Detroit, the city of pity?

Forty years after Marvin Gaye recorded "What's Going On", Motown is asking the same question regarding their sports teams. This year has been particularly disappointing for fans in Detroit, at a time when the city desperately needs something to cheer about in wake of their crumbling economy. It's not been a bad year for just one or two clubs. Ironically, it's been a total team effort on the part of all the sports in the Motor City to stink it up, from the high school level to the pros. Let's take a walk back through 2009, a year whose end can't come soon enough for the city of Detroit:

January 1: A day after becoming the first team in NFL history to go 0-16, The Detroit Lions finally get to celebrate, but only because it's New Year's.

April 6: Michigan State makes a miracle run through the NCAA Tournament, setting up a dream matchup with UNC for the final. It is a great scenario for the Spartans: The game is in Michigan and the attendance at Ford Field in Detroit should shatter the attendance record. They have Tom Izzo, a great coach who has won a title before and a whole city that deserves a championship right now more than any city in America. Despite all of this, North Carolina wins in blow-out fashion and the people of Detroit walk out of Ford Field like Charlie Brown after he's rejected by the little red headed girl.

April 10: Finishing the season with a losing record of 39-43, the Detroit Pistons clinch a playoff berth because the Eastern Conference is just that bad. The Michael Curry and Allen Iverson experiment fail tremendously as Curry questionably had "The Answer" and Richard Hamilton coming off the bench late in the season. The Pistons would be swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Meanwhile, the player Detroit traded for Iverson, Chauncey Billups, becomes an All-Star and leads the Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals. Oops.

April 25: The Lions select Matthew Stafford with the first pick in the NFL draft. This won't become a questionable call until the start of the season with the emergence of the sixth pick, Mark Sanchez. The Jets are one of the early surprises in the NFL and the maturity and poise of Sanchez is a big reason why. You might wonder if that composure would have been better suited for an 0-16 team and Stafford's big arm better suited for the blistery winds in the Meadowlands. Time will tell, but right now Stafford's passer rating of 65.6 ranks him towards the bottom of the league, between backups Kyle Boller and Brady Quinn. The Lions also gambled taking tight-end Brandon Pettigrew with the twentieth overall pick when guys like Percy Harvin, Michael Oher and James Laurinaitis were still on the board.

June 12: Arguably the best franchise in American sports of this decade, the Detroit Red Wings prepare to defend their championship title in a rematch against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Wings win the first two games of the Stanley Cup, but let the Penguins rally to force a Game 7. Detroit is at home and has the country backing them for the city's sake. Like a reoccurring nightmare, the home team plays flat and watches the visitors celebrate a championship.

June 15: NBA legend Bill Laimbeer shocks the Detroit Shock in resigning as head coach and general manager just three games into the season. At the All-Star break, Detroit has the worst record in the Eastern Conference. To follow the trend of rollercoaster Detroit teams, the Shock make an amazing comeback and qualify for the playoffs. They sweep Atlanta in the first round and believe me, the city's going nuts because this is the WNBA we're talking about. It's all for naught, of course, as Detroit loses to Indiana in three games in the conference finals.

June 30: The Pistons fire their coach and spend over 90 million on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to come off the bench. They took three small-forwards in NBA Draft, let go of clutch scorer Rasheed Wallace and brought back Ben Wallace, who holds the record for most games played without a dribble. The 2009 Pistons are made up of two types of offensive players, the first being the guy who has no moves at all and is often afraid to shoot. The second is the guy who demands the ball and if he turns it over, stays right where he's at and stares at the refs or his teammates like he just smelled something really stinky. This doesn't look good.

August 2: Lions wide receiver Bryant Johnson is injured in a golf cart accident. Of course.

September 27: The Lions win their Super Bowl, defeating the Washington Redskins 19-14 for their first win in 19 games. Hopefully you got in all your laughs at the expense of the Detroit Lions. Now that the team has acquired Special Olympics status, with accolades involving the phrases "a lot of heart" and "tried really hard", mockery is no longer appropriate. And that includes jokes about wearing helmets.

October 2: Chicago loses the 2016 host bid to Rio de Janeiro. In an interview after the decision, Chicago said, "Well at least we haven't been denied seven times," referring to Detroit's distinction of having the most bids to host the Summer Olympics without ever being awarded the games.

October 2: Canton Plymouth High learns the hard way that living 30 miles outside of Detroit isn't far enough. In a football match against Westland John Glenn, Plymouth blocks a last-second field goal attempt to seal the victory and the kids run around the field in celebration. Meanwhile, the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage and the whistle never blew it dead, so the John Glenn place-holder runs the ball into the end zone for the game-winning score. It's hard to let down a loss like that when it becomes one of the month's biggest YouTube hits.

October 6: The Detroit Tigers miss the playoffs in losing 6-5 in 12 innings to the Minnesota Twins in the tie-breaker game to win the AL Central. The Tigers spent nearly 150 days in first place and became the first team to blow a three game lead with four games left.

October 7: Sporting News names Detroit the 10th best sports city in America (Greensboro came in at No. 245). Even with the epic collapses, embarrassing records and missed opportunities, that ranking is about right. It's hard to argue a city that had three teams in contention for titles. While this might be the most disappointing season for any city in a long time, to be disappointed, by definition, is to be dissatisfied by the results of an expectation. As we know, Detroit is officially Hockeytown and was named Sports City USA in 2007, but this year the fans have proven they might be the best in country. Detroit never gave up on the Lions and is known for having one of the best baseball crowds despite the Tigers making the playoffs just twice in the last 25 years. The people of Detroit expect greatness from their sports teams year in and year out, even if that means dealing with the heartbreak of a year like 2009. Every true sports fan has known what it's been like to be Detroit, which is why for the next two months, we'll all be rooting for them.