The Detroit Lions and evaluating tradition

Thanksgiving was a great day for me. Our joint Thanksgiving service (with St. Paul's Missionary Baptist) was great, the food was great, and time with family was great. The only thing that wasn't great was the football. And that has pretty much become standard for Thanksiving Day. Why? Somehow it became tradition to have the Detroit Lions play EVERY Thanksgiving day.

I don't know who started this tradition or why it was ever started in the first place. The Lions players don't like playing on Thanksgiving Day; they'd rather be doing what most others do on Thanksgiving (except the crazies who would put off their Thanksgiving lunches to watch an 0-11 team play-the game was sold out): spending time with friends and family. Both casual and diehard fan alike don't like watching the Lions play on Thanksgiving. So who wins with this set up? No one.

But it's tradition to have the Lions play on Thanksgiving Day. And I'm pretty sure it will ever change. That's the way we've always done it. Looks like its not just the church that has this problem, eh?

Some traditions never die. And some traditions should never die. But some should. After careful evaluation, some definitely should go the way of the Lions (or rather the way I wish the Lions would go...). It's time for another team to start a new tradition. Evaluating traditions, whether within families, churches, neighborhoods, is always a good thing. Whenever you think that a tradition is un-evaluatable, remember the Lions.