It has been mentioned by many sports fans and football pundits that perhaps the Detroit Lions are not the proper team to represent the NFL during the early game on Thanksgiving Day. That maybe Americans don't want to suffer through the holiday with their extended family and the Lions. That possibly Detroit should forfeit their exclusive rights to the “Turkey Game” and restrict themselves, for the sake of the nation, to the fifth-string noon game on Fox where they are found on normal weeks. These out-spoken dissenters would prefer that the Thanksgiving schedule is done on a rotating basis.

I believe that the people making these arguments are elitists, liberals and probably communists. Two score and a handful of years ago the Lions' fathers sacrificed their hearty Thanksgiving meals for the opportunity to show the nation what their style of football represented. The organization set the stage for their future knowing that they would rarely have to remind America about Lions football in other prime time events like playoffs, Monday Night Football, or Super Bowls, when they could just show the nation everything they brought to the table on Thanksgiving.

Like true capitalists they sacrificed their paid holidays to reap the rewards of public recognition. Their Thanksgiving enterprise wasn't pretty like Tiffany's, or dominant like Wal-Mart, but somehow like K-Mart the tradition survived. The NFL would later add a late game featuring The Dallas Cowboys or as some ultra-conservatives refer to them, “America's Team”.

Much like the commy-liberals who want a fair Thanksgiving Day rotation of games, the conservatives want to eliminate the Lions. They cast judgment over the lowly franchise for never making a Super Bowl appearance, while their Turkey Day brethren Cowboys have made more trips to the big game than anyone. These complainers believe that only teams with so-called “playoff hopes” should represent the true spirit of America on our second or third greatest Holiday.

What no one on either side understands is that the Detroit Lions are the true embodiment of America. They represent the bankrupt entrepreneur that keeps our economy innovating. When the NFL needed a guinea pig for Holiday football they stepped up for the challenge and took the lumps, paving the way for two more games to line the NFL's pockets. They signed off on the dotted line, got their sup-prime mortgage, and asked only for their one measly chance each season to show America they still exist.

Without Detroit's presence on Thanksgiving day there would be many fans who would be even more depressed about their teams. Imagine the joy in the hearts of Rams, Chiefs, Seahawks and Raiders fans when they woke up Thursday and saw a team far worse than anything they've seen this year. (Well maybe not Rams fans) Each season there's about eight teams who have no shot at the post-season by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. The Lions bring joy to these teams' fans by displaying a football-like substance so putrid it reminds everyone of how much better their teams are than Detroit.

And isn't that what American's love? Having someone's mediocrity fulfill their hearts with the knowledge that at least their better off than someone else. So let's return thanks to the Lions. It could always be worse, we could have to watch the Bengals.

wh@sportymcbloggin.com