I can't take it anymore. I'm not investing myself in a team that will never know how to do what it takes to win. I'm sick of being miserable every fall. I'm choosing happiness over being loyal to a franchise that doesn't deserve my fanaticism. Earliest memories: rookie Lem Barney intercepting Bart Starr, rolling over & running in a pick six. He and Mel Farr won defensive and offensive RotY in 1967. Earliest non-memory. Collicky 3-month old baby boy was interrupting the family Thanksgiving. Grandpa laid me down in front of the t.v. The sights and sounds of Alex Karras & Co sacking Bart Starr eleven times calmed and soothed. An eight year old boy had his heart broken by a half-footed kicker nailing a 63 yarder as time expired. First year starter Greg Landry - the last Detroit QB to go to a pro bowl - had driven the Lions to the 1 yard line and the go ahead FG. Could have run the clock down to 5 seconds, but excitedly called time out with 19 ticks left. Just enough time to field the kickoff, Billy Kilmer completed a 17 yard square out, and Tom Dempsey trotted out for his 15 minutes of fame. Beat old man Blanda 18 days later on turkey day later en route to a wild card birth. Lost the lowest scoring playoff game ever, 5-0. Also lost (at the time) the highest scoring playoff game 25 years later, 58-37. We're unique, eh? That 1970 playoff team was the only post-season appearance in the first quarter century after their 4th and last NFL Championship. In the 42 years since, Monte Clark prayed his way to two playoff births, Wayne Fontes smoked his way to four late season runs, Bobby Ross drove them to two Super Bowl tournaments, and Jim Schwartz last year. All 9 seasons ended with a thud, the only interruption to the ineptitude being the glorious Thumbs Up campaign of 1991, when we thumped the Cowboys 38-7. That was the greatest day of my life. OK, third greatest, my kids might see this one day. This team has teased and broken my heart scores of times in every conceivable manner. Nick Eddy getting hurt every GD year, Chuck Hughes dying on the field of Tiger Stadium (the only inigame fatality in the history of the league), 3rd stringer Jeff Komlo sleep walking the team through the 2-14 year that landed the team Billy Sims, becoming the first (and in 30+ years of OT, only) team to lose sudden death by giving up a kickoff return, Barry Sanders rushing for negative 13 yards in a playoff game, and too many embarrassing national t.v. losses to recount here. I'm done. 50 years of pain is too much for any man. I'm going to spend the rest of 2012 deciding who to become a fan of next. Has to be northeast - can't see rooting for the Eagles, Pats or Redskins. Bills remind me too much of the Lions. Jets, ditto. Probably going Big Blue. Maybe I'll petition Joe to change my user name to Y.Am Tittle. But you know how it is, you need six months to a year to find yourself again after a breakup. The ####### Ford family are the worst owners in all of sports. The don't care about winning, it's about shareholder value, and they make one inept hire after another. But whatever - the only objective here is complete apathy towards all things honululu blue and silver. Love Detroit, all their other sports teams, and think my home state has more natural beauty than any other. But when it comes to the NFL, no Más.
