Thursday, November 28, 2002
Greetings from Michigan!
Yes, here I am. The plane got off the ground just fine, even with the snow. We only had a 5 minute delay to de-ice, and there was no precipitation at all on the other end, so all was well.
The Lions/Patriots game was today. Sigh. Well, we made it interesting. The frustrating thing is that there were so many plays where we could have done so many good things... interceptions we could have followed up on, and the like. There was a glorious blocked kick that we could have really done wonders with, but after the block we settled back into our usual mediocracy.
I do believe that I was the only person there wearing a John Jett jersey. Yeah punter!
Jason Hanson (the kicker) became the Lion's all-time top scorer with this game, so that was very nice, three cheers for him, etc. Appropriately enough, all of our points today came from him. Great big line of Conga-Rats for Jason Hanson!
Our seats were pretty good. We were near the end zone but we were also very, very close to the field. So there was much to be seen. It was my first time in Ford Field (the Lions' new stadium... they played in the Silver Dome before). It was pretty dern nice, and the field looked like real grass even though it wasn't, which is really quite a magnificent feat of astroturf engineering.
We were seated directly in front of a group of rowdy Canadians, come over the river for the occasion. They were loud and excitable. We were seated directly behind a large family/group of friends, which included two brothers, each of whose girth was reminiscent of the Behemoth. The women of this group were especially vocal, including one woman who kept on chanting "Char-lie Batch! Char-lie Batch! We want Batch!", evidently wishing to express the true depths of her reservations about the current quarterback, Joey Harrington, who did not have a stellar first half (to put it somewhat mildly).
A gentleman a few rows back from us had apparently had a little too much to drink, because very early in the game (it was still the first quarter) he began to throw up. And throw up. And throw up. It was endless. Truly a spectacle. He threw up all over the stairs between the rows (thank cats for the people in his row he was on the aisle). It ended up going down about 6 rows before it stopped. They put some sawdust down and people using the stairs just did their best to avoid it. Yuck. The evils of the bottle.
For the traditional stadium luncheon, my father consumed a foot-long chili-covered Coney dog, which was utterly disgusting. Worse, my brother had a foot-long corn dog on a stick. I had asked them to get me 'a normal-sized' hot dog, and they returned with what looked suspiciously like a Bratwurst on a bun. I tried it rather tentatively, but it tasted like a normal hot dog, so I ate most of it. Quoiever.
Um... hm, what else? Probably the most depressing part of the game was when Tedy Bruschi intercepted the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. I mean, come on. Bruschi? It was unfortunate.
To give the fans credit, however, they didn't really get discouraged until about half-way through the last quarter, which takes a lot of heart and dedication to the team. But you know, we really could have come back at some point. Alas, we did not.
The teams were both playing today in their 'old school' uniforms. From the 50s, I think. The Lions had unstriped silver pants, blue socks, blue jerseys, and silver helmets with a blue stripe and no Lion on the sides. Elegant. The Pats had red jerseys, white striped pants, and white helmets with the old 'Pat the Patriot' logo on them.
The halftime show was Vanessa Carlton and Bon Jovi. Vanessa Carlton was just pathetic. I mean, she tried to be all sweet and whatnot, and she had some little girl run up on stage and put a bunch of roses on her piano at the end of her performance, but it really just wasn't the right sort of thing to do in a hardcore football crowd. No one was much interested.
Bon Jovi came across better, because he was louder and more animated. But they got this ridiculous little mini-crowd out around his stage, so that on TV it would look like there were people all around the stage, but it was just a few people deep, and it was rather sad and pathetic.
They set off some fireworks during his performace, which is not a good idea in a domed stadium, since those things put out a lot of smoke, and in a dome there's no where for it to go. So there was a fairly dense haze over the stadium for much of the second half, and many fans with more delicate constitutions were seized with fits of coughing and eye-watering.
Mike McMahon got in there for a couple of plays, which made me kind of happy. Yeah, let the man play a little. It certainly can't hurt. Like Powderpuff, you know, let everyone play a little. He did OK, nothing spectacular, but I don't think he screwed us over in any particular way. I was pleased.
Detmer didn't get in at all, but then again, that's to be expected. We all fondly recall his 7-interception game last season.
Marty Mornhinweg is the coach, and in case you are uninformed, he is rather out of favor in Detroit recently. You see, a few games ago, the game went into overtime. He won the coin toss. He chose to kick off. The other team scored. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?? In football, in overtime, it's a one-score game. Whoever scores first, wins. So why, why, WHY did he give the other team the ball???
No one knows. Everyone is pissed. There was a large sign that said 'Marty--Gone with the Wind'. People were not too pleased with him.
I must run, Thanksgiving dinner is on the table!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and happy first night of Chanukah tomorrow!
4:57 PM
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