Lions-Bucs in the Divisional Round is both big news and crazy. Long before Tampa Bay won two Super Bowls (am I authorized to use the term?), they played in the NFC Central.
In that past lifetime, the John McKay led Bucs were horrible initially and the Lions weren’t that much better. With league and conference realignment commonplace now, teams switching things up in the 70’s and 80’s was unusual. Rivalries meant something.
Again, Tampa has had great success in the past 20 years winning a pair of titles, but back in the 80’s a match-up of these teams in the postseason was pure fantasy-a made for TV movie with football the setting and not plot of the movie.
Likewise, nobody I know ever imagined the Cubs and Cardinals would finally meet in the postseason, but they did (at last) in 2015. Even though the Cardinals had only won 4 World Series in my lifetime, I felt that the Cubs knocking off the Cardinals (when it finally mattered) meant something.
Having enjoyed most of my baseball before the wildcard round(s) were added, I never thought it possible that two teams from a division would ever face off in the playoffs. In 1978, the Yankees and Red Sox essentially played for the right to compete against the Royals in the ALCS. The Red Sox changed the narrative in 2004 on route to their first WS crown in forever.
Even after their success in the past 7 seasons, it’s hard to believe the Astros were the NL representative in the 2005 World Series against the White Sox. And it’s more than a change in laundry, but those teams bear little resemblance to one another.
Some will argue that realignment and expansion are the greatest things to happen to professional sports, but I prefer the oddities of my youth when the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds played in the NL West with the California teams and the Astros.
I have no doubt that former Lion, Eric Hipple isn’t relishing every moment of the Lions’ run, but who is former QB, Joe Ferguson, rooting for? He played two seasons for each team after a nice career leading the Bills.
