Columnist Sal DeFilippo: A great holiday, unless you’re a Lions fan

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

All those people lined up to buy gifts this morning will differ, but I think they've already missed out on the best holiday of the year.

Sure, Christmas and Hanuka are festive times, but how can you beat Thanksgiving?

Think about it. You wake up. You turn on the television. You watch football. Then you eat as much food as possible. Then you watch some more football. Then, somehow, you find a way to stuff your face even more, while watching even more football. Then you sleep.

What could possibly be better than that?

I'll admit, the holiday must have been a little somber for Lions fans. Detroit lost another close game on Thursday to become the league's only 0-10 team. Here's the part that makes it tough -- Detroit's last seven losses each have been by eight points or fewer, the longest such streak in NFL history. In other words, the Lions appear to be on the cusp of breaking into the win column about every week, but haven't found the right combination.

Thursday's game was particularly vexing because it appeared -- at least to me -- that someone in the NFL replay booth had action on Green Bay. After recovering an onside kick, the Lions threw a deep pass that Lamont Warren caught near the goal line, and near the sidelines.

The pass was ruled incomplete on the field, and it was a difficult call. But on the replay, it appeared as if Warren kicked the pylon, but landed with both feet in bounds. In the final two minutes of either half, a coach cannot challenge a field ruling -- the replay booth officials make that decision. If it had been reviewed, and the evidence wasn't conclusive enough to change the call, that's one thing -- but to ignore a play of that significance was sickening.

On the following play, when Detroit appeared to convert a key first down with another pass at the sidelines, the men upstairs were quick to take a second look. The call was overturned -- also a questionable ruling, since the evidence hardly appeared conclusive.

Perhaps it was justification that the Lions scored anyway on a desperation pass, although making the two-point conversion to force overtime would have been the icing on the cake.