Thanksgiving is one of the longest standing American, and Canadian, traditional holiday withheld today. Traces of the celebration date back to April 1598 when Don Juan led a group of settlers north from Chihuahua, Mexico to San Elizario, Texas. In celebration of their newly acquired settlement Juan led the celebration of La Toma, which claimed the new land to King Phillip II of Spain. The better known tale of the story took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts when the colonist celebrated the combination of the anniversary of their settlement, and a successful harvest. This tradition celebrated the sharing of food and land with all peoples.
On December 26th 1941, Thanksgiving day (in America) was officially to be celebrated the third Thursday of every November.
Today, 'Turkey Day' is celebrated by five countries, mainly in Canada and the United States and is still used as a day to eat well and enjoy family company. In this 'recession' many won't complain about a nationally celebrated day off, no matter what the case.
Founded in 1929 as the Portsmouth, Ohio Spartans, the team was just not able to accumulate a strong enough fan base in an up and coming NFL. WJR Radio station George Richards bought and moved the team to Detroit in 1934.
The Detroit Tigers had just won the American League pennant. Detroit's sports fans heart was already held by a promising franchise. Prior to an unofficial Thanksgiving day game against the undefeated defending world champion Chicago Bears, the Lions largest crowd was no larger than 15,000 fans in the University of Detroit Stadium. Richards had plenty of national media swing, and he used to it to show off what he believed one of his investments could become. Convincing NBC to broadcast the game over 94 national stations, 26,000 people filled the once empty seats. The Lions lost 19 - 16 to the eventual NFL champions, but returned the next season to win the 1935 NFL title. Not a bad way to gain support from local citizens and publicize one of the most watched sports in America today.
As long as Thanksgiving has been technical, the Lions have been their to entertain us. To support or hope fais, All sports fans can look forward to watching football on a National Holiday.
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