[I say, embrace the historic nature of unrivaled failure. Take pride in being a part of something truly "special."]

Maybe Laura and Condi would do better to embrace this argument.

I say, embrace the historic nature of unrivaled failure. Take pride in being a part of something truly "special."

You're only offering this advice to the Detroit Lions? Ah, someone beat me to it...

I don't know if I could care less about football, and I certainly don't know much about it, but doesn't coming in dead last assure them of 1st round draft picks or some other such field-leveling mechanism?

I don't know. By this logic we should be happy that we're just finishing up with one of the worst presidents ever and not just a bad one.

You have to wonder if at some point about mid-season or so that their opponents no longer looked at playing the Lions as a cakewalk, something they could slack off and not worry too much about.

You see poor teams win games they shouldn't because of a lack of focus by their opponents.

But they may have played so badly in the early season that everyone wanted to make sure that they were not the one team to lose to the Lions.

It's about humiliating Old Man Ford. I'm glad it happened. But you know Ford is going to keep Marinelli and make the same mistakes over again.

So, we should embrace the historic nature of unrivaled failure represented by the current administration? I think I'd prefer 1-15.

Oy

Take pride in being a part of something truly "special."

I agree.
So why don't more Palinistas name their newborns Trig?

I was in Detroit early in the season, and it was indeed the worst football team I had ever seen.

The odd thing was that everyone up there seemed to be in a tizzy about their QB situation - as if that could have helped in the slightest.

They could have put Montana, Elway and Marino ALL in same the backfield and the chances are good they'd be just where they are now. Why? They simply do not know how to tackle. Anyone. Ever.

Teams often talk about getting back to basics. For the Lions, they should get back to Pops Warner football. They are a team that might possibly be wose than it's record.

It's about humiliating Old Man Ford. I'm glad it happened. But you know Ford is going to keep Marinelli and make the same mistakes over again.

Marinelli was fired this morning, along with Romeo Crenell of the Browns, and Eric Mangini of the Jets.

My wife was using the same argument for the Washington Huskies...

Somehow, it just doesn't work. But, it's worth a try.

As a fan of the NY Mets since the formation of the team, I agree with the premise. Oh, we love to remember the Miracle Mets of '69 and the dominance the Mets enjoyed in '86, but we cherish the raft of worsts. Some of our team's "Worst in Baseball" records have since been broken and some might hold up forever. We're proud of those. Good years are always welcome, but the so-so or merely bad ones are just a drag. The really horrendous ones are part of history.

I say, embrace the historic nature of unrivaled failure. Take pride in being a part of something truly "special."

I had a coach who referred to this as "the logic of assassins."

Football! Who gives a flying fuck about football? An important American ally, with the approval of the President and President Elect, is bombing the hell out of a civilian population for having the temerity to resist a forty year occupation. Ohhhhh Nooooo, we must not say anything disapproving of our President Elect for not speaking up in opposition to this atrocity.

You should name this blog the Barack Obama fan club
Just another spineless Democrat cheerleading blog. Geeeeeez Bill Kristol in makeup.

Poor Lions!

In other news: Go Eagles!!!!!

Sad but true. . . Being the "worst ever" does make you famous and remembered. Who remembers all those who have just been "bad" or "mediocre? . . . We are all about having our "15 minutes of fame" but the 2008 Lions have the potential to be discussed, literally, forever. . .

Only one can be the "best ever" and only one can be the "worst ever." . . . Bernie Madoff - worst ever financial guy? Warren Buffet - best ever? Harry Truman best ever VP? Dick Cheney worst?
See what I mean? . . . Forever!

As a native of the Metro Detroit area, I can only marvel at the astonishing joke that is the Detroit Lions. I was in high school with Tom Lewand, the Lions’ new president. I switched schools prior to graduation, so I will never get the pleasure of seeing him at a reunion…

Now Geez, we can only have one President at a time. You may argue that Obama spoke out on the economy and autu bailout and other issues. But you see geez, this is different, Obama agrees with Bush on Israel. And Mr. Benen isn't going to criticize Obama because that is not the job of this blog.

Hey, remember the 1969 Mets? Until they won the series that year, they had been a national laughingstock as the worst NL team ever. When they won the series that year, people who had never even been to New York cheered for them. How about the 2004 Red Sox victory? Their reputation was a little different: they were the team that always started well and blew it at the end of the season. But when they broke the Curse of the Bambino, it was big, big news. Mark my words, if the Lions have a successful season, even if it's years from now, they'll be heroes for the same reason. Now all we have to do here in Detroit is wait for them to have a good season.

Some people are having too much fun criticizing this blog for not commenting on the Gaza attacks to scroll down to yesterday's posts on the topic.

Geeeez,

Please for your sake and ours, get a life. While the Gaza situation is serious, all the blogging in the world won't stop it. If you can't take a few minutes to discuss something lighter, please go elsewhere. And for the record, George W. Bush is still president until noon on Jan. 20. Jeeeez!

as a pittsburgh pirates fan, i know much about losing. in my opinion, it's better to avoid the records than to embrace them. on the other hand, your humiliation is one season's worth. ours is 16. and counting.

The 0-14 Tampa team is referenced in every story about the 0-16 Lions, but the next year, Tampa started out 0-12. 26 straight losses: Detroit has a ways to go.

You want to think about a team that had a bad year think about the Kansas City Chiefs. They went 2-14 but lost 8 of those games on the last play of the game. They would have been in the playoffs if they had been successful on 8 plays. As it is they are almost as bad as the Lions.

Rod Marinelli will probably move on to the Bears and rejoin his old buddy Lovie Smith as defensive coordinator. If the Bears don't make the playoffs next year they both may be out of a job.

t-rex...

hell yeah, the '69 mets brought a great big smile to the face of this white sox fan. they still do.

in chicago we also remember that 1969 was the year that the bears and the steelers finished tied for dead last at 1-13. the steelers won a coin toss, took terry bradshaw, and won 4 super bowls. the bears took somebody and when through another decade and a half of stumbling around before finally winning super bowl dos equis.

Now if we can just get a major party presidential candidate to go 0-538...

0 - 16? Why should anyone care?

It's a bunch of overpaid cripples hired by multimillionaires to play a child's game. What do they do other than absorb a large portion of TV and newspaper space (generating advertising revenue) and get momentarily "famous" for doing things that don't matter to anyone?

I guess there is the social benefit that people who know absolutely nothing about each other have football as a subject to talk to each other about so they don't have to stand in silence and stare embarrassed when left together. But if more people were trained to actually talk to each other and actually become interested in others, that wouldn't be necessary.

Sorry, Rick B, we'll all try to be much, much more serious in the future and not talk about things that don't matter to you, I mean, to anyone.

As a Cubs fan, I think it is better to lose all of your games than to be the best team in the league and then proceed to choke in the playoffs.

At least the Lions were consistent.

As a proud graduate of the pre-Groh-era University of Virginia, I can revel in losses and enjoy bad football. The secret, my friends, is in the tailgating.

Then, one day, the Lions will come back and enjoy a few brief salad days. (Right, Herman Moore?) Big victories! High scores! Talented players! Exciting games on Thanksgiving!

And finally, when they sink back into relative mediocrity (for at least a while, as all teams do) there will be much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair by those who do not remember the l-o-s-i-n-g years and the important skills learned therein: yes, it all comes back around to the tailgating.

RIP TAWVFCI/OP(?)MPB&CSR,U!

Yeah, but the Detroit fans could have been singing Todd Rundgren's "Just One Victory." A great musical opportunity uncapitalized.

In 1979, for my Florida Gators, I used to sing "O Ten and One" to the tune of Oh Tennenbaum

I don't know if I could care less about football, and I certainly don't know much about it, but doesn't coming in dead last assure them of 1st round draft picks or some other such field-leveling mechanism?

Posted by: Redwood on December 29, 2008 at 12:45 PM

Ordinarily, yes. But one of the many root causes of Detroit's spectacular season is the incompetence with which management has used those very draft picks: repeatedly over several years passing up great players and important positions for lazy, selfish wideouts.

A lot like the wasted trillion-dollar Wall Street bailout, now that I think about it.

It can get better. Look at the Falcons. Arthur Blank was making a huge effort to make Rankin Smith seem like a football genius and our quarterback was being sent to the federal pen and suddenly we are in the playoffs! Who saw that coming?

As a Packer fan I was humiliated by the fans chanting 0 and 16 at the end of the game, particularly when your team is only 6 and 10 and 2 of the 6 were against the 0 and 16 team. The Lions are truly a bad football team and most of the blame can be laid at the feet of Matt Millen. That being said, I am only impressed with half a dozen of the playoff teams. I guess there is something to be said about being truly bad rather than simply bad or not good.

hopefulness to helplessness to humiliation as the fact sank in that they had replaced the 1976 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who finished 0-14, as the benchmark for badness.

Just another log on the fire. Tampa Bay in less than 30 years went from worst to first and back again and eventually to a Super Bowl which they won. Meanwhile in the 40+ years of Super Bowls, Detroit's never been in one.

This very point was made a coupla weeks ago on "The Bugle, Audio Newspaper for a Visual World."

It's a weekly podcast/new-roundup by John Oliver from The Daily Show and his partner in comedy, Andy Zaltsman, who remains in London. It's sponsored (I think) by The Times (London) and is very funny. If anyone here hasn't checked it out yet, I heartily recommend it.

As a fan of the Miami Dolphins, who went from 1-15 last year to 11-5 and AFC East Division champs this year, all I can say is, "Chin up, buckaroos. There's always next year.

And no, you can't have Bill Parcells or Chad Pennington."

In 1989 the Cowboys lost every game but one. But that one game was against hated rival Washington, and was the only blemish that spoiled Washington's run at a perfect record.

So in that case at least, I'd say the one victory was preferable. That season was horrible, but the spoiler win over the 'Skins softened the blow.

Just another log on the fire. Tampa Bay in less than 30 years went from worst to first and back again and eventually to a Super Bowl which they won. Meanwhile in the 40+ years of Super Bowls, Detroit's never been in one.

People are always making dumb comparisons like this, thinking they actually mean something. As if everything remained constant — same players, coaches and management, same rules, nothing ever changes.

FWIW, the Detroit Lions have won four NFL championships. Just because they happened before you showed up doesn't diminish them.

Tampa Bay has one championship. Let me know when they catch up to the Lions.

In 1989 the Cowboys lost every game but one. But that one game was against hated rival Washington, and was the only blemish that spoiled Washington's run at a perfect record.

Lovely story, but the '89 Redskins were 10-6. Another win would have probably put them in the playoffs, but no more.

The Cowboys dealt the 1991 Redskins, an eventual Super Bowl champion, their first loss of the season, but those Cowboys were a playoff team themselves.

I guess this is the 'Tin Cup' mindset. It is better to be remembered then anything.

This is the movie in which Kevin Cosner keeps shooting the same shoot at the green, even though several land in the water, until he sticks one. In the movie he was in the lead for the PGA championship.

The last of the Lions' four NFL championships was in 1957. So unless you're old enough to remember seeing Joe Schmidt and Tobin Rote play the game, the fact that the Lions are one of the few remaining teams to never play in a Super Bowl is quite relevant.

Just another reason to fold that franchise and to assume the worst about Detroit.