It's too easy, but still so fun...
For the past few weeks - hell, maybe even since the beginning of this sadly comic 2006 Detroit Lions season - I've been thinking I finally need to admit I was a complete idiot for ever daring to defend Matt Millen.
(Thankfully, there appears to be no record of that on this blog, and any posts on message boards have either disappeared into the internet ether or have been gratefully lost to time and clutter. Oh, wait - this post comes close. Damn.)
Like a couple of others in the local blogosphere, it's long past time for me to join the pitchfork-and-torch brigade calling for his evisceration firing.
But rather than masochistically list each of Millen's faults as President and CEO of the Detroit Lions, and every one of his mistakes in his capacity as the team's general manager, I thought it might be more fun to see what other GMs and executives around the NFL have to say about his piss-poor performance.
If you haven't seen this already (I found it through the Sports Inferno forums), Ron Borges of the Boston Globe wrote a feature coinciding with Sunday's Lions-Patriots game, in which he quotes several people on Millen's utter incompetence. And there are some gems in this article, man. Get a load of these blurbs:
▪▪ "He's got the worst record in history from a general manager and he'll have that record forever."
▪▪ "I don't want to be too hard on him, but the record speaks for itself. It's pathetic. Inept, really."
▪▪ "They don't seem to have any idea what they're doing in personnel... If you draft a wide receiver with your first pick back-to-back-to-back, you have no idea how to build a team."
▪▪ "You've got to get guys on both sides of the ball. You have to balance your thinking. Taking a wide receiver with a top-10 pick three years in a row isn't balanced thinking. It isn't thinking at all."
And I didn't clip all the good quotes. The article has more. I don't know about you, but stuff like this keeps me warm in chilly weather like we're having in Michigan today. Snuggle up with some snark, people.
(Thankfully, there appears to be no record of that on this blog, and any posts on message boards have either disappeared into the internet ether or have been gratefully lost to time and clutter. Oh, wait - this post comes close. Damn.)
Like a couple of others in the local blogosphere, it's long past time for me to join the pitchfork-and-torch brigade calling for his But rather than masochistically list each of Millen's faults as President and CEO of the Detroit Lions, and every one of his mistakes in his capacity as the team's general manager, I thought it might be more fun to see what other GMs and executives around the NFL have to say about his piss-poor performance.
If you haven't seen this already (I found it through the Sports Inferno forums), Ron Borges of the Boston Globe wrote a feature coinciding with Sunday's Lions-Patriots game, in which he quotes several people on Millen's utter incompetence. And there are some gems in this article, man. Get a load of these blurbs:
▪▪ "He's got the worst record in history from a general manager and he'll have that record forever."
▪▪ "I don't want to be too hard on him, but the record speaks for itself. It's pathetic. Inept, really."
▪▪ "They don't seem to have any idea what they're doing in personnel... If you draft a wide receiver with your first pick back-to-back-to-back, you have no idea how to build a team."
▪▪ "You've got to get guys on both sides of the ball. You have to balance your thinking. Taking a wide receiver with a top-10 pick three years in a row isn't balanced thinking. It isn't thinking at all."
And I didn't clip all the good quotes. The article has more. I don't know about you, but stuff like this keeps me warm in chilly weather like we're having in Michigan today. Snuggle up with some snark, people.
Labels: Detroit Lions, NFL
posted by Ian C. @ 7:00 AM
sweatymen[at]gmail[dot]com
2 Comments:
At December 05, 2006 9:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
The continued presence of Matt Millen in the Lions' front office is only a symptom of a larger problem. The larger problem is the Lions' organization incompetence that dates back to 1963 when Clay Ford, Sr. originally bought the team.
So you replace Millen and, as Pat Caputo argues, Marinelli as well. We all know what will happen. The Lions will bring another lamb to be sacrificed at the altar of Lions buffoonery.
The bonehead moves are legion and you can take any of the aforementioned quotes and they could translate with equal force to any era of the last 40-plus years of Lions history. What can you say about an organization that is so inept that arguably the greatest running back in the history of the game walks away at the peak of his career because he is so tired of the losing culture.
We can point fingers at individuals but ultimately I blame the Kool-Aid drinking fans who continue to support the organization by filling up Ford Field every weekend while the organization continues to make money. Until they stop buying season tickets and Lions merchandise, the Lions will continue to blunder along with impunity.
I used to be a season ticket holder.
All I needed was one year of Millen and Mornhinweg for me to realize that the organization is beyond hope. I dumped my tickets after nearly twenty years of disappointment and outright disgust.
Contrary to what Millen, Marinelli and the rest would have us believe, they're not close. In fact, the organization is probably in the worst shape it has ever been in its history and that includes the dark days of the late-70s and the mid-80s.
The only solution is intervention by the NFL. Perhaps the Lions can have a Guardian Ad Litem appointed because the organization is no longer legally competent to handle its affairs.
At December 07, 2006 2:29 AM,
twins15 said…
I really think Millen is great for Detroit and should stay there for a looooooong time! :D
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