It's not often Detroit Lions fans are treated to a William Clay Ford press conference.
When the Lions owner, generally reclusive in nature, does step into the limelight, no matter how briefly, it's difficult to determine what to take from it.
He says the right things for the most part.
He wants to win. The fans deserve better. Things are changing for the better. He's the one accountable for the team.
And so on. He's mending fences, at one of the two times per year he typically does so: when the season has gone down the tubes and he expresses mild disappointment (akin in severity to the disappointment expressed when one fails to win the lottery, only Ford plays with 1/32 odds every year), and now: the season ticket marketing blitz.
This year is no different. After the Lions [...]
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I can't believe I'm saying this.
Neither can you, and I don't guess your bitterness will be swayed so easily, but this is something that needs to be said.
Matt Millen, for all his shortcomings, for all the damage he did to the Detroit Lions franchise, for all of his stubborn press conferences and personnel decisions, still deserves a pass.
You heard me right.
I think. I'm still not sure I'm actually saying this, but I'm letting it ride.
I've been inspired to come to Millen's defense because of all the backlash he has gotten from Lions fans since starting his recent TV gigs on NFL Network and NBC.
At one time, I would have joined right in, jeering him along with the rest of you. That time was not so long ago (you can measure it in weeks), but having heard the flame-tipped [...]
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Over the past decade, the Detroit Lions have been better at developing scapegoats than developing players.
Matt Millen. Rod Marinelli. Joe Barry. Jim Coletto. George Foster. Travis Fisher. Jon Kitna. Paris Lenon.
I could go on. All of the names above have been instigators of a Bronx cheer at Ford Field., and numerous message board posts decrying, "Fire/cut (name)!"
The other common thread between them? All of them were with the team in 2008. None of them are with the team as of June 1, 2009.
So what now? "Fire Millen" is long gone. No more cracks on Marinelli's "pick and shovel." No more jokes about "the head coach's son-in-law." Colletto's "simplified offense," which soon became "simple for defenses to read" is gone too.
Fisher will have to look for somewhere else to [...]
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He finally did it. Didn’t think he had it in him, did ya?
You were wrong. After his team began its annual meltdown early this year, William Clay Ford, owner of the 0-3 Detroit Lions, anticipated the inevitable rage of the hometown fan base and made the move that virtually all of Michigan had been calling for since the burst of the dot-com bubble. Ford fired Matt Millen. Millen’s final record as Lions GM and President was 31-83.
[...]
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