I've resisted writing about the Detroit Lions for most of this year because there seemed to be very little point. With the success of Michigan State's football team this season, my sporting world this fall was occupied solely by the Spartans. Thankfully, the Lions' disastrous season has been, for me, merely a sideshow. However, now with the very real possibility of the NFL's first ever 0-16 season only one loss away, how could I possibly resist discussing this most pathetic of pro sports franchises.
What's particularly stupendous about the Detroit Lions' ineptitude is that the National Football League does everything in its power to make sure there is parity in the league. But even with profit-sharing, easy schedules for weak teams, and all the other various checks-and-balances put in in place by the NFL to guarantee competitiveness, the Lions have managed to set a new standard in awfulness.
This terrible season is simply the culmination of the disastrous Matt Millen era. The house of cards that Millen spent eight years constructing is finally completely collapsing in the worst way imaginable.
I was going to write about the Detroit News' Rob Parker making the comment about Rod Marinelli's daughter not marrying a smart defensive coordinator (if you're a football fan, you know what I'm referring to--if not, just google "Rob Parker Rod Marinelli"and you'll find out all you need to know), but now that sports talk radio and everyone else has beaten that story to death, there doesn't seem much point in my lame-o Brainsplotch blog beating that dead horse. All I really have to say regarding Rob Parker's comment is that seems to be his modus operandi: say or write something inappropriate or untrue about someone and then spend the next day trying to cover your butt. He did the same thing with the Kirk Cousins fiasco in October, and now with his out-of-line comment about Marinelli's daughter and son-in-law.
Look, I'm not trying to say that Rod Marinelli deserves a group hug or anything. The guy is coaching quite possibly the worst NFL team in history. He should get grilled and deserves to be asked tough questions since it's part of the job when one is a coach at the professional level. I just think that journalists should leave personal attacks out of the equation. Even if Rob Parker meant it as a "joke," it certainly didn't come across as one.
Okay, I have spent way too much time writing about something that, a week from now, nobody will even be talking about or even remember, for that matter.
Count me as one those Lions fans who hopes the Lions lose this Sunday and set the all-time NFL record for futility. The way I see it, the only way anything is likely to change for the better with the Lions is if the organization is humiliated at a national level. William Clay Ford needs to ask himself: Is this the legacy I want to leave behind? He needs to seek help from people who know how to win, people with a proven track record (i.e., front office personnel from the New England Patriots, New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and a few others). Unfortunately, based on Mr. Ford's own track record, it's hard to believe that this will ever happen.
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