Pride and prejudice

Snooze and I lose. There has been plenty written about Dre Bly's attacks on Joey Harrington on TV and in print over the past three days. (And if you did a shot of liquor every time you heard "thrown under the bus" on ESPN or sports talk radio yesterday, you're nursing a wicked hangover today.) Check out Brian, Evan, Greg Eno, and Terry Foster if you haven't already; they have some great thoughts on the matter. But I'd still like to ride the coattails of that discussion for a paragraph or two.

After reading over Bly's remarks a few times, I'm not too upset with what he said. Ultimately, he's demanding accountability from his teammates and the organization, and I think that's something we Lions fans have wanted to see throughout this ordeal of a season.

But I also think it was unprofessional of him to slam a teammate publicly. If he had a problem with Harrington's play, bring it up in the locker room. Better yet, challenge him face-to-face.

Bly's idea of leadership is a bit too self-centered for my liking. Even if he's echoing the thoughts of several of his teammates (which I think he is - and that's why Jeff Garcia is starting at quarterback on Sunday), he seems to feel that everyone but himself is responsible for the Lions' struggles. I guess that accountability thing goes only so far.

But to me, Bly's heart is in the right place. He wants to win. And he's trying to fire his teammates up. You want him to shut up? Okay, play better.

I also think the Lions should thank Bly for chirping to the press. Did you watch ESPN yesterday? The Lions were Topic A, the lead story on virtually every show they run between 4 and 7 pm. This is a 4-7 team, yet besides the question of whether or not the Indianapolis Colts will go undefeated, they're dominating this week's NFL discussion. If you're not going to win games, this is the best publicity you can get. Hell, maybe Millen put Bly up to this, to distract the sportswriters who had been pointing out his 20-55 record.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is another reason Garcia was named the starter. Now all of these shows with all of their analysts want to know if the Lions know what the hell they're doing. (And I'm not sure Dick Jauron does, when it comes to quarterbacks. This is a guy who chose Jim Miller and Kordell Stewart during his tenure as Bears head coach.)

"Are they #@$%ing crazy?!" Suddenly, the talk about the Lions doesn't begin and end with Dre Bly. More discussion, more publicity. And here we are, talking about it. Somebody's laughing manically in Allen Park. We just don't know who it is.