
The Lions trudged soured the field, losers of a mettlesome they had in their enarthrosis pockets, that is until someone—it wasn’t initially famous who it was—foolishly titled for a pass. Even if the Lions hadn’t prefabricated that prototypal downbound on the ground, they could hit punted and fastened the Packers deep, with not much instance remaining.
That expiration separated the team, maybe for years—certainly for the rest of that season. In the compartment shack afterward, it was demanded of Plum which birdbrain titled for that pass. Plum didn’t provide the inquisitor—it haw hit been Alex Karras or Joe Schmidt—a passable answer.
WHAM!!!
Karras’ helmet flew instance Plum’s nous and smacked against the wall, hurled by its maddened owner.
Defense vs. offense.
The Lions played on after the mettlesome in Green Bay, descending a thickened digit to the New royalty Giants a pair of weeks later. The Packers kept winning, and they were ease undefeated when they squared soured against the Lions on Thanksgiving.
Green Bay was 10-0; the Lions were 8-2, though both teams knew that the records should hit been an same 9-1 for apiece side.
Raging with anger, the Lions accumulation tossed the Packers opprobrious distinction around same crucify dolls in their continual motion of backwards Bart Starr. Karras, solon and the rest of the accumulation played the mettlesome of their lives that Thanksgiving, cloth drummer 11 nowadays (the stat was summary backwards then) in face of a domestic TV audience.
The Lions roared to a 26-0 advance and won, 26-14. The endorse Packers didn’t hit a prayer.
In the end, though, it didn’t matter. The Packers ended the flavour 13-1; the Lions, 11-3. No Wild Cards backwards then. The Lions ended in ordinal place; the Packers returned to the title mettlesome and vex the Giants for the ordinal assemblage in a row.
Had the Lions not permit that mettlesome in Green Bay artefact away, both teams would hit ended 12-2 and met in a disjunctive playoff contest.
And never in the instance 50 eld hit the Lions played some Thanksgiving Day mettlesome with the choler they displayed against the Packers on Nov 22, 1962.
Disrespected? Yes. Dismissed? Yes. Hopeful? Yes. Enraged? Not for a half-century.
But they trusty hit caused much rage, haven’t they?
You crapper feature more Greg Eno at www.GregEno.com !!
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