Y'know, I'm not gonna mount a soap box over DT Nick Fairley's latest run-in with the fuzz, clocking in at 100 mph with an open container in his Escalade, more Hammered than a pair of genie pants, in his hometown of Mobile, Al early this morning.I was getting busted with drugs and DUI's when I was Nick's age, too, only difference being I didn't have a 700 thousand dollar check from the Lions in my bank account back then.Reel it in, son.
2007:Humble Beginnings
Remember this? In 2007, the Detroit Lions looked to be coasting into the playoffs at 6-2 after throttling the Denver Broncos on the road, and thus, Silver Rush '77 was born out of the team's success.This blog, where I'd talk about my sole football team since that fateful Sunday when I caught Greg Landry(the only Lion QB to make the Pro Bowl since I've been alive) hooking up with wideout Luther Blue over two Viking defenders in the Honolulu Blue and Silver home uni's that'd become my mania over the next three plus decades. Of course, they'd finish the season 7-9 and miss the playoffs that year, and I would bow out of my Lions blog obligations long before that, having run out of positives to write about, and the hot girlfriend whose pics I'd post after losses to remind trollers who was the boss regardless, having run out with them.The hot mess that was the 2008 season assured me that I had done the right thing in putting it to rest.I won't talk about those miserable sixteen games, or most of the other Millen era games here unless I'm asked to nicely, and even then, I'm not making any promises.Not that there hasn't been any other misery for Lion-backers along the way...there was Jeff Komlo and the 2-14 squad in '79, losing seven of nine in '80 to miss the playoffs, losing to Tampa Bay on the final game of the season at home to miss the playoffs in '81(You "Bear Down" mother-effers will no doubt remember the Thanksgiving O.T. game that year...dicks.), or speaking of Thanksgiving games, how about 1982, when Lawrence Taylor intercepted Gary Danielson as the Lions were driving deep in the Giants' red zone to ice the game and took it to the house for the win.There'll be plenty of room for nostalgia here, and I promise to stroll down memory lane whereever applicable.
1978 Heisman Trophy winning Oklahoma running back Billy Sims was the first Lion superstar in # 20 to me.
It still blows my mind that there are Lions fans out there who never had the opportunity to see the good teams and players they've fielded throughout the early eighties, when guys like Sims catapulted over Houston Oiler defenders and Al "Bubba" Baker, Doug English, William Gay, and Dave Pureifory comprised one of the most dominant D-lines in all of football(#1 Rush D in the NFL, 1980-81), and a missed Eddie Murray FG was all that kept Detroit from beating Joe Montana's 49ers in the '83 playoffs, and all through the nineties, winning two division titles and making the playoffs six times, thanks to the high-powered offense(#1 in the NFL in '95) generated by wide receivers like Herman Moore, Brett Perriman, and Johnny Morton, but mainly, on the legs of OSU running back and Lion HOFer, Barry Sanders, his legendary status well-deserved, and the subject of many future posts here at the Rush.Well, another season is right around the corner, and though we Detroit fans have certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of the "Wait 'til next season!" warcry in the decades since Milt Plum last led a Detroit team to an NFL Championship(that'd be 1957, for you youngbloods, in the pre-Super Bowl era) things have gotten very interesting on the football front in the Motor City recently...
Willie Young sacks Tony Romo to end one of the biggest Lion comebacks in history, vs. the Cowboys in '11.
Coming off a 10-6 2nd place finish in the North, good for a Wild Card playoff berth, in only the third season under head coach Jim Schwartz, just four years removed from THAT season, the Lions look to improve those numbers in '12, with a healthy Matt Stafford behind center, and a plethora of offensive weapons like Titus Young, Brandon Pettigrew, Jahvid Best, Nate Burleson, and let's not forget superstar, Calvin "Megatron" Johnson, to get the ball to.On the other side of the ball, the D is anchored by vets like Kyle VandenBosch, Stephen Tulloch, and Chris Houston, while young players and potential future stars like Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, and Aaron Berry continue to progress.I'm not gonna make any season predictions right outta the box(I may just, down the road, some time, though), as we all know how sudden injuries at key positions can affect the team(see:2010 and second half of '11), but it's safe to say that our Lions are back in the hunt again, at this point, and a Super Bowl might not be that far off in the future, either.For a Lions fan like me, that's enough progress to kickstart the site back up, for the long haul this time around.So let's get it on, from opening kickoff to the final whistle.You. Me.Detroit football.The only way it's gotta be, baby! Feel the roar!
