Lions chasing history

Happy Thanksgiving!

But if you're a transplanted Michigander who follows football, the turkey might be tough to swallow today. The University of Michigan is not going to a bowl game for the first time in 34 years. And the 0-11 Detroit Lions have a chance to inch closer to the worst season in NFL history with a loss to the Tennessee Titans today at Ford Field.

The lowly Leos might run the table of futility and go 0-16. Yet even in the most trying of years, the Lions usually find a way to show up on Thanksgiving and put forth a respectable effort. The tradition, which began in 1934, has resulted in a 33-33-2 record.

But the recent years have not been kind to the Lions. Since 2000, Detroit is 2-6 on Thanksgiving. Still, coach Rod Marinelli said he welcomes being in the national spotlight.

"I'm really looking forward to that,'' he said. ''I've always talked about my belief in this team and how they work, so there's a major spotlight --- national -- coming in on us, and I want us to stand up, stand tall and go out and play lights-out football. I'm challenging them and myself."

Marinelli bristled when asked if he thought the attention would be a negative.

"I guess, if you are from Hostess Twinkies, it might be," he said, implying that the question was weak. "I'm not saying we're Twinkies. I said the question was a Twinkie. Did you get that right? That was a Twinkie question, for me."

* SWITCHING ALLEGIANCES -- New York Knicks fans haven't had a lot to cheer about in recent years. But a disturbing trend is developing at Madison Square Garden. Fans are cheering the enemy.

First, it was Michael Jordan, the ultimate Knick-killer, who was given a standing ovation a couple of weeks ago when Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats were in New York. On Tuesday, Knicks fans gave Cavaliers forward LeBron James the royal treatment.

The Knicks fans' madness has a motive. James is a free agent in two years, and the fans figure if they show him enough love now, maybe he'll become a Knick in 2010.

James said after a 119-101 win that the support flatters him. But he added that 2010 was a long ways off.

* WILL ASHLEY SHOW? -- Kentucky's basketball team plays in Las Vegas for the first time since 1980 when the Wildcats meet Kansas State in the Las Vegas Invitational at the Orleans Arena on Friday. But the big question isn't whether Billy Gillespie's team will take care of the ball or score enough but rather, will Ashley Judd show up?

The actress and UK superfan has been known to make a few trips to support her favorite team, and it would seem like Vegas is the perfect place for Judd to make an appearance. Judd recently attended the Kentucky-North Carolina game and sat in the Carolina student section after she kept her word following a promise she made while stumping for President-elect Barack Obama in the Tar Heel State prior to the election. Judd said if Obama carried North Carolina, she would attend the Kentucky-Carolina game and sit with the Carolina students.

Though she sat with the Carolina students, Judd still rooted for Kentucky. Now that's a brave woman.

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL