The Swamp

Well, sad times are upon your boy Hotcakes. I will be moving to Toronto and as such have given up my Seattle Seahawks season tickets. I've been a Hawks fan since I was a kid, and I picked what has to be the worst possible season in franchise history to be moving away (though Harvin's hip might have something to say about that).

On the bright (?) side, I am now officially a Detroit Lions season ticketholder. Personally, I would have chosen the Bills, but some good friends of mine have Lions tickets so I joined up with them.

Brian, I will soon be feeling your pain. Every damn Sunday.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Well, sad times are upon your boy Hotcakes. I will be moving to Toronto and as such have given up my Seattle Seahawks season tickets. I've been a Hawks fan since I was a kid, and I picked what has to be the worst possible season in franchise history to be moving away (though Harvin's hip might have something to say about that).

On the bright (?) side, I am now officially a Detroit Lions season ticketholder. Personally, I would have chosen the Bills, but some good friends of mine have Lions tickets so I joined up with them.

Brian, I will soon be feeling your pain. Every damn Sunday.

Wow. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. That said. The Lions could win between 3 and 13 games this year and there's not too many teams you can say that about.

Also there's an awesome Michigan craft beer stand at Ford Field by Section 113. Or was last year at least.

You're going to travel from Toronto to Detroit to go to Lions games?

There should be some kind of award for this. Or at least a named psychiatric disorder.

Good thing about living in Toronto - you probably won't need to get Sunday ticket to watch the Seahawks - a couple of the cable/satellite providers offer up the Seattle stations as part of a basic package.

Living in Toronto, I'd imagine there would be four teams to consider rooting for: Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. It's easy to understand why someone would pick the Lions.

You won't find too many Lions fans in Toronto, but you will find many Steelers and Bills fans. The Browns? Maybe a few holdovers, all over the age of 40.

Two of the guys are originally from Windsor, hence the Lions being an acceptable (mandatory?) choice. From my experience, the majority of Torontonians are Bills fans though. These guys have done that drive for a few years now and usually make it to 5 or 6 games per year, so I'll see how it goes this season and then reevaluate. Will obviously always be a Hawks fan, so it will be interesting getting into a team that I don't give two shits about. Go Lions!

That long, 70 km/hr drive with no radar detector. Sucks.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Will obviously always be a Hawks fan, so it will be interesting getting into a team that I don't give two shits about. Go Lions!

I was born to the Layne curse, and have learned a thing or two about persistence under adversity over these 50+ years as a Lions fan. Probably good for my character. But your more detached approach is probably best for general mental health. And of course, drinking heavily.

Icepenis wrote:That long, 70 km/hr drive with no radar detector. Sucks.

It's not a bad drive at all between Toronto and Detroit/Windsor. 100 km limit, MacDonald-Cartier the whole way. Depending on what part of Toronto you're coming from and border nonsense you can do it in 4.5 hours.

brian wrote:

Icepenis wrote:That long, 70 km/hr drive with no radar detector. Sucks.

It's not a bad drive at all between Toronto and Detroit/Windsor. 100 km limit, MacDonald-Cartier the whole way. Depending on what part of Toronto you're coming from and border nonsense you can do it in 4.5 hours.

Ahhh. I drove from London to Detroit and I remember it being a rather slow limit. Could be misremembering.

Icepenis wrote:

brian wrote:

Icepenis wrote:That long, 70 km/hr drive with no radar detector. Sucks.

It's not a bad drive at all between Toronto and Detroit/Windsor. 100 km limit, MacDonald-Cartier the whole way. Depending on what part of Toronto you're coming from and border nonsense you can do it in 4.5 hours.

Ahhh. I drove from London to Detroit and I remember it being a rather slow limit. Could be misremembering.

You may have taken Highway 2 (two-lane provincial highway) instead of the 401 (MacDonald-Cartier), what would be our equivalent of an interstate highway. Windsor to London should be a two hour trip on the 401.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Two of the guys are originally from Windsor, hence the Lions being an acceptable (mandatory?) choice. From my experience, the majority of Torontonians are Bills fans though. These guys have done that drive for a few years now and usually make it to 5 or 6 games per year, so I'll see how it goes this season and then reevaluate. Will obviously always be a Hawks fan, so it will be interesting getting into a team that I don't give two shits about. Go Lions!

One other advantage to driving to Detroit instead of Orchard Park.

You avoid this...

Ziggy didn't look as raw as I expected on the weekend.


Lions fever - catch it.

Yeah, he didn't get a lot of snaps, but looked good on the ones he did get. That pick six was an instinct kind of play that you really can't teach so hopefully that bodes well.

Think our Lions are going to go into Washington and stomp the Skins this weekend, Bri?

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Think our Lions are going to go into Washington and stomp the Skins this weekend, Bri?

In a word, no. The Lions are 0-21 against Washington on the road in team history. (Technically they won in Boston in 1935.)

brian wrote:

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Think our Lions are going to go into Washington and stomp the Skins this weekend, Bri?

In a word, no. The Lions are 0-21 against Washington on the road in team history. (Technically they won in Boston in 1935.)

So, you're telling me that they're due? And that there's a chance?

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:

brian wrote:

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:Think our Lions are going to go into Washington and stomp the Skins this weekend, Bri?

In a word, no. The Lions are 0-21 against Washington on the road in team history. (Technically they won in Boston in 1935.)

So, you're telling me that they're due? And that there's a chance?

It's helpful that RG III looks like he's running in mud. And that FedEx Field is pretty much really mud. But all that means is that he'll throw for 500 yards.

brian wrote:
It's helpful that RG III looks like he's running in mud. And that FedEx Field is pretty much really mud. But all that means is that he'll throw for 500 yards.

This following-the-Lions thing is much harder than I thought it would be.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:

brian wrote:
It's helpful that RG III looks like he's running in mud. And that FedEx Field is pretty much really mud. But all that means is that he'll throw for 500 yards.

This following-the-Lions thing is much harder than I thought it would be.

You'll be surprised how much abuse you get used to. After awhile, run-of-the-mill losses almost feel like wins.

brian wrote:

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:

brian wrote:
It's helpful that RG III looks like he's running in mud. And that FedEx Field is pretty much really mud. But all that means is that he'll throw for 500 yards.

This following-the-Lions thing is much harder than I thought it would be.

You'll be surprised how much abuse you get used to. After awhile, run-of-the-mill losses almost feel like wins.

You coulda picked the browns!

I will say this. With my already waning interest in the NFL, the browns pulling this shit made this season a lost cause early.

I shoulda played fantasy.

Huge win for our Lions on Sunday.

Big showdown in Week 4 looming between the two top teams in the mighty NFC North.

Having The Wrench in their corner must be providing the Lions a huge morale boost.

The Wrench will soon feel the wrath of Jay Cutler... and the nerdiest head coach in the NFL.

A Lion breaking his arm in a car crash not while drunk, but trying to save a falling pizza is pretty much the most Lion injury ever. Welcome to my hell, Hotcakes.

He should've just said he was drunk.

Worth it. You don't want to lose a Hot n Ready.

Keg wrote:Having The Wrench in their corner must be providing the Lions a huge morale boost.

All I have to say is that the Hawks were complete shit when I first became a season ticket holder. That spring they hit a low point in drafting Aaron Curry, but it's been gravy ever since. To the point now of course that they are one of the NFL's elite teams. The Wrench doesn't want to take too much credit, but facts are facts.

Can't believe the Lions are favoured by 3 this weekend. Even if pepperonipizzagate never happened, that would still be ridiculous.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:

Keg wrote:Having The Wrench in their corner must be providing the Lions a huge morale boost.

All I have to say is that the Hawks were complete shit when I first became a season ticket holder. That spring they hit a low point in drafting Aaron Curry, but it's been gravy ever since. To the point now of course that they are one of the NFL's elite teams. The Wrench doesn't want to take too much credit, but facts are facts.

Can't believe the Lions are favoured by 3 this weekend. Even if pepperonipizzagate never happened, that would still be ridiculous.

Ironically a LOT of Lions fans wanted them to draft Curry instead of Matt Stafford. As ridiculous as that is in retrospect.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:

Keg wrote:Having The Wrench in their corner must be providing the Lions a huge morale boost.

All I have to say is that the Hawks were complete shit when I first became a season ticket holder. That spring they hit a low point in drafting Aaron Curry, but it's been gravy ever since. To the point now of course that they are one of the NFL's elite teams. The Wrench doesn't want to take too much credit, but facts are facts.

Can't believe the Lions are favoured by 3 this weekend. Even if pepperonipizzagate never happened, that would still be ridiculous.

Just got back from vacation...you go to the game on Sunday, Hotcakes? What did you think? That was your first experience at Ford Field, no?

I had a great time. It was my maiden voyage to Detroit, and I really enjoyed the city. I think there's something to be said for a gritty, struggling city like that. Had a fantastic time downtown on Saturday day/evening/early morning in various dive bars / other establishments. One thing that I really liked about the city is the architecture. One of the locals put it best when he said that you have a lot of interesting character buildings in Detroit from 50+ years ago that would have been torn down for condos, high rises, etc. in other cities (Toronto being the obvious comparison there). So you still have these old brick warehouses, detailed government buildings, etc. that you just don't see everywhere. Beautiful, in their own way. Overall, I had a great experience. Next time I might get shot and/or stabbed and end up with a different opinion, but for now I have nothing but positives to say.

As for the game, the tailgate was ok despite the rain (unfortunately, my first tailgate experience was in Buffalo and everything that I've experienced subsequently has paled in comparison). Ford Field was also good, we have excellent sightlines despite our corner seats. It almost felt like a road game in our section with all of the Bears fans in attendance, but they shut the fuck up rather quick thanks to Jay Cutler's "performance." It got extremely loud once it was clear that the game was in hand, I think the Lions fans were almost afraid to buy-in to what was happening at first. Even after the game, none of the people at the tailgate could wrap their heads around the fact that the Lions were/are 3-1.

In conclusion, fuck the Bears.

Johnny Hotcakes wrote:It almost felt like a road game in our section with all of the Bears fans in attendance, but they shut the fuck up rather quick thanks to Jay Cutler's "performance." It got extremely loud once it was clear that the game was in hand, I think the Lions fans were almost afraid to buy-in to what was happening at first. Even after the game, none of the people at the tailgate could wrap their heads around the fact that the Lions were/are 3-1.

In conclusion, fuck the Bears.

That all sounds about right. It used to be WAY worse at the Silverdome and it still gets pretty bad for Packers games, but the only three games on the schedule where you have a shitload of opposing fans is pretty much Chicago, Green Bay and Pittsburgh. Other games it's pretty much in line with what you'd see a other stadiums (pockets here and there, but nothing in exceptional numbers).

Glad you had a good time. Sounds like you guys did it up right. There's a LOT of really cool bars all over in the stadium district -- I'm jealous as shit that you're getting to go to a few games. I'd about kill for a Bohemian from Detroit Beer Co. about now.

So Delmas fearlessly packed his pet up, taking at least some basic precautions.

"You've got to tape his mouth, obviously," he said.

Obviously.

Lions going for their first win in Pittsburgh since 1955 this weekend. And if they fail, it will of course not be until 2021 that they get another shot.

brian wrote:Lions going for their first win in Pittsburgh since 1955 this weekend. And if they fail, it will of course not be until 2021 that they get another shot.

Well, unless they finish in the same position in their respective divisions.

Gunpowder wrote:

brian wrote:Lions going for their first win in Pittsburgh since 1955 this weekend. And if they fail, it will of course not be until 2021 that they get another shot.

Well, unless they finish in the same position in their respective divisions.

Nope. Doesn't apply to inter-conference games. You play at each place every 8 years.

(unless something changes in the coming years, which is obviously not impossible).