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I was going to use the title “On Top”, but that would be pushing it.

I have had relatively poor luck following sports teams. For example, while I currently live in Edmonton and have been an Edmonton Oilers fan for 25 years now, I lived in Ontario before then. I ewas a Maple Leafs fan in the 80’s. They were absolutely brutal. TERRIBLE. This was before 157 channels. So after the Leafs were losing 5-0 after the period, on a Saturday night, my two options were to watch Fantasy Island (the plane the plane) or talk to the wife (joke – please a joke). Moving to Edmonton, I had to endure the decade of darkness.

How about being and Edmonton Elks fan. Until late this year they had not a home game since 2019. They broke a professional sports record for the longest home losing streak.

But that is nothing compared to being a Detroit Lions fan. The same old Lions. I have been following them since I was a kid. In that time, I have seen them win one playoff game. Just one, since 1958. This was back in 1991 when they killed Dallas 38-6, only to get destroyed, the next week, by Washington. When you are at the bottom, fans from other teams, media figures and so on are nice to your team. They try to find good things to say and look upon your team, with pity.

Now we are in the age of social media, with sites such as Face Book and Twitter. The Lions with knee-biter coach Dan Campbell and the Oilers with Draisaitl and the McDavid guy are both in the stratosphere. There are predictions, made with a straight face that the Lions are Super Bowl contenders, and the Oilers are Stanley Cup contenders. Am I dreaming. You can tell that these teams are being taken seriously by all the vitriol being sent their way by fans from other teams, on social media.

If you are a Lions, you will understand the need during to bad times to medicate yourself with drink while watching them play. The room would be filled with colourful words and phrases. ‘Oh my gawd’ is one of the less obscene ones. Now fans from other teams are doing the same when watching the Lions play their team. Packer fans watched the Lions take a 27-3 lead at Green Bay by half time this week.

Ok. So, it is still early in the NFL season and the NHL season has not started yet. So, I am going to enjoy this while it lasts.