"It's Detroit's last Unscratched Itch, and I swear, fans will scratch until it bleeds. The Lions open training camp in less than a week, that annual cherished moment when the record is unblemished, when positive things actually seem possible. People cringe and gnash and hope, but they rarely look away. Yes, apathy set in during Matt Millen's reign of terror, but that's gone, replaced by something noticeably more urgent. All around the NFL, pundits are damning the Lions with faint praise, basically summed up like this: "They're still not good, but they won't be embarrassing anymore!" I'll tell you exactly what the Lions' record will be, even before I see the first practice Saturday, even before I'm sure Ndamukong Suh will stick to his word and not hold out. I'll give it to you in a minute, but first, I'll explain why this is such an important season for the Lions. Because they're the last Unscratched Itch. The Red Wings have won and the Pistons have won, and after a long drought, the Tigers have won a bit. They haven't won it all since 1984, but they went to the World Series in 2006 and have mostly contended since." http://www.detnews.com/article/2010...tching-to-show-they-re-better-than--say--5-11
