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You guys will like this.
Dude, your team is the NL Champs. It's been to the playoffs a bunch of times in recent years. You have no beef.
[url]http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2017/11/03/detroit-lions-fans-los-angeles-dodgers/827041001/
Why I'm quitting the Dodgers, and Detroit fans should quit the Lions
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press
Tell me how you do it, Detroit Lions fans. Tell me how you’ve put up with 59 years of misery and futility.
Tell me how, because I’ve put up with 29 years of the same thing as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan and I’m not doing it one second longer.
I am hereby relinquishing my fanaticism and support of the Dodgers, the team I grew up rooting for and idolizing. I will never watch another game. I will never buy another souvenir. I will never care about the fortunes of this team after it returned to the World Series for the first time since 1988 and broke my heart with a 5-1 loss in Game 7 against the Houston Astros.
No more.
So, I ask you, Lions fans. How do you keep doing it? Moreover, why do you keep doing it? Why do you keep supporting a team that has brought you nothing but heartache since 1957?
And don’t hand me any malarkey about the thrill of watching Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson. Who cares? Watching stars who never win rings is a meaningless pursuit, like watching Martin Mayhew try to draft a tight end. The Dodgers had Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza and have probable Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw, and they have won nothing with either of them.
I know the Lions are in your blood. If you grew up in Detroit, the Lions are in your blood like bad weather and terrible roads. You would almost need a transfusion from Bill Belichick to get rid of your loyalty to these teams.
The Dodgers were in my blood, too, even before I was born. My dad watched them in the L.A. Coliseum, where they played temporarily before they moved into Dodger Stadium in 1962. I grew up in L.A. in the 1970s and ’80s, when it seemed like the Dodgers were in the World Series every couple of years.
And then, somewhat like the Lions’ string of playing in the NFL championship game four times in the ’50s, someone turned out the lights after 1988.
Until this year. This year was supposed to be the year. The Dodgers were poised to win it all. They won 104 games. They won 43 of 50 games at one point. They got All-Star pitcher Yu Darvish at the trade deadline. They cruised in the division series and the division championship series. They had home-field advantage in the World Series.
And even with all that, even with everything working in their favor, they still blew it. This, Lions fans, is your worst nightmare. Imagine waiting all this time, 59 years and counting, watching countless games, finally having a great team — and then still seeing them choke in the big game.
Could you do it? Could you still be a Lions fan after that, if they finally made it to the Super Bowl and then lost? Could you ramp yourself up for another year of free agency, the draft, training camp, four exhibitions and a 16-game season?
Because I can’t. I can’t do this to myself anymore. I’ve paid for the MLB’s subscription service the past two years so that I could stay up until 1 a.m. on a regular basis to watch most of the Dodgers’ 162 games, which essentially works out to the length of an NFL season that starts with the draft. All I have to show for it is a dent in my bank account a bunch of bleary-eyed mornings.
How many Sunday afternoons have you wasted, Lions fans? How many times have you thought: This is the year! How many times have you felt like throwing your Lions souvenir cup at your TV?
And don’t think I don’t see you over there in the corner, Tigers fans. You’re in the same boat I’m in, if not worse. Two World Series appearances since 1984 and now you’re hunkering down for a rebuild that’s two years too late? Good luck. Maybe this is the time to jump ship, like Justin Verlander, and join ’Stros Nation in H-Town.
By the way, any Tigers fan who thinks it’s just swell J.V. got his ring after he couldn’t stop blabbering on national TV during the ALCS that he didn’t regret his decision to waive his no-trade clause and join the Astros, deserves to be spiked by Ty Cobb.
Maybe you also send your ex and the better-looking guy she dumped you for an anniversary gift each year.
As for me, I’m doing the dumping. Once and for all. So go ahead and win the World Series next year, Dodgers. I won’t care and I won’t watch. Maybe I’ll catch the box score in the Free Press.
Instead, I’m going to spend my time with more meaningful pursuits. I’ll bond with my family. I’ll reconnect with my friends. I’ll rake the leaves. Maybe I can even start following the L.A. Kings more closely. I hear the NHL has a great subscription package.
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