NFL prevents Dan Campbell from putting a real lion on field
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is not your fathers version of whatever a head coach in the NFL is. He's not the quiet, but stern force that walks the sideline every week and has the fear of god put in all the men on the field. He's a special guy. He's the kind of […]
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is not your fathers version of whatever a head coach in the NFL is. He's not the quiet, but stern force that walks the sideline every week and has the fear of god put in all the men on the field. He's a special guy. He's the kind of a guy that could have been a pro wrestler if he didn't turn to coaching. He could run an entire circus if he wanted to. Actually, he kind of did want to.
Yes, it's true. Dan Campbell wanted to put an actual real life lion on on the Lions sideline when he first got hired to be the head coach in Detroit. The crazy thing is that Lions' owner Sheila Hamp was totally ok with it.
Can you imagine what they would have been like had it happened? Instead of playing the roar sound effect after the Lions get a stop on the field, they could just put on mic up to the lions mouth and get a real roar. They could feed it a live goat or something at halftime. Actually don't do that. I would feel bad for the goat. Knowing me, I would have named the goat by the end of the first quarter and that goat would be my friend.
Maybe a Siegfried and Roy type of halftime show. actually that might not be a good idea either considering what happened with those guys and a lion. Ok I see now why this might be a bad idea.
Ultimately the NFL shut the whole thing down. Something about having a live lion, that could realistically cause some serious problems if it got loose, on the sideline just didn't sit well with the league.
Maybe they'll change their minds some day. Maybe for just a one time thing. Like have a lion eat a turkey on Thanksgiving day or something. Preferably a turkey that's not alive.
Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
