Momentum Shift

I’m a Detroit Lions fan.

No, this isn’t some twelve step meeting where you admit your harmful addiction so you can kick the habit.  There’s no hope for me.  I’ve already survived the 10 worst years any NFL franchise will hopefully ever see, known as the ‘Millen Era.’  I’m in it for the long haul.  The point of my opening statement is this; I know a thing or two about momentum considering the fact the Lions have been on the negative side of the momentum situation for 50 years.

Momentum in sports can happen on several levels.  You can have or lack the momentum within a game, over an entire season, within a rivalry, or the momentum, in rare cases (see ‘The Matt Millen Era’) for an entire decade. 

I’m an optimist.  Otherwise I would no longer be a Lions fan.  I’ve watched games, drafts, even practices for years, waiting for the momentum to shift. 

If your favorite franchise sucks, this next part will make sense to you.  Otherwise, you might have to wait, but the time will come for all pro teams, so keep waiting and pray it doesn’t last as long as it did for Detroit.  I’ve sat through countless Lions games where the Lions were ahead, simply waiting for us to lose.  I KNEW the momentum would shift because it always did.  I, as are other Lions fans, am just now learning it’s possible to keep momentum for longer than five minutes.

You can learn everything you need to know about momentum through sports.  The fans can feel it in the stands, the players can sense it on the field, and the TV announcers love to overreact to it.  The fans attitude can suck the momentum out of the players and the players have the ability to restore that momentum with the fans.

What does this have to do with politics?

How many people reading this have been dumbfounded by President Barack Obama’s poll numbers recently?  I’ve seen approval ratings as high as 50%.  Consider the fact Obama has never managed to get unemployment below 8% (10% if you are looking at the real numbers), gas prices have reached a height as high as when people blamed Bush for feeding the oils companies greed, his historic, unconstitutional healthcare plan is already over budget and may be stuck down by the supreme court, he has blatantly disrespected the US political system by questioning the supreme court’s power, and he is currently engaged in more wars/military conflicts than he inherited as president.  How could be possibly have a positive approval rating?

Yes, Tim exposed in his most recent article, the left’s obsession with Obama.  He has a certain number of minions who will follow him right off the cliff, but I still believe most of this country, at its core, opposes what Obama is doing.

I think back to the days when Lions fans wore bags over their heads.  I recall one particular game where fans organized to decide they would wear all orange to a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in protest of Matt Millen.  One particular fan was chased around the empty stands by security because he had a sign that said “Fire Millen.”  The fans were feeding the team a sense of pessimism, compounding an already serious lack of momentum. 

I have been lucky enough to see the beginning of a turnaround in the team’s momentum.  As I have watched things change, I realized how important the attitude of the fan base is to turning it around.

Think about that in political terms.  Barack Obama doesn’t have momentum because of what he is doing.  He has momentum because we, the supporters of the other team, have allowed him to keep it.  How do we expect to win this election and attack Obama’s record when we are so busy attacking each other?  How many people out there are wearing a bag over their head because they don’t like Mitt Romney?  How many of you are wearing the other team’s jersey because Ron Paul isn’t going to win?

We won’t get anywhere as long as we are all running different directions.

The Detroit Lions went 0-16 in 2008, 2-14 in 2009, 6-10 in 2010, and 10-6 (playoffs) in 2011.  No Lions fan in their right mind was upset about the 2-14 record let alone 10-6 a couple years later.  Progress is progress and the fans loved it. 

Mitt Romney haters and Ron Paul supporters don’t get it.  We are on our fourth 0-16 season in a row with Barack Obama at the helm.  What makes you believe we should be going for 16-0 and a super bowl victory or bust this season?  We don’t need to win it all right now.  We need to shift the momentum and WE ARE THE CAUSE OF BARACK OBAMA’S MOMENTUM. 

The nomination process is winding down.  You don’t have to think Mitt Romney is the next Matthew Stafford (sorry, Lions bias).  We simply have to agree Barack Obama is beatable and as a team we are capable of doing so.  It’s time for the other candidates to get on the ‘beat Barack’ bandwagon.  Come together as a party to beat Obama.  We don’t have to come together as a party to believe Mitt is our savior. 

Think about the Steelers, Yankees, or Lakers.  I despise all three of them so much, mostly because of their bandwagon fan base (not too different from Obama’s fans), I will cheer for a team I don’t like to beat them.  I don’t care if you have to make this election about the lesser of two evils to get on board.  The first step to victory is admitting we have a problem and OUR NEGATIVE ATTITUDE IS THAT PROBLEM RIGHT NOW!

Read more at The Bitter Americans