01
Observe
The Desk follows Detroit games, press conferences, and officiating rulings, then screens the record for candidate events.
Thesis
The record is open.
Curse Desk follows Detroit’s season in public. Most weeks produce no qualifying event. Those weeks are recorded too.
A quiet week still gets a line.
Dispatch register
- D-008Lions draw a familiar referee: Brad Rogers gets Jets gameNo assessment offered · No action
- D-007Ron Torbert after Week 2No assessment offered · No action
- D-006Ron Torbert before BuffaloNo assessment offered · No action
- D-005Alan Eck after Week 1No assessment offered · No action
- D-004Where a pass begins and a catch endsCandidate under review · Referred
- D-003Beyond the 53: How the Lions use the practice squad as a working rosterNo assessment offered · No action
- D-002Alan Eck returns to Detroit with a disputed touchdown behind him—and a low-penalty season on the booksNo assessment offered · No action
- D-001Cade Mays’ wrist injury leaves Detroit without its new starting centerObservation logged · Logged
How the file is kept
Observe · Preserve · Adjudicate.
02
Preserve
Each dispatch gets a permanent address. Null findings stay beside observations instead of disappearing.
Much of that work is ordinary football coverage by design. Referee profiles, roster notes, conventional explanations, routine games, and null findings establish what normal looks like. A dispatch does not need to contain curse activity to belong in the record; understanding the abnormal requires preserving the mundane record.
03
Adjudicate
After the season closes, one annual review decides whether a candidate becomes the year's Archive Case.
Annual adjudication may establish at most one Case. A null season consumes no Case number.
Ledger note
The Season File holds the year’s observations. The annual review determines whether any event enters the Archive.
Provenance
The permanent record of the Post-Layne investigation.
Current Season File
2026 Season FileFormal identifier SF-2026. The file remains open.