David and Marshall use an insightful article from Go Long ("Ass-Kicking Origins: Why the Detroit Lions Are Built for 2024 Football") to explain why they aren't the least bit worried after the Lions' inauspicious start to the season. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

Author Bill Morris joins us to discuss ⁠The Lions Finally Roar⁠, his chronicle of the Detroit Lions's organizational dysfunction and dramatic turnaround.

• (02:40) The time David kind of met William Clay Ford
• (05:08) The urine-soaked legacy of the Silverdome
• (07:49) How Bill’s father was almost the general manager of the Lions—and why that epitomizes the organization’s struggles
• (13:44) The reversal of fortune that coincided with Sheila Ford Hamp’s backing of coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes in 2022
• (15:27) Dissecting the team’s culture of failure
• (17:26) Why Ford kept former general manager Russ Thomas in a position of power for so long
• (22:26) How the Lions ruined former coach Bobby Ross
• (26:28) Differing perspectives on last year’s playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers
• (27:42) What it's like in metro Detroit on the eve of this highly anticipated new season
• (29:09) Why Barry Sanders simply handed the ball to the officials after a touchdown
• (30:08) The worst Lions loss Marshall ever saw—and what Sheila Ford Hamp did about it
• (31:35) The uncomfortable design history of the RenCen
• (35:38) The post-retirement signing bonus controversies of Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson
• (38:34) The moment we knew the Lions would lose the NFC championship against the 49ers
• (40:59) The organizational disasters that ended the Lions’s 1950s championship run
• (44:09) The phenomenon known as ‘Lions-free’
• (45:17) What rooting for the team again is like for us now

Post-interview, (49:03), we share what we would have said if someone had asked us to be general manager of the Lions.

Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)

We document the unimaginable: a meaningless Detroit Lions preseason finale that a) was sold out—even for standing-room-only!—and b) featured a crowd so loud they actually affected the outcome of the game. Then:

• (10:10) Did David invent the phrase "going sideways?" Did Marshall invent The Floor is Lava? And the essential quality of bringing yourself present to the moment
• (16:08) Why MTV's The Real World was must-watch TV
• (19:56) Parental GPS-tracking interrupts our recording; Marshall recognizes the obscure Meg Ryan 'meet-cute' the situation resembles
• (24:44) David wants to know: is the Sports Illustrated jinx a thing?
• (28:50) The real benefit of having been right about these Lions

Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"