Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!? I’m a Lions fan. Have been since first grade. Long before we landed a man on the moon (wink wink, nod nod). Since BEFORE Jim Schwartz, the current Head Coach of the Detroit Lions, was born.

Suspended for gambling in 1963
I remember riding in the back seat of my grandparents’ car Sunday afternoons from “up north” back home in Michigan, vainly trying to get the Lion’s game on my a.m. transistor radio. I remember when Dick LeBeau was playing safety for the Lions (he’s currently the 70- something defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers).
I confess, I DID NOT REMEMBER the Lions drafting Bill Parcells–yes, the Bill Parcells, in the 7th round of the 1964 draft. Or Fred Biletnikoff in the 3rd round in 1965. My earliest recollection of the Lion’s draft was Nick Eddy out of Notre Dame in 1966 (he finished third to Steve Spurrier and Bob Griese in the Heisman Trophy balloting his final year.) You Redskin and Dolphin fans may have heard of those two quarterbacks. As is common for the Lions, Nick Eddy got hurt on maybe the 1st time he touched the ball during pre-season, and wasn’t the same thereafter. The Lions are jinxed, and always have been since before I was born.
Supposedly, the jinx (or curse) was put on the Lions by Bobby Layne: “In 1958, after leading the Lions to 3 NFL Championships and providing Detroit nearly a decade of Hall of Fame play, the Lions traded Bobby Layne. Bobby was injured during the last championship season and the Lions thought he was through and wanted to get what they could for him. According to Legend, as he was leaving for Pittsburgh Bobby said that Detroit ‘would not win for 50 years’.” Continue reading