Wednesday Notes: Schwartz to "Put a Barbed-Wire Fence" Around Thanksgiving Game

by Sean Yuille on Jan 28, 2009 12:53 AM EST in Detroit Lions Notes

Just in case anybody was wondering, I plan on putting together the 2009 NFL Draft HQ near the end of next month when I'm on "spring" break (yes, U-M's "spring" break is in February). The HQ will include a draft tracker for all 7 rounds, a mock draft database, and other draft-related things. (I still have the '08 version in the sidebar, and this year's will be something similar to that.)
Gunther Cunningham talked to the media on Tuesday, and I believe Scott Linehan will do the same today.
An article about last weekend's town hall meeting has been posted on the Lions' official site. This quote from Jim Schwartz about the annual Thanksgiving game stood out the most to me:

"It's going to be one of the first things I talk to the players (about) when they come back in March: we're going to put a barbed-wire fence around that Thanksgiving Day game," said Schwartz. "I'm not going to have people around the country talk about taking that game away from us.

"We're going to put a barbed-wire fence around that (and) the players are going to understand the importance of it."
I definitely like the passion behind that statement.
Dave Birkett posted some quotes from the meeting as well.
Part of former Lions tight end Sean McHugh was excited to see the Lions lose every week. Another part wasn't so excited since he still has friends on the team. McHugh was released by the Lions before the regular season started and was signed by the Steelers shortly after. I would say getting released was a huge blessing in disguise. He got released by a team that ended up going 0-16 and was quickly signed by a team that ended up in the Super Bowl.