Three Cups Deep: Lions vs. Packers

Image thanks to the AP's Larry Lage

Surreal.

That’s the only word to describe it.  In just over twenty four hours, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed, the Lions held the 25-point-per-game Packers offense to a field goal in a 7-3 victory, and Ford Field sold out of free tickets to the re-located Vikings/Giants game in just 90 minutes.

Turk McBride led the Lions with two sacks, as the Lions’ defensive line won the game almost by themselves.  The Lions’ 190 team rushing yards outstripped their team passing yards by the length of a football field.  Nearly as many Lions, 7, had at least one rushing attempt as had at least one reception, 8.  Greg Jennings not only didn’t put the team on his back, his bobble was the difference between a 75-yard touchdown and an Amari Speivey interception.  Drew Stanton, after an appalling game throwing the football, was flawless on the game-winning drive.  It must be said: the Lions won as they have lost—improbably, incredibly, nerve-shreddingly, and with more than a touch of surreality.

Jim Schwartz has given the players the day off today, which is a fitting reward.  Those hearty souls who waited outside in the freezing cold of the wee small hours were rewarded with tickets to tonight’s Vikings-Giants game—which the Lions’ staff has truly pulled out all the stops to accommodate.  Kevin Seifert detailed the Lions’ efforts to make their division rivals feel at home, which includes stadium sounds, scoring their mascot Ragnar a Harley, and scrubbing off the Lions wordmark and logo from the turf, and painting the Vikings’ logos on the field instead.

I’m incredibly proud of Lions fans, and the Lions organization, for putting together this incredible effort.  With just over a day’s notice, the Ford Field staff and the city of Detroit will give the nation a Vikings-Giants environment nearly indistinguishable from the one that had been scheduled for months.  This is a tremendous achievement, one that should be worn as a badge of honor by Mr. Ford, Tom Lewand, everyone in the Lions organization, the people of Detroit, and all Lions fans everywhere.

If you're lucky enough to go, a list of acceptable TLiW modes of rooting:

• Wear Vikings gear and root Vikings. They're our NFC North neighbor, after all, and having them avenge the Giants loss would be nice. Besides, if we're replicating the real home field experience for them, why not be truly committed?
• Wear Lions gear and root for a good game.  Hey, it’s a free NFL game in Detroit!  Let’s just make it classy and memorable for everyone.
• Wear Lions gear and boo the hell out of the Vikings, because screw the Vikings.

Now, all that having been said . . . I can’t wait until they scrub that Vikings crap off our field.  It’s making me itch.

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions,minnesota vikings,new york giants,ford field,monday night football

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Torches, Pitchforks, & a Painful Lesson

"Time for us to unite and force Ford to sell the team. Spread the word. I'm done standing by and watching and waiting."

--@derekgrube a.k.a @drgrube / @GroovyGrube / @KeepFrdFldEmpty

This is a very slow, painful, difficult lesson for fans to learn.  All the hours, all the days, all the years you’ve spent rooting for your team?  All the tickets, food, and drinks?  All the hats, shirts, and jerseys?  All the ups and downs and cheering and crying and yelling and sulking and swearing and shouting?  All the time, money, and emotion you have sunk into your favorite team?  It’s bought you exactly zero equity in the franchise.

You and I own absolutely nothing of the Detroit Lions Football Club.  It is a privately-owned—very privately owned—business, and it belongs to the owner.  Not you.  Not me.  The owner.  No matter what numbers Lions fans gather in, no matter what stupid “protests” we stage, the Lions are William Clay Ford’s and he will not sell them.  By all accounts, his son is as much of a Lions fan as we all are—so if you’re waiting for the team to pass first into Junior’s hands and then someone else’s, you’re out of luck.

Let me ask you this, “Make Ford Sell the Lions” people: and then what?

First, they’ll have to find an owner to sell it to—and if that owner’s last name is not Illitch or DeVos (or maybe Karmanos or Penske), be prepared for the team to leave town for good.  Presuming, though, there’s a Motor City-friendly ownership group ready to buy, then what?  They’ll have deeper pockets, or a freer hand in signing checks?  Ford is already tops in that department.  They’ll bring in a GM who’ll do more to fix the roster than Martin Mayhew has, faster?  No way; what GM could?  They’ll give total operational control—and a Brinks truck full of money—to a big-name out-of-work coach?  As I type this, the Redskins are proving that’s far from a surefire play.  They’ll rebuild the roster again, in some other leadership staff’s image?  Impossible, given the contracts involved.  If you think the owner is currently what’s wrong with the franchise, let me ask you: what would a different owner do differently, and how would that fix what went wrong on Sunday?  If you’re honest, you’ll say that you don’t know, and you don’t care—you just want heads to roll.

Look, I know you’re furious.  I know you’re crushed.  I know how bitterly it stings that after all this, the results are are still more theoretical than tangible.  But going postal because the Lions mailed it in against an 0-8 team and got stamped “insufficient postage?”  It’d be illogical, irrational, and—reality check—ineffective.  Shouting from the rooftops that you are “sick of losing,” even though you aren’t even playing in the games?  Save your breath.  Taking it to the streets to show the world that you are going to “DO something about it?”  Unless you have some run-blocking talents you can take to the field, you won’t be DOing any good.  Call me a coward, call me a traitor, call me a scab, call me part of the problem . . . but I’m sipping cider by the little blue fire with my friends, while you’re carpet-bombing the Internet trying to convince your fellow fans to turn their backs on the team.

Don’t worry though, man, it’s cool.  When your incandescent rage has dimmed, your torch has gone out, and your pitchfork is beginning to rust, you’ll see the big blue fire flicking just over the tree line.  You’ll watch the silver smoke rise high into the ash-gray sky, and realize your fingers are numb with cold, and your joints creak and ache.  Your lips will be chapped and cracked from the wind; involuntarily you’ll lick them and they’ll sting with pain.  You’ll almost hear the jokes and laughter, and you’ll swear the steam from the cider is already healing your parched and frozen throat.  Suddenly, you’ll realize that you’re walking towards us, and have been for a while.  By the time you get close enough to make eye contact with me, you’ll look down in shame—and realize you dropped your weapons somewhere in the woods.  No matter.  It’s then that I’ll take you by the hand, and show you I saved you a place by the fire.

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions

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Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet . . .

Hey folks, it’s Mailbag time again.  I’m going to get right to it with a great one from Scott T.:

I was watching SportsCenter tonight, and they cut to a preview segment of tonight's MNF game, with Matt Millen. For the first time, a raw emotion hit me as I listened to MM speak; loathing. I remember listening to Matt Millen, the color analyst, prior to his tenure with the Lions. My thoughts then were "he's pretty sharp, makes good points" etc, etc. Now that he has returned to that position in broadcasting, I am now POSITIVE, that he could make the same statements, prove the same points, and for me, I just want to turn the TV off, or change the channel. His words no longer are credible with me. To be honest, I haven't paid much attention to his return to broadcasting, and have never really listened until tonight. In my mind, and probably my own, Matt Millen, the NFL analyst, is now a joke, and I resent his being on TV passing his opinion on to national and even regional viewers.

This one is tough for me.  I’m always the first to defend Millen’s right to ply his trade—and like you, I enjoyed his analysis work the first time around.  I don’t think that his failure as the CEO of an NFL franchise disqualifies him from a career in broadcasting; certainly there are plenty of great players and coaches who would be terrible analysts, and plenty of mediocre players and coaches (Merrill Hoge) who are very sharp on-camera.

However, I experienced something very similar to what you're talking about a few weeks ago, when Carolina played Dallas on Monday Night Football.  After the game, the talking heads were all taking turns discussing Dallas’ situation, and Millen said “You know, someone who’s got to play better is Roy Williams.”  Within minutes of that admission, he said “You know who I’ve really been impressed with, is Demarcus Ware.”  All of a sudden, I felt an inexplicable rage: YOU DRAFTED ROY WILLIAMS!  YOU PASSED ON DEMARCUS WARE!  ROOOOOAAAAAR!

Bile rushed up my throat, veins popped out of my forehead, and my hands screwed themselves into murderous red claws.  It was a vicious, violent, Pavlovian reaction wholly beyond my control.  After the “Hulk Mad!” moment passed, I was astounded that I could get so worked up over such idle comments.  I’m sure that every NFL executive has dozens of players they wish they could have drafted, including ones they passed on in favor of another prospect they liked *this much* more.  Still, something about Millen making those statements flipped a switch in my brain that I didn’t know I had, especially not in regards to football analysis.

Once we get past the “credibility” angle, the main factor working against Millen is his job selection.  As smooth and insightful as he was in NFL booths, I think he looks awkward and out-of-place during his roundtable work on the MNF pregame/postgame shows.  Also, his college booth analysis, while not awful, lacks the insight of his understanding of the NFL—it’s someone who knows a lot about football in general “reacting” to what’s happening on the field, not an insider “guiding” you through what’s happening on the field.

Now our second question, from my boy Neil at Armchair Linebacker:

Ty, how long can I cry before I dehydrate myself?

Well, we know the human body is about 60% water. According to Wikipedia, symptoms of dehydration begin to set in after losing approximately 2% of the body's water volume, grow severe after 5-6%, and become fatal after a loss of 15%. Given a 200-pound adult male, and accounting for lost water via breathing, sweating, etc., you'd have to cry about five pounds of tears to experience severe dehydration--less depending on how much beer/whisky/turpentine/drain cleaner you've been drinking.

From commenter SomeChoi:

How do you get the energy to keep writing?

I know you're at least partially joking, but I'll answer you seriously: A) my inexplicable love for this team would have me writing on forums and Mlive and the Freep and the News anyway; this just gives all my Lions-y rambling a place to be focused, a place to live and thrive and grow and be useful.  B) I want to be there for other fans like me.  I want to give people a place where they can read and write about the Lions thoughtfully, intelligently, and without fear of mocking laughs or ignorant donkey brays.  I regularly tell commenters and emailers that their kind words give me the fuel to keep driving; I’m not lying when I say that. 

And now a more serious question, what precedent is there to expect Stafford's accuracy to improve? If missing too many wide-open receivers was his problem in college, can we really expect this to be a correctable problem?

First, you'd have to convince me that "missing wide-open receivers" was his problem.  Georgia folks have been constantly telling me that Stafford’s biggest problem at Georgia was actually his total lack of an offensive line . . . in my estimation, Stafford looks fine.  He throws with a lot of velocity, and I think it makes his less-on-target passes look more-not-on-target, if that makes any sense.  I mean, it only follows that receivers have more time to adjust to quails than to rockets. 

Part of this is just his lack of rapport with these wideouts; he spent most of the preseason and training camp running with the twos.  Johnson & Johnson were either starting or hurt throughout most of that time, and Dennis Northcutt missed the entire preseason.  It’s no wonder that they’re not sure where or when to expect his throws, and it’s no wonder that he’s not placing balls right where they need them.

In the second half of the Rams game, Stafford’s body language, throw velocity, ball placement, and facial expressions just screamed that he was trying to execute the offense SO WELL that the Lions couldn’t help but score.  He wasn’t working with his wideouts, he was trying to win despite them—of course, they weren’t doing him any favors either.  On the second-to-last drive, Stafford came to the sideline with a glowering I-can’t-believe-these-guys look on his face that spoke volumes about his opinion of his receivers’ efforts that day . . .

This is both a roster problem, and an experience problem. The Lions will have to bring in better non-Calvin wideouts, and Stafford will have to learn to work with what he’s got, instead of trying to impose his will on his teammates with overexecution.

And now, one from Lopper (which was later seconded by Matt):

Why is it that Killer and others always say that the Lions can't afford another high draft pick because they already have Calvin and Stafford with big contracts?

Well, the answer to this one is pretty depressing: since 2010 is almost certainly going to be an uncapped year, the salary cap actually has nothing to do with it.  It's that the Lions can't afford another Top 5 draft pick.  Like, in terms of money.  Yes, the Fords have a family fortune that we all imagine is effectively infinite.  However, the Lions as a business unit aren't nearly as profitable as they ought to be given their stadium and lease.

Being contractually obligated to rustle up millions every week for game checks to Stafford, Calvin, Backus, and the rest puts a big squeeze on the Lions’ cash flow.  Think about it: 40,000 tickets at their average $67/ticket is $2.68M cash coming in the door each week.  The Lions’ payroll obligations for 2009 are at $120M.  If that’s all paid out over 16 weeks in game checks, that’s $7.5M/wk.  Obviously, this is a MASSIVE oversimplification--but if the Lions are even close to operating from a week-to-week deficit, they’ll be minding their Ps and Qs this offseasons.

If they’re stuck with a Top 5 pick again, they’re probably going to be sideline sitters during this upcoming free agency period.  The focus will be on B- and C-level guys who can fill holes and play roles, instead of young veterans who’d start on a majority of teams in the NFL.  They certainly won't be backing up the Brinks truck to win the Anquan Boldin sweepstakes. On the other hand, if the Fords believe that they're one or two players away from competitiveness--and therefore, a full stadium--they might do as they've (unsuccessfully) done in the past, and spend money to try to make money.

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forget the past; we’ll be blessed to repeat it

A couple nights ago, I was down in the basement, hunting for an old CD.  While I was rooting around in a box of such stuff, I found a small treasure: my 1995 Sports Illustrated Detroit Lions Video Yearbook.  The old-school VHS tape—still in its shrinkwrap—chronicles the last great campaign of the Detroit Lions.  No, you read right; I’ve never watched it.  When I was younger, it was merely the recent past.  I figured, “Eh, what’s the point?  I’ve just seen it live!”  To top it off, the hideous, embarrassing, wasn’t-as-close-as the-scoreboard-suggested 58-37 dismantling of the Lions by the Eagles was such a disastrous finale; it poisoned my feelings of the entire season.  Tragic, because it was the kind of fairy tale we annually wish for--but these days, are never granted.

It started off as a typical Lions season: three straight losses to the Steelers, Vikings, and Cardinals, all by a total of just 16 points.  Then, a thrilling 27-24 win over the defending Super Bowl 49ers was followed by a bye week of basking in the glory.  A rout of the Browns got the Lions almost back to .500.  But then came a 31-20 loss in Lambeau, followed by an OT heartbreaker on the road--against Martin Mayhew and the Redskins.  The Lions did get the Packers back at home, 24-16, but then dropped the next one in Atlanta, 34-22.

The Lions sat at 3-6, all but eliminated from the playoffs.  The calls for head coach Wayne Fontes’s head roared from all corners of Lions Nation: “Now, finally, please, Mr. Ford!  Isn’t this enough?  3-6, doubtlessly heading for another 5-11 or 6-10 season?  Surely, even you can admit that it’s finally time to bag the Big Buck.”

No, of course not.  Nothing doing.  Amazingly, Fontes and the Lions weren’t having any of it either.  After coming out and beating the Buccaneers, the Lions tore through the Bears, Vikings, and Bears again to make four straight division wins.  After beating the Oilers, they routed the hapless Jaguars (in their inaugural season) 44-0.  Needing a win to, incredibly, secure a Wild Card berth, they waltzed into Tampa Bay and waltzed back out with a 37-10 victory.

It bears going over just how incredible this season was from a statistical perspective.  Scott Mitchell had, by far, his best season as a pro.  He threw for 4,338 yards, threw 32 TDs to only 12 INTs, rushed for another 4 scores (!), and achieved a passer efficiency rating of 92.3%.  Herman Moore set the all-time single-season receptions record with 123 (the record stood until 2002).  Brett Perriman, the Lions’ stalwart #2 wideout, hauled in 108 catches, too—the first time in NFL history that two receivers from the same team both caught over 100 balls in the same season.  Barry Sanders toted it 318 times for 1,500 yards and 11 touchdowns; it was his 7th consecutive 1,000-yard season.  He also had 48 catches for 398 yards and another score.  Sanders, Moore, LT Lomas Brown, and C Kevin Glover all made the Pro Bowl.  Interestingly, Scott Mitchell set a Thanksgiving Day record with 410 passing yards.

After the Lions had completed the feat—run the table from Week 11 in—the national media really turned their heads.  I remember relishing the Sports Reporters on ESPN the following Sunday; Mitch Albom barely containing his glee when Mike Lupica interjected, “I’m sorry, but does anyone want to play the Detroit Lions right now?  No!”  Of course, there was a little talk about how the Lions didn’t beat any other playoff teams during that seven-game streak--but in the NFL, closing out a season like that is practically unheard of.  Lomas Brown went so far as to assure the media in Detroit that they would go on to handle the Eagles in the first round.  It didn’t quite happen that way.

After the Eagles intercepted Mitchell on the opening drive, they ran it in to draw first blood.  Mitchell recovered with a beautiful 32-yard bomb to tight end David Sloan.  Somewhere in Holt, MI, a 14-year-old geek jumped, hollered, and fist-pumped his way around his living room.  It was a very short dance.  Former Lions quarterback Rodney Peete lead the Eagles to 44 consecutive points to make it 51-7.  The attic door slammed shut on Cinderella, and Drizella rolled out in the Prince’s carriage.

Mitchell was pulled after his fourth filthy INT.  Backup QB Don Majikowski did some good things in relief—like hit Herman Moore for a 68-yard TD strike—and made the final score look almost respectable: 58-37.  It remains the highest total points scored in any NFL playoff game; it made for the Lions’ third straight first-round playoff loss.  We Lions fans thought it was the bitterest agony: to be so close to glory, but fall flat time after time after time.  However, in the next thirteen seasons, we would taste that exquisite agony but once.

Tomorrow is the annual extravaganza down at Ford Field; thousands of fans—including Clan TLIW—will commence with the pilgrimage to Ford Field for autographs, face painting, hot dogs, pop, beer—and, oh yes, Detroit Lions football.  That’s right, the new Lions in the new uniforms in Ford Field with full contact, full drills, and a full 11-on-11 scrimmage.  Do you understand?!  NEW!  FULL!  LIONS!  I can scarcely believe it!

My eldest child, who turns 5 next month, is old enough that she’ll definitely remember this.  She’ll meet some Lions, and get some stuff signed, see some football, hear the crowd--and maybe she’ll fall in love with this team the way I did.  My son’s appetite for sports is already insatiable—but he roots for the teams I root for, because I tell him about them and we watch them on TV.  For all the HDTV and Internet and CrackBerry and Twitter and all that junk—and hey, I’m a blogger, I’m all about “all that junk”—I remain convinced that the soul of sports is young fans, in the stands, in awe of the wonder and the spectacle.  The imposing size and complexity of the stadium structure, the seemingly infinite swath of green field and white stripes.  There’s nothing like it; thousands and thousands of fans, all wearing the team colors, all cheering the cheers.  Watching teams play live; that’s where kids become fans, and fans become kids.

Will I show my kids that tape?  Should I show them the Lions I grew up rooting for?  The last time the Lions could hang their hat on their wins and losses?  Do I want to show them what it was like the last time the Lions tore through the NFL?  The last time the Lions could strike fear into the hearts of opponents?  The last time Lions fans could truly roar with pride?  Eh, what’s the point?  They’re just about to see it live.

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big willie style struts his stuff

Recently, I wrote a speculative column about the role of Bill Ford Jr. in the day-to-day operations of the team.  Given the usual reclusiveness of his father, William Clay Ford, the Lions’ owner, and the recent sweeping changes in both staff and attitude, I theorized that maybe the baton had already passed.  Perhaps, the heir apparent had already ascended to the throne; the king abdicating in favor of the crown prince.

Apparently, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Big Willie Style rolled up on minicamp in dramatic fashion:

rashaun rucker – detroit free press

He proceeded to pimp slap his media bitches, making pronouncement after eyebrow-raising pronouncement, claim after jaw-dropping claim.  Fans who have followed this team obsessively for years, fans who have postulated and speculated as to this man’s behind-the-scenes actions, fans who have presumed and assumed they knew this man’s motivations , were told point-blank that they have no idea what they’re talking about.

The many, many quotes he dropped were spread throughout several stories on each of the major newspaper’s sites—but here are a few doozies:

• “I feel so sorry for the fans in Detroit. I mean, I give them full marks for showing up. We didn't perform the way we should've performed or the way we could've. I felt worse for them than I did for myself. I thought it was horrible every time we'd lose. But the guys who stuck through it, I can't tell you how great that makes you feel. And for the ones that walked away, I couldn't blame them. It wasn't much fun to watch. It was pretty boring because you could about guess the outcome.”
• “People were getting fed up. And I don't blame them a bit. We didn't put up much of a show for them. And God knows what's gonna happen this year, more than anyone else does. But I think we'll give an honest day's effort and I think that's all they want. Of course they want us to win, and so do I, more than anything, but I think if they realize we're going down with our guns blazing, I think that'll be a very positive thing to have happen.”
• [did he take fans’ protests personally] “I mean, not that the yelling at the stadium does much for you. You get a couple of drunks and they can say anything. But you pay attention. If there's a noticeable decline in attendance and the comments are not favorable, you pay attention to it. The fans are really the people you want to please here. God, especially now in Detroit, the shape it's in, we gotta try twice as hard to give them their money's worth. The money is tough to come by for all of them, I understand that. But the least we can do is put on a good performance for them. I think we will. I certainly hope we will.”
• “No, I don't not, contrary to public opinion, interfere with the football side of it. I mean, if so-and-so plays lousy on Sunday, I think he's a bum (laughs). But no, I've never said, "Don't say play this guy or play that guy," uh-uh. These guys know more about the game than I do by 10 miles. So I'm not going to try and second-guess them. If something goes wrong, we'll talk about it.”

• [on the hirings of Lewand, Mayhew, and—incredibly—Jim Schwartz] "Well, this is going to sound a little egotistical, and maybe it is, but because this was solely my decision. Rather than being influenced by a lot of other thoughts and people who -- I respected their opinions -- but they were not exactly the same as mine, which is fine. But they influenced the decisions that were finally made. If Jim Schwartz doesn't work out, you can blame me 100 percent. I just have confidence in him."

There’s a lot here to take in.  I can’t possibly do a review of everything he’s done for the past thirty years, and marvel at the sharp relief cast by those actions in light of these statements.  It’s easy to say, “well, this is all a bunch of mularkey from the mind of a senile old man with delusions of grandeur who happens to have more money than God and owns my favorite football team.”  However, let’s ignore Blore’s Razor for a moment (Blore’s Razor being the maxim: “when presented with two possible theories, take the one that is funnier”), and work on the premise that absolutely every single word he said is true.

First of all, this is validation for both the “optimists” such as myself—the fans who espouse, you know, rooting for the team you say you root for—and the most virulent pessimists—the kind of worthless jerks who say stuff like “DIE FORD DIE” on message boards, or espouse boycotting the games.  It’s validation for everyone who ever said that the Millen Man March, orange-out, walkouts, etc. don’t matter and won’t work--they didn’t, and they didn’t.  Now, all the protests and chants didn’t fall on deaf ears, per se—they were willfully ignored by a man who pointed to his sold-out stadium and said “the real fans still care”.  It wasn’t until those fans, too started turning their backs on the team that he knew he had a problem—and, in that sense, he was right.  When the hardworking families of Michigan no longer find it worthwhile to spend a couple hundred bucks going to your team . . . you’ve hit the wall.  Ford was asked, did he stick with Millen for too long?

“Well, maybe. I think circumstances and timing were important. You don't want to jump ship after two games or one game. When the fans were really getting fed up, it's like, 'OK, it's time to make a move.' I thought about it obviously. The timing just worked out the way it did.”

Profootballtalk.com mocked this quote by jesting that instead of jumping ship after one or two games, Ford stuck with Millen for three games . . . and seven seasons, har har.  To me, however, that quote is quite telling.  It means that he was going to keep Millen on until either he turned it around, or the fans found the performance of the team completely unacceptable.  It apparently wasn’t even an option until the fans stopped coming.  The obvious reaction to this is that it “hit him in the pocketbook”—but what does Ford care about money?  The Lions could play to an empty stadium 16 weeks a year for the rest of his life, and he still wouldn’t lack for anything.  I’m going to take the high road here and say that Ford really didn’t think he’d lost the fans until the fans stopped coming.  I mean, they were losing 10+ games per season, raising prices, and still selling out!  That doesn’t happen if fans are really fed up, right?  I mean, from Ford’s box, what changed during that time?  The writers were ripping him?  They’d been doing that for forty years.  There were boos and chants?  Sure, from 50,000 paying customers.  How could he know that throughout the city, state, nation—and yes, judging from my traffic, the world—Lions fans were giving up and tuning out?

To an extent, I am playing Devil’s advocate here; giving Ford the benefit of the doubt.  In a world where Mark Cuban blogs and Tweets, an owner being so austere, aloof, even cloistered, seems antiquated.  Yet, from Mr. Ford’s perspective, it’s entirely possible that he didn’t realize the extent to which his team’s fans had walked away.  And yet . . . given how long it took for the fans to actually stop coming, and given how desperate everyone is to jump back on the bandwagon at the first sign of success--was he really wrong?  How many of us really did walk away in ‘04, or ‘05, or ‘06 . . . Really, for all of the griping, whining, pissing, and moaning that Lions fans did, it took 0-16 for us to actually walk away.  I can’t count how many times I have heard a fan say or read a fan type, “THAT’S IT!  I am DONE with this team!!”, only to have them chat me up about the latest Lions stuff the next day, or log back on to that Lions message board. 

It really does speak to the depth and breadth and passion of this Lions fanbase.  The Jaguars are perennial contenders--and can’t sell out their stadium even if they cover up half the seats!  Yet we kept coming and kept coming and kept coming, no matter how bad it got, for nearly a decade.  We kept buying jerseys and shirts and footballs and concessions.  We held on until the Lions hit absolute rock bottom.  Now, maybe Ford really is a crazy old coot who walks around completely clueless of everything that happens in the world around him—or maybe, just maybe, Big Willie Style had us all in check.

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the rites of succession

Michael Rosenberg's latest article really stirred up somethoughts.  He examined the Chicago Blackhawks, and their long slumber under their late owner Bill Wirtz--and their dramatic resurgence under his son, Rocky.  Rosenberg then wonders if the same thing is in the cards for the Lions when Bill Jr. takes the reigns from Big Willie Style.

This makes three critical assumptions:

1) the Lions' decades-long malaise is primarily the fault of William Clay Ford

2) when Big Willie Style passes on, Bill Ford, Jr. will grab the steering wheel and put the pedal to the metal

3) when Junior does step into the driver's seat, he will be a "better" owner than his father

The problem with 1) is that while it's impossible to deny the conicidence of Ford's ownership and the Lions' track record of futility, Ford meets all the criteria of a great owner: he has nearly infinite resources, he never hesitates reinvest them in his team, he built a gorgeous facility, downtown, with his own money, he's resolutely committed to Detroit, he hires football men to do the football stuff and gets out of their way, and he's loyal to a fault.  The only problem is that he's apparently not very good at hiring football men.

Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press has been amongst the most vocal and persistent Ford detractors; earlier this year he told Bill Simonson on The Huge Show that Ford is more concerned with hosting socialite cocktail parties in the secret rooms of Ford Field than winning football games.  Of course, being "committed to winning"--that is to say, making a show of being heavily involved in all aspects of the business--doesn't necessarily translate into actual wins.  Al Davis, Jerry Jones, and Daniel Snyder have wasted, literally, billions of dollars over the past decade trying franticallly to win Super Bowls--and, outside of the Gruden's Revenge Bowl, haven't even come close.  In fact, one could compellingly argue that these franchises would be much better off if their owners focussed more on fêtes than football . . .

As for 2), it's widely assumed that Bill Ford, Jr. would relish the opportunity to take control of the Lions away from his father, "clean house", and run the team the right way.  Many point to his fateful statement to the media that he'd fire Matt Millen if he could as evidence of this.  However, when directly asked if he's anticipating taking over the Lions, he hasn't responded in the affirmative:

My first obligation is to Ford [Motor Company], and that's still the case. ... I love the team. I'm a huge fan and always will be. But I don't know at this point what I could really contribute at the team level." [Detroit Free Press, 4/2/2008]

Given everything that's been going on in the auto industry lately, even though Bill Ford holds the title of "Vice Chairman" of the Lions, he can't possibly have much spare time or energy to invest in the day-to-day operations of a football team.  I don't think that Bill could become a vocal, involved, hands-on, micromanaging NFL owner.  That's not his managerial style, and that's not where his priorities or passions lie--he's too busy getting FoMoCo back on top.

Finally, 3) just because Bill Ford Jr. is a better businessman than his father was (see: having the wisdom to step down as CEO in lieu of a more experienced turnaround man, Ford beating most of the rest of the industry in Q1 2009, etc.), doesn't mean his management style is going to vastly differ from his father.  It's true that he might hire better 'football men', or have a shorter leash on those that are clearly failing; who knows?  Maybe that will be the difference.  But the idea that the entire organization is somehow rotting from the top down because WCF is inherently evil, and once someone, anyone, else is in charge, the curse will be broken . . . well, it's simply not true.  Yes, the Steelers have a wonderful ownership family and have been consistently succesful.  However, they just faced off against the Cardinals in the Super Bowl--and the Bidwells have been consistently ranked among the worst owners in sports.  The Rams' Greatest Show on Turf era came under Georgia Frontiere, who was hardly a football maven or a businesswoman.  She inherited the team when her sixth husband died, and within a few years, moved the team to her hometown of St. Louis.  Even so, the Rams won one Super Bowl, reached another, and spent years terrorizing the NFL, all with her atop the organization.  If Bill Ford Jr. does nothing more than write the checks and watch the games, he'll be, on paper, no different than his father.  Finally, it's been reported that if Junior'd had his way, he'd have promoted Tom Lewand a long time ago--so no, I do not see any Rocky Wirtz-style house cleaning taking place.  

So what does this all mean?  I think it means that Bill's already at the helm.  Let's add up all the evidence: Junior says he'd fire Millen if he could; three days later Millen is fired.  The day after the season is over, Junior's favored candidates are given the keys to the franchise.  Last year in 2006, he stepped down as CEO of Ford in the prime of his career.  He's a self-proclaimed passionate fan of the team, and he knows that the franchise will be his as soon as his octogenerian father passes.  It only makes sense to put the "affairs in order" first.  Of course, I have no first- (or second-, or third-)hand knowledge of this, just my suspicions.  But when William Clay Ford drives off this mortal coil, I suspect that nothing will change except the signature on the checks.

So does this end all Lions fans' hope for a Blackhawks-style renaissance?  No--it means that renaissance, if it's coming, has already started.

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extreme franchise makeover: logos edition

There's been a lot of handwringing about the Lions' new uniforms and logo. In fact, it's been bordering on great lamentations and/or gnashing of teeth. I won't pretend as though I am not right in the thick of the wailing masses myself; I've been all over the Internet uselessly commenting that this makeover had "better be good". I'm not sure what follows that statement . . . "or else, I'll REALLY be mad!"? "or else, I'll STOP FOLLOWING THE TEAM?"? Let's be real folks: if 0-16 only caused me to redouble my committment to supporting this organization, a bad logo isn't going to make me hock my gear in shame.  

The winner of the Detroit News reader contest for designing your own logo was announced, and somehow many people took that to mean that that would be the new official logo--which was bad, because it wasn't that good. Grady Jackson said he "liked the new colors", which of course sent a chill down everyone's spine. New colors? New COLORS? Visions of the Detroit Pistons in teal, orange, and disgusting danced through everyone's heads. Radio host Mike Valenti said he thought he saw the new logo yesterday, and it was "horrible" and looked cheap.   Brian VanOchten said the new logo should be "simple but modern, much more aggressive, but not cartoonish."  Whew, got all that?

Now let me put this forth: I am no Picasso. However, my mother was an art major, and has worked in advertising and media sales for nearly thirty years; so I know a thing or two about design, color, etc. Most football fans, however, do not. Fashion is not exactly tops on the mind of most gridiron fanatics. You don't see a lot of sports bloggers walking around their house with paint chips and a color wheel. Yet somehow, when this topic comes up, every monday morning quarterback sees fit to nitpick the work of a team of highly-paid people who spent four (or more) years in college learning about every aspect of what looks good.

Besides lack of experience on the subject matter, there's the matter of taste.  Taste is subjective, both amongst regular Joes such as you and myself, and amongst design experts. When Comerica Park was built, most regular Joes such as you and myself loved it. It was spectacular! All sorts of displays, attractions, faux-old-timey conceits, actual old-timey construction (note the use of rivets over hex bolts/nuts at many prominent beam connections), the statues of the Tiger greats, the ivy, the fountain . . . it's a jaw-dropping monument to both everything baseball is, and what we like to think it used to be.

However, when Ford Field was being built, I recall an interview with the design firm where their dislike of CoPa was verging on open contempt. I remember one guy saying, "Well, you're not going to see a bunch of huge plastic lions on the roof"--a dig at the outsized tiger sculptures prowling the rafters of Comerica. And sure enough, the smoothly arched aluminum roof, the classic brick facade, and the enormous ground-level windows of Ford Field provide a classic, timeless counterpoint to the spectacularly anachronistic structure across the street. And, most regular Joes such as you and myself love it! Two adjacent sports stadiums, two completely different styles, two completely different executions, and yet the same fans who helped pay to build both of them are equally happy with the results.  

The Detroit News fan contest shows exactly what happens when most of us are asked to design the Lions logo: we draw the best/meanest/fiercest Lion we can and then write "Detroit Lions" somewhere on there. Or we incorporate the Olde English D, because that's cool, and try to work a lion in there, because that makes it Lions--nevermind that we didn't like it when the Tigers had that D with the tiger crawling through it . . . do you see what I'm getting at here? Just because an athlete or broadcaster or whoever "likes" or "doesn't like" it, doesn't mean it is or isn't well done. I'm sure that when good old Bubbles was unveiled, as many disliked it as liked it, for no other reason than people generally not liking change. However, I do have faith that this makeover will be a positive one--or at worst, one that just takes getting used to.

Don't forget, when Bill Ford Jr. set the design goal for Ford Field, he said "I want to stand on the fifty-yard-line and know I'm in Detroit."  Sure enough, there are few stadiums in the world that more effectively evoke their host city than Ford Field.  Say what you want about the team.  But, in terms of the image, the franchise, and the marketing and promotion, Lewand and the Fords have always been consistent in what they want: classy, classic, strong, clean, and timeless. The Fords are not going to allow their billion-dollar franchise to get stamped with something "horrible" or "cheap". You all may well hate them for the product he's put between the lines, but Big Willie Style has always made sure that his branding, his image, and his money are well taken care of. We may not know what the changes will be, but I can guarantee that whatever they are, some will like them, some will love them, some won't care, and some will hate them.

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