i'm not sure i'd say they "deserve" it but it's a tradition.

Here is a good article discussing this subject. And i couldn't agree more. Get this crap off my tv.

Link

Lions on Thanksgiving is one turkey too many

Money that's flooded into sports has usually overwhelmed traditions.

So it's doubly amazing that the sports world's Daddy Warbucks
the NFL clings to a Depression Era invention that makes no 21st-century sense: playing Thanksgiving Day games in Detroit and, later, in Dallas
leaving fans with the less-than-festive Tennessee (10-1) vs. Detroit (0-11) on Thursday.

The Lions, despite not having a winning season since 2000, actually draw pretty well. In this century, the team's Thanksgiving games have averaged 11.9% of U.S. households. The Cowboys, despite being America's Soap Opera and getting a later (and thus better) time slot, aren't doing much better
averaging 12.1%. That suggests fans are hungry for any Thanksgiving Day NFL action
imagine if the NFL rotated game sites to schedule something tasty.

Howard Katz, NFL senior vice president/broadcasting, suggests "one thing people have forgotten is how we got this. Lots of clubs felt it was hard to sell a game on Thanksgiving, that it might conflict with other local traditions or it would be hard to get municipal services.
But more clubs have expressed interest and there may be a reason to re-examine it."

Well, yes, given that this quaint anomaly has somehow survived in a media-savvy machine whose annual TV revenues
$3.7 billion
are about the size of Fiji's GDP. The NFL manages to give NBC prime-time flex-scheduling despite a complicated formula mandated that neither Fox nor CBS will give up more than 23 Sunday games each season for the NFL's 42 prime-time slots. And next week, the league tests 3-D TV game coverage
"a glimpse into our future," says Katz
in hopes of making a 3-D theatrical movie of the 2010 Super Bowl.

So why the stale Turkey Day menu?

No way. I'd rather see a competitive game on Thanksgiving. If it involves the Lions, it's not really going to be competitive. As I write this, Lions are losing 35-3 at the 2 minute warning in the 2nd quarter. lmao.

They don't deserve it but at least the fans will have something to enjoy their season for lol ... give it to them let the fans enjoy something.

It was a good game for drinking, they really blew it AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!

I voted "YES"
Afterall........isn't thanksgiving the time for seving up "turkey?"