Detroit Lions. Sold and moving

Well, that didn't take long. After the recent death of long time Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford, it appears their sale is imminent, and they'll be moving to Los Angeles.

William Clay never would have allowed this to happen, of course. But sometimes when the patriarch of a family passes on, his heirs no longer want to be troubled with continuing to run the business he spent decades building. Much easier to "cash out" and live the life of luxury without all the hassle. From mom and pop stores, to farmers, to multi-million dollar enterprises, it happens all the time.

Even though the Lions had a fairly pitiful track record for the last half century under the late elder Ford's watch -- no doubt this will still come as quite a shock to their fans. Yes, the team itself had become somewhat infamous for perennially disappointing them but -- dammit -- it was still their team. To their credit, the Honolulu Blue and Silver faithful hung in there year after year, always with the hope that next year just might be the one. For those folks, yours truly feels a profound sense of sadness.

Yet it appears that after the 2014 season, the Honolulu Blue and Silver will cease to exist. What their new name and uniform colors in LA will be has yet to be determined.

But I suppose time marches on and, like they say, the NFL is definitely a business. On that note, while Detroit will lose an historic franchise, few would doubt the folks in LA have long desired another NFL team, since the Rams left for St. Louis and the Raiders briefly passed through years ago. And there can be no question LA will offer much greater marketing opportunities for the team itself than Detroit ever could. So like most anything else, when somebody gains -- somebody else has to lose.

Still, one is left to wonder -- what will become of Ford Field? It's a jewel of a venue and not even 12 years old -- quite modern as stadiums go. And in less than a year from now it will sit basically unused? Spare me the tractor pulls and geriatric rock band concerts. Please.

Then again, perhaps something good will wind up coming of all the above in the end.

Remember what day today is.

April Fools.