Thanksgiving is always a special holiday for Detroit Lions fans. Our team perenially playing the early afternoon game slot is a wonderful tradition, even if the on-field product hasn’t always been appetizing.
Thankfully, this year is different. The Lions are 10-1, the best record they’ve had entering the annual Thanksgiving game since my late grandfather was playing high school football. He was born during World War I.
The holiday makes me recall family gatherings of the past and people like my grandfather, who passed away 27 years ago. He wasn’t much of a sports fan, but he always indulged my passion for football. We had Thanksgiving at their farmhouse every year, with my cousins and often some distant relatives I barely knew. I was always allowed to sneak away from the main group and watch the Lions on a small black-and-white TV in the kitchen under the guise of helping with the dishes. He’d often sneak in and sit with me, two pieces of my grandma’s exceptional apple pie in hand. I thank him for that in my prayers.
I’m thankful for how the Lions and Thanksgiving helped me integrate with my in-laws. My first time meeting most everyone on my (now) wife’s side of the family was a trip to her grandmother’s house in Eastpointe, then still East Detroit for a few more months.
I still remember the game and the outcome. Lions 16, Bears 6. Jim Harbaugh threw four interceptions for the Bears, which helped me get to know my brother-in-law, a Bears fan and Michigan stan, in a light I’d not seen before. My future family embraced that I knew and loved the Lions even though I was from Ohio. My wife’s grandmother and I got close quickly, thanks to her being a Detroit sports fanatic and a savvy euchre player. She always made sure Thanksgiving dinner was ready to roll as soon as the Lions game ended. I don’t know how she did it, but I’m still grateful for how she did it. She lived to be almost 100 and kept her mind sharp on her Lions, Tigers and (especially) Red Wings up to the very end. Thanks Grandma G!
Since moving to Michigan over 20 years ago, I’ve gotten to know and become friends with so many Lions fans. There’s an inexplicable instant bond from sharing the collective disappointment of being Lions fans of a certain age. Now, that resigned acceptance of inevitable frustration with our team is replaced by the excitement of our beloved Lions being a legitimate Super Bowl contender. We’re all very thankful for that.
So on this Thanksgiving, I’m grateful to Sheila Hamp for her vision and patience as the Detroit Lions owner. I’m grateful to Chris Spielman not only for being my football hero, but for his wisdom and guidance in helping Hamp carry out a plan. I’m thankful that Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell realized quickly they’re cut from the same cloth and can identify others forged by the same seamstress. I’m also exuberantly thankful that their plan is working better than any Lions team has in decades.
I am thankful for some of those truly awful Lions teams, believe it or not. I’m a staunch advocate that to truly enjoy the thrill of victory, you must first know the agony of defeat. My Lions cognizance goes back to the Silver Rush era and Billy Sims, and I feel that agony. Others have dwelled in it far longer, and I’m so thankful that in 2024, it’s finally our time to show our pride in our Lions. It’s been a long time coming, and the best is yet to come. I’m thankful that I actually believe that line, too.
Enjoy Thanksgiving wherever you are and whomever you’re with, and go Lions!
