Lion legacy lives on

I was attending an afternoon dinner at Mancini's when I got a text from my friend Steph.

"Your team just got robbed."

I wandered out to the bar where the NFL games were being shown. The poor Detroit Lions -- my longtime, long-suffering home team had been putting up a stiff fight in their season opener at Chicago, a game that was being shown on local television. Something awful must have happened to them at the end to cause somebody to send me a text like that.

But the TV showed the Packers playing at Philadelphia. I approached the bartender. "How did the Lion game end up?", I asked. The bartender made a face. "It was awful - maybe the worst thing I have ever seen."

Back story:

In their history, the Lions have lost games in just about every way possible. There was a game when Errol Mann missed seven field goals in a three-point loss to the Vikings. On another occasion, the Lions seemed poised to record a rare win at Met Stadium against the Vikings. All Mann had to do was hit a short field goal on the last play of the game. Instead, the kick was blocked.

Another loss on the books.

There was that dreary day in New Orleans in 1970 when Tom Dempsey -- he of the half right foot, kicked a NFL record 63-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Curses. Foiled again.

(Somehow, that Lion team made the playoffs. They held a very good Dallas team to one field goal all game. Unfortunately, they never scored themselves and gave up a safety for a weird 5-0 loss.)

The next year, real tragedy struck. Chuck Hughes, a rarely used wide receiver, had caught a pass as part of a late rally against the Bears. Then, he ran a pattern on a play he wasn't involved in. He suddenly fell at the feet of Dick Butkus, the monster linebacker for the Bears.

Dead. Heart attack at age 26. The doctor who did the autopsy said he had the heart of a 70-year old man. Unbelievable.

So what could have possibly happened this time? Nobody could quite describe it at Mancini's. The best I got was Detroit had a TD taken away in the final minute.

An hour later, my wife and I headed to out favorite local saloon to meet friends.

"You better sit down first," Steph said.

"You're not going to believe this one," said Billy Leitner, the genial proprietor of the place.

"You're going to need a Grand Marnier," said Sharon Kelly, the best waitserver in town who works at O'Gara's and Billy's place and is my partner in a weekly pool.

Slowly, the story began to emerge. Turns out Matthew Stafford, the QB who was given a ton of cash and was starting to show stuff, went out with an injury in the first half. Despite that (and being outgained by nearly 300 yards), it appeared Detroit had finally stole a game on the road when Calvin Johnson made a terrific catch in the corner of the end zone with seconds remaining.

Alas, after falling to the ground, Johnson rolled over and the ball came out of his hand. After a lengthy review, it was decided this really was not a catch because, the referee said " He didn't finish the process."

What the hell did that mean? Steph, Billy and Sharon tried mightily to explain it to me. As one of only two Lions fans they know, they did their best to comfort me. After three drinks, however, the explanations made less and less sense. The only logical thing seemed to me to go home and find this play on line somewhere.

We did just that. After viewing it a few dozen times, I have decided the following:

1) The referee's explanation was (at the time, and still is) utter nonsense. Johnson caught the ball. After doing so, he falls on his butt and his knees. It was roughly 3-4 seconds later that the ball did come out of Johnson's hand. Had this play happened at midfield, nobody would have ever said a word.

2) The NFL simply doesn't give a rip about teams that don't help them much. This is a league based on marketing first and foremost. That means the glamor teams get the spotlight and the majority of the calls. This isn't a conspiracy rant. It is a simple fact. The NFL is only interested in the teams that will get them big ratings on TV and, hence, more money down the line from the networks. Clubs like the Lions are simply collateral material to the league.

3) Had this play occurred to, say, the Cowboys or Patriots, the league would have simply gulped hard and moved on. Yes, the NFL knows the Cowboys will lose occasionally as happened last night. (Yes, there was a key penalty at the end of last night's game on Dallas. But the foul was so flagrant that Ray Charles would have called it.)

4) The Lions are definitely the most cursed team in the NFL. This play simply couldn't have occurred to anybody else.

A day later, all a fellow can do is shake his head, sigh and move on. The word today is that Stafford has a shoulder injury and may be out of action for several weeks.

Can't imagine what will happen to them next week.