No, I am not breaking my self-imposed ban on talking politics. I am using this reference in regards to the pathetic Detroit Lions organization. I said before that I was ready to turn in my fan card and I still don’t know why I have not. Today, they once again put a band-aid on a problem that needs a tourniquet. They fired their General Manager, Matt Millen. You can read more about it here. This is the official statement from William Clay Ford, Sr….
“I have relieved Matt Millen of his duties effective immediately,” Ford said in a released statement. “I believe that this decision is in the best interest of this organization. I appreciate Matt’s efforts. Matt worked tirelessly during his tenure to win, and he would be the first one to tell you that you have to win in this league. It just didn’t work out.
“The support of our fans continues to be incredible and they deserve a winner. Every decision we make must focus on that goal, and I believe this decision today will allow this team to move forward in a positive manner.
“I am very disappointed with where we are as a team after our start this season. Our sole focus now is preparing for our next game against Chicago. The entire organization must work together and do whatever we can to make this a successful season. Despite our record, it is still early and there is time to turn this season around.
“These decisions are for the duration of the 2008 season. Once the season is over, we will undergo a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of our entire football operation and put together a plan that we believe will transform this team into a winner.”
You may have noticed that I bolded a couple of statements in that quote and let me tell you Mr. William Clay Ford, Sr. that if you are concerned about the organization and the fans then the best thing you can do is sell the team Seriously, look at your record as owner of the Lions organization. In the 44 years that you have been the owner you have produced 13 winning seasons for the fans. And just so you know Matt Millen was 6 years old when you bought the team, so I don’t thin he was the problem. You are! Please, for the love of every Detroit Lions fan either sell the team or move it somewhere else so we can hopefully get a new NFL franchise here. I would love to see them bring back the Michigan Panthers.
Mitch Albom said it best in his article on Tuesday, which you can read here. Here is the best part of his article….
So it was nice of Bill Ford Jr. to state the obvious. But you can fire the GM, you’ll still have the team. You can fire the team, you’ll still have the owner. You can fire the owner, and you’ll have a good start.
But you can’t fire the owner.
You see our problem.
But the bigger problem is that the people over at firemillen.com will now have nothing to complain about. That is at least until the Lions hire a new GM and then they can buy the domain firewhatshisname.com. Better yet, why don’t they just buy firetheLionsGM.com and make it easy on themselves? Until dumb fans like them realize that the real problem is the owner we will keep going down this same road year after year. I even had a friend call me all excited because “next year they were going to be better”. I don’t know how many times I have heard that. I will have no hope for the Lions to be a successful franchise until there is no longer a person with the last name of Ford as the owner.