Mickey's Musings: The Chicago Marathon, Golden Girls and Samuel Clemens
Welcome to Mickey's Musings, my weekly notebook where we skip the linear narrative and dive straight into three completely unrelated, but entirely fascinating storylines that are bouncing around in my head.
This is Week 5 of the season and I’ve yet to make any running references in this column. I’m sure people that know me would think that is shocking.
Running is my “drug of choice” and in addition to the physical benefits, I utilize it for sanity and my mental well being. Often, during discussions at work, I will preface things with statements such as, “I thought of this while I was running this morning.” Whenever I put together a presentation for work or when I was involved as a volunteer with the youth group at my church and wanted to share with the kids – it would come together when putting in my early morning miles. A few years ago, the eulogy I gave at my mom’s funeral was composed as I pounded the streets of Traverse City.
That all being said, this past Sunday was one of my favorite races – the Chicago Marathon. I’ve run the race five times. This summer I was coming off a surgery, so I didn’t participate, but I am already signed up for 2027. The reason I love Chicago is the energy. It is a 26.2 mile party with spectators 3 or 4 deep across the entire course. Most races, even the big city ones, have areas that are kind of dead cheering wise, but not Chicago. When things get tough during a marathon it is the crowd energy that can carry you through rough patches. As such, Chicago has some of the best signs made by spectators. For inspiration, and for the distraction, during marathons I always read as many signs as I can. Two that stood out to me from my last Chicago Marathon in 2024: “Keep pushing, I brought the eye candy (And by eye candy, Eye mean eye will be eating a Hershey’s Bar at Mile 21)” and another that said “You didn’t train to be eye candy. You trained to kick some a$$ in a marathon!”
I was reminded of those signs as I listened to Dan Campbell last week. He was discussing the Cardinal’s offense, specifically their running game, and he said, “They’re going to give you eye candy. They’re going to do movement. They’re trying to make you to move just a little bit, to where you get off.”
Well, the Lions didn’t fall for that “eye candy.” The Cardinal’s new running back, number three overall pick Jeremiyah Love, picked up 22 yards on 12 carries. The eye candy may as well been a bag of nasty Candy Corn that nobody wanted.
The Golden Girls is topic number two. It is one of those shows that often is on at my house when we are just looking for mindless TV, or background noise. The other night was an episode from Season 7 where Dorothy was lamenting to Sophia, her mother, about a legal situation with her ex-husband Stan. Sophia dispelled her Sicilian wisdom with this exchange:
Sophia: “See what I have on my feet?”
Dorothy: “Your regular old shoes.”
Sophia: “And do you know why? Because old lady shoes are me. Like it or not, they’re a part of my life. It’s like it is with you and Stan. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Dorothy then replies, “You’re saying that in some ways, Stan belongs in my life.”
What did the Lions do against the Cardinals after the first three drives resulted in three punts? They got down to basics, just like those old lady shoes. Gibbs off tackle and after a big play and a penalty got them in the red zone it was Gibbs off the right side for 16 and then two consecutive runs to pound it in. After that the next few drives featured Jahmyr doing his thing and a heavy dose of Amon-Ra St Brown. I’m not comparing those two to a pair of old-lady shoes. But, when they’re part of our offense’s life, things are much better.
Our last topic this week is Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain – the legendary author, humorist and lecturer.
In 1897 the 62 year old Twain was living in London. His cousin, James Ross Clemens, had been ill and on June 1, 1897 the New York Herald ran a dramatic story claiming that Twain was in London, "grievously ill and possibly dying," with a shattered intellect and in dire financial poverty. Other papers quickly picked up the rumor, and some even went so far as to draft or print his obituary. The next day a reporter from the New York Journal tracked down Twain to verify the gossip. He delivered a quote many of us have heard some variation of, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Man, isn’t that true about our Lions?!?
Prior to the season, I’m sure many of us would have predicted this game to be a 45-21 Detroit victory. But, after watching Tyler Shough, Bryce Young and Geno Smith slice and dice our secondary like they were working the grill at Benihana’s would any of us have been surprised to see Jacoby Brissette follow suit?
Sure, it was only one week. Sure, it was the Arizona Friggin’ Cardinals. But, with a bye week coming up, we have at least two full weeks where we know that the death of the 2026 season was an exaggeration. Go Lions.
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