With Football season in full swing and the Michigan/Ohio State game less than a month away, I felt the need to wear my colors and stand behind my home teams. Living so close to the Michigan/Ohio border, we get a mix of maize and blue intermingling with scarlet and grey. While shopping at the local Target yesterday, a guy was walking down the isle with his loud Ohio State jacket on. A Target employee walking past said to him "nice jacket". The guy looked at the employee with a guarded expression and asked him "seriously?". He must have thought it was meant to be a joke being he was in Michigan territory, a small price you pay during this time of year here. However the kid said "Oh yeah, I went to Ohio State my freshman year." They started to go into where and when they both attended...blah, blah,blah. I couldn't resist. I wasn't disrespectful, mind you. This is Michigan though and I felt the need to remind them of that fact.
As I was passing by I called out "Go Blue!", and kept right on walking cause you never know what you will face with an opposing teams fanatic! Much to my chagrin, they took it in stride, laughing and saying "boo hoo". It could have been much worse.
The rivalry is believed to have begun with the 1835-1834 Toledo war. It was a boundary dispute between the state of Ohio and the territory of Michigan, ending with Michigan surrendering the desired land of Toledo in exchange for it's statehood and the Upper Peninsula. Turned out to be a pretty good deal, but I guess both sides never really kissed and made up.
Detroit is also known as "Hockeytown". Duh. Recently I have been hearing a lot of ribs about Al the octopus. Some people have a problem with tradition and good luck charms I guess. I couldn't tell you how many times I have heard "what's up with the octopus?" or much worse.
Briefly, back in 1952, it took 8 playoff wins to claim the cup. Two brothers who owned a store in the Eastern Market downtown Detroit first tossed an octopus onto the ice, an octopus having 8 arms, symbolizing the wins needed for the cup. The wings swept up the victories all the way to the cup and the next two of three championships. A tradition and mascot was born.
Now, The Lions are not the most stellar team in the NFL, however, you do have them to thank for the Thanksgiving Day football games you'll be watching in between your extra helpings. This November will be the 70th edition of the Thanksgiving Day football tradition. It was the Lions first owner in 1934 who started the whole turkey day idea and the team has had a game on that day ever since. We don't need to go into the stats though, it's all about the tradition!
Sigh...Anyhow, these are my home teams and I'm behind them, win or lose.
