Payoff for the Long and Faithful Slog!

 To say it has been a long time coming is the sports understatement of the century. Well, two centuries, actually - the 21st and the 20th!

No fan has proven their loyalty more than a Lions fan. To stick with them is an enduring prayer of hope.

The last time that they won the National Football Championship was 1957. I was two years old.

They have never won a Super Bowl. Well. They've never ever been IN a Super Bowl to win it or lose it.

In the Super Bowl era, they have been in the playoffs 12 times, losing in the first round 11 times, winning the first round once, then playing in and losing in the conference championship. They beat the Dallas Cowboys 38-6 and then lost to Washington 41-10.

One of my strongest memories was the first time I saw them in the playoffs, 1970 when they lost to the Dallas Cowboys 5-0. Yes, that is a correct score.

In 1971, I was watching the game where a player, Chuck Hughes, died on the field. It took us a while to understand what we were looking at. At first, we just wanted the game to go on. It was later that it hit us how serious this was.

Although this remains the only on-field death in pro football, it is a violent and brutal sport. As medical analysis of players advances, we have only begun to catalog the extensive damage it does to a person.

As time has passed, my interest in American football has waned, and my love of soccer has grown. Soccer is not injury-free, but it does not seem as cataclysmic as American football.

Nevertheless, there are still terms I follow and cheer. I was elated this year when my alma mater, the University of Michigan, won the National Collegiate Championship. The last time they had won a SOLO championship was 1948 (they were co-champions in 1997, but I don't want to write about that ridiculousness). I like the Georgia Bulldogs.

In pro football, I only care about the Detroit Lions. Alison and I used to like the Atlanta Falcons, but that faded. I actively despise the Dallas Cowboys.

Most years, I am done with football by mid to late December. This has been an unusual year. I stayed interested in college through the National Championship. And, even more unbelievably, I still care about the pro football playoffs.

It's so exciting!

Go Lions!