Jeff Daniels knows what it is like to make a sweeping monologue on television, having portrayed anchor Will McAvoy on “The Newsroom” for three seasons.
And on SportsCenter on Tuesday, the lifelong Detroit Lions fan made one about his sports team as well.
“You feel cursed. You really do,” Daniels said. “What happened to Calvin [Johnson] in Chicago with all the follow-all-the-way-through, that thing. That happened to us. Last night happened to us. It’s just part of being a Lions fan, apparently.
“It’s just painful. It’s painful. I don’t care what the Cubs fans say. This is more painful.”
Daniels has suffered through years of losing with the Lions, who have one playoff win in the Super Bowl era and no appearances in the title game. He’s also seen a bunch of controversial calls go against the Lions in recent years.
The veteran actor and native of Chelsea, Michigan happened to be appearing on SportsCenter on Tuesday to promote his new film and after the batted ball controversy in Seattle with his Lions on Monday night.
He’s been a vocal supporter of the Lions in the past, so he was asked about his team’s fortunes hours earlier and discussed how they've played this season. And the first thing he said was star receiver Calvin Johnson should not have lost the ball to begin with.
“Let’s start there. Don’t fumble the ball,” Daniels said. “Half a yard away from 1-3, half a yard away from having to stop listening to how great Russell Wilson is, have a yard away from just having our season back.
“The offense played, when [Matthew] Stafford went gunslinger, oh my God, and he spread it around. The defense came up big in the third quarter, but fourth quarter, that’s the team. That’s where, half a yard, 0-4. Half a yard.”
So if you’re ever wondering if celebrities follow sports like the Average Joe fan, all you needed to do was see Daniels’ reaction Tuesday morning. Just like the rest of the Lions fans, he appears flummoxed about what happened Monday night.