This past Sunday, the Detroit Lions proved once again that the Football Gods hate them, as one of the most spectacular end zone touchdown catches I've ever witnessed was incredibly/incredulously ruled a non-catch because Calvin Johnson flicked the ball out of the end zone in celebration. This little flicking/dropping of the football--the NFL rules call this a "second act" or some such vague bullshit--was what nullified what rightfully should have been the probable winning score against the Bears. I qualify this as the "probable" winning touchdown because, after all, we're talking about the Lions here--they could have easily given up a score to the Bears in the final seconds of the game and lost. As we all know, the Lions are much better at losing than winning.
By this point, enough has been written about this controversial play to fill a book as long as War and Peace, so I don't know what I have to add. I'll simply present my perspective as a Detroit sports fan. It seems to me that the world is out to not only screw the State of Michigan, but screw all of our sports teams. First we had Armando Galarraga's (should have been) perfect game that was taken away by quite possibly the worst blown call in baseball history, and now we have a dramatic (should have been) game-winning touchdown--which would have ended a 20-game road losing streak for the hapless Lions--taken away by quite possibly the most obscure, and certainly most illogical, rules in the No Fun League...er, the National Football League.
My only conclusion is that Detroit sports teams are the nerd in school that everyone delights in picking on and/or torturing.
The Curse of Bobby Layne continues unabated for the Lions. (For those not in the know, when the Lions traded their star quarterback Bobby Layne to Pittsburgh in 1958, an unhappy Layne said the Lions would not win for 50 years. The 50 years have expired now, but that doesn't seem to matter).
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I haven't yet written much about college football this season. The big story in these parts is Denard Robinson and the rise of the Michigan Wolverines. I knew it was too much to expect for the Wolverines to be down for too long, though I was hoping like crazy they would be. I don't know how they'll finish the season, but I suspect they should go about 8-4 at the very least. This does seem to have the hint of deja vu all over again (i.e. young quarterback dazzles the national media as the Wolverines jump out to an undefeated start, only to fall on their faces when they have to play better competition), but DRob has way more talent than Tate Forcier. By the way, lost in the all the love for Denard is the major improvement of Michigan's offensive line.
Enough about Michigan, now on to my team, the Michigan State Spartans. I still don't know what to make of this team: are they just not playing up to their full potential, or are they just not that great? Are we in for yet another disappointing football season in East Lansing? Will the Spartan suffer an embarrassing loss to Notre Dame and find the once hopeful and optimistic fans bailing on them, selling their tickets for pennies, and counting the days until basketball season tips off?
Sorry for the negativity, but this tends to happen when you've followed MSU football for as long as I have--and have been disappointed way more times than you can count.
On the other, more optimistic side, is it possible that MSU has kept the game plan bland in the first two games to not tip their hand? I certainly hope that this is the case.
MSU's running game looks explosive with Edwin Baker and freshman Le'Veon Bell having huge games in the opening two weeks of the season, and we still haven't seen Larry Caper yet because he's been nursing a hand injury he sustained before the season began. Caper is expected to play against the Golden Domers.
I'm concerned about the inconsistency of the passing game, which seemed to be the Spartans' big strength this year (and still may prove to be the best part of their offense when it's all said and done).
The biggest concern has to be with the defense. That really needed to improve after last year and, thus far, it doesn't seem to have gotten much better.
We'll know a lot more about the state of the MSU football team after this Saturday's Notre Dame game. I sure hope I can go to bed a happy football fan on Saturday night.
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