Lions' Dreadful Play Has Breeded True Apathy in Fans

It's a moot point to say that the Lions have reached rock bottom as a team. Every year they redefine just what "rock bottom" is, anyway. Last year it was blowing a 6-2 start to the season by not even breaking even with a .500 season. This year, it's been a thoroughly abysmal season, from start to now. At 0-9, you have a Lions team in which the players come in each Sunday, with a feeling that some how, some way, they're going to lose the game. Some might say they have looked good for full quarters on certain occasions but that is likely a product of teams dropping their intensity once they've put up 21 points to the Lions' zero.

What's a shame is that two factors that should be working in favor of the Detroit Lions, are rendered irrelevant by their ghastly on-field performance:

1. This country is addicted to football - Whether it be high school, college, or the pros, we never seem to get enough of football in this country, much like the way Europeans are to soccer. With it only being one day a week for fans of NFL teams, there is not that sense of boredom that the casual fan might get with baseball or hockey.

2. Detroit is a addicted to sports - Metro Detroit is an area that takes its sports teams very seriously (even if they aren't the most educated of fans). You get that same sort of blue-collar mentality approach towards the teams, too. In Pittsburgh, it results in a ravenous, blood-thirsty fan base who lives for their Steelers. In Detroit, well, not so much.

For years I have been hearing out of Detroiters, "I'll watch the Lions this Sunday, but I don't really invest myself emotionally." I've never really believed that until this year. For one, they haven't even had the chance to watch them on television two home games (Redskins and Jaguars) since the Lions can't sell out the games. But I think even if every home game is televised, the average sports fan in Detroit will simply find something better to do on Sunday because its no longer entertaining. There is no star power, save Calvin Johnson, on this team to speakof that would compel a fan to watch. We've gone through the "Will they go 0-16?" watch before in 2002 and ironically enough, the 12th game of the season that they actually won was blacked out.

It's one thing to be passionate about a football team and its another to simply hope they win. At this point, Lions' fans could truly care less. Winning at this point in the season does them no good, rather hurting their chances at a #1 pick. Hopes for the future dwindle each year as we assume progress but get regress. For some fans, tuning into the Lions would be simply for the sake of laughing at their foibles. But that no longer seems to be the case: The Detroit Lions have become a joke that no one is laughing at any more.

Oh and don't bother pointing out the irony of me writing about the apathy fans now have towards the Lions. I'm well aware of it.