JENNIFERHAMMOND's Blog

The whispers have turned to conversations and finally to screams!  Enough is enough and something has to be done NOW.  If the first four losses of the Lions season have shown us anything, they have confirmed what many have suspected for the past - two plus years.  Rod Marinelli is in WAY over his head, and all the evaluating, simplifying and tape watching in the world can't change that.  In the past, Marinelli at least had Mike Martz to lean on when it came to offensive game planning and knowledge.  Now he has no one to ease his short comings and no one to blame but himself, and it's not enough to take the responsibility by standing at a weekly press conference and say "It's on me".  If Marinelli really is the football (loving) man he claims to be, who demands nothing short of total accountability from his players (see Shaun Rogers) and himself, then he needs to start pointing some fingers in the direction of his grossly inexperienced staff.  Jim Coletto and Joe Barry must absorb their share of the blame in this mess - and there is plenty to go around.  The longer he continues to prop up his coordinators and support their antiquated schemes Marinelli will further turn his back on the very people who can save him..... He has already dropped the ball on his players by closing the door to their concerns and suggestions about an offense that has been scaled down from bad to worse to unwatchable. Not to mention a defensive system that doesn't fit the players he has on the roster, even after going out and signing more than half a dozen of his former players from Tampa - aren't these guys supposed to know how to run the Tampa Two? When the players start saying "The coaches coach and we should be able to execute the plays they call"  - on the record - you know it's bad.  It means they've actually run out of excuses that make sense and the next step is shutting out the staff completely.  If that hasn't happened yet, I don't want to see what this team looks like on the field when it does.  Other players aren't holding back - off the record.  One starter told me that things have been so bad for so long that one of the teams well respected veteran captains approached Marinelli during the Spring OTA's (organized team activities) to voice his concerns about the problems with the new offense.  All he got for his efforts, was a "Thanks, but no thanks".  Talk about a bridge to nowhere.  Maybe it's the Lions that need a bailout.  Believe me it's only going to get worse before it gets any better and I don't wish any ill on anyone in the organization, but if Marinelli is going to be so stubborn that he ignores even his players, the very people that will ultimately prove if he is worthy of keeping his job, then he deserves whatever fate awaits him.  And the sooner the better in my opinion!

When Bill Ford Jr. talks people listen.  Especially when he's talking about Matt Millen's ineffective job performance in the Lions front office these past eight years.  Not only is 0-3 an embarrassment, but it's unacceptable and now something has to change. Junior is probably the only man in the entire organization that could come out and say something as strong as "get rid of the GM" and not see immediate results.  But what he did do was begin the dialogue from a very credible perspective.  Not only is he the son of the team owner, but he is most likely the next owner if his father (or fate) decide that it is time for a real change. But making his feelings about Matt Millen public after so many years is merely the first step. Total change in this organization may not happen during the season, like so many people think it should, but it would be a step in the right direction.  Let's face it at 0-3 there is slim to no chance that this team can even come up with four wins this season, even with a quarterback change. The time to act is now and I can only hope that Juniors comments will shake his dad into some type of clarity.  Granted a new GM and Coach can't make any kind of real impact if they come in to a new organization just four games into the season, but at least they can survey the land and see what kind - and how many seeds need to be planted.  This has gone on too long and with limited results and to say the team needs to play on through the rest of the year without change would be akin to being diagnosed with pneumonia and failing to treat it!  Granted no one is going to die if the Lions fail to make any changes this season, but Mr. Ford will start to see a shrinking profit margin if the fans finally decide that enough is enough - and given the sluggish ticket sales for the home opener I can't imagine anyone wants to spend good time or money on this team again this season. Unless he can come up with some kind of dramatic solution during the bye week, Rod Marinelli's hands are tied and he will be a casualty of the chopping block as well based on the lack of talent he has on his team. Hopefully ownership will realize that this has gone on long enough and change will come.  It may take a lot more than Bill Ford Jr. saying Millen should be gone to get there, but at least its a start. 

It doesn't happen to me very often, perhaps never.  But after the Lions loss to the Packers Sunday in the 2008 home opener - I am at a loss for words.  In just two short weeks I have gone from reasonably optimistic to down right despondent and it's not sitting well with me.  When a ship starts to sink the first thought is always "Jump", right?  But when you're still tied to the dock there's always the conflict over whether it might be too soon to give up.  This is the exact predicament that faces the Lions just two weeks into the new season .... And what happens over the next four games will determine if any lessons from the past have been learned.  I have heard guys like Jon Kitna, Dom Raiola and Ernie Simms step up and say we have to keep working, keep playing hard and over come this adversity, as if they're talking themselves into that mindset as much as anyone.   Granted this is a team that has not drafted well, nor found that rare diamond in the rough, let alone a free agent who has stepped up and excelled beyond his previous potential.  But there are only two choices now; jump ship or step up and keep playing. And play hard.  Put aside the doubts of unwilling teammates and put some faith in the coaches that they have enough gaffers tape to plug the holes. Each and every one of them has to muster the pride and effort that comes with an honest day's work.  And that goes for first round "role players" like Roy Williams.  If Rod Marinelli wants to quiet the doubters and give fans a reason to believe, he needs to put every player on the roster on notice.  From top to bottom, including Kitna and Williams.  No matter how big or how small your role is on this team, PULL YOUR OWN WEIGHT! Because if everyone isn't rowing in the same direction at the same time, this boat will sink before it even leaves the dock.

In a word, Sunday's season opening loss in Atlanta was unbelieveable.  From the coaching to the playcalling to the execution and the reaction.  And that includes the fans.  Let me start by saying, I do not consider myself a "fan" of the Lions for various reasons - I am a fan of the NFL and the "entertainment" it brings to fans.  What I'm most confused about are the fans that love to say "I told you so".  That's most of you on a dark Monday after a loss like that, and I can't say I blame you.  But what we all need to do right now, myself (and every member of the media) included is step back, take a breath and reserve judgement.  Afterall, it is only week 1 and it is only ONE GAME.  If you don't want to give them or me the benefit of the doubt, then stop reading right here.  If you can listen to some type of rational thinking - than by all means, open your ears.  And I will qualify all of this by saying, I love the passion of fans. But hating them will only take years off your own life! Not mine or the Lions.  Here's the deal - when a team $&!%# the bed like Detroit did against Atlanta, there are are always many questions and very few real answers.  And by real answers, I mean things that players and coaches are willing to say on the record in front of a camera that contain unfiltered truth.  And they shouldn't, especially this early in the season.  Talking with some people in my office, who are actually fans of the team, I learned something about reactionary fans .... you want an apology for not only a bad game, but decades of bad football.  A nobel request, but one that isn't really very realistic.  Truth is, no one really deserves anything more than an honest effort on the field and Sunday's opener certainly didn't provide that, but beyond saying we intend to make it better next game - what do you really want them to do or say.  It's not as if Matt Millen is going to wake up one morning and decide he has to purge his soul of all bad drafts and stand in front of the masses and say "I suck at my job - and I'm sorry"! Nor is Jon Kitna going to say I apologize for not running it in instead of throwing it away. And I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Gerald Alexander to show up at confession for letting a Falcons receiver get past him because he blew the coverage. Not gonna happen ..... not now, not ever and that's the way it should be.  You see what fans fail to see is that the players-as they should-  have short memories.  And fans are just hanging on to all the UGLY LIONS LOSING OF THE PAST.  Granted it looks a lot like the teams we have seen before, and maybe a lot of it is because they overlooked the lowly Falcons.  But let's try to chalk this up to exactly what it is ONE GAME!  Nothing more and nothing less.  I for one will wait until the entire 16 game season unfolds before rendering judgement about the 2008 Lions.  Then we can talk about cleaning house and starting over.  So take a breath, and step away from the edge of the bridge.  Because as we know only too well here in the "D" - week one is way too soon to jump!!!!!!

About ten years ago, I was the type of person that was always sorry to see the summer wind down and come to an end.  But that was then.... and this is now.  With the start of the college football season, I can now kiss the warm days of July and August goodbye without a second thought and say hello to four months of what is sure to be some of the most entertaining football we've seen in a long time.  Especially with the Spartans new found credibility under second year head coach Mark Dantonio who guided his team to a bowl game last year and EXPECTS to take another step this year and should with Senior QB Brian Hoyer and tail back Javon Ringer leading the offense.  I'm picking the Spartys to go on the road and pick up a tough fought win against Cal, which should turn some heads to start the season.  As for the Wolverines, this will be an exciting season for so many other reasons.  Not just because of the spread offense, which I admit to being a junkie of when it is clicking on all cylinders.  But UM's defense, more specifically the front four could become one of the most dominating units in the country and that will most certainly turn some heads.   Rich Rod may not have the most experienced QB's in the Big Ten under center, but they will learn (on the fly) and he has depth at tailback that will help carry the load which will take the pressure off any one player to be perfect.   When they don't blaze down the field and light up the scoreboard on every drive, don't think the defense can't help the effort and wreak havoc on most of Michigan's opponents, at least the first five.  That, plus the emotion of a "New" feeling in Ann Arbor is why I am picking the Wolverines to beat Utah in the opener.  One thing I will say about both Rodriguez and Dantonio is that they are tough as nails and will, if nothing else, make their teams play harder and smarter.  Sounds a little like a Pro coach in these parts who is so hell bent on pounding the rock that his players practice to the song "Chain Gang" .... For the record, I'm picking the Lions to win their opener in Atlanta too.  But I'll save my reasons for next week's blog.  So as the air heats up for one last week and we all sweat through the first week of college football, just remember, the fall chill is just around the corner and I for one can't wait!

It's hard to find words to explain my feelings for the Tigers right about now.  What I will say is watching them lose 11-2 to a sub par Baltimore team really put me over the edge.  Plus they like me to blog more than once a month here at Fox 2.  Anyway ....One day Jim Leyland says there isn't a problem with his players urgency or lack thereof, then the next day, he's lamenting over how they react the same way win or lose.  Some call that even keeled, I call it detatched.  Then within the same homestand - one that saw his team lose 11 out of 15, Leyland again calls a rare pre game meeting with his players to "Tell them to keep their focus for the rest of the season", yet at the same time, he's telling reporters that he has never questioned his team's effort.  I call that back tracking. It's funny that Brandon Inge had this team pegged long before the all star break as a bunch of high priced stars who don't seem overly concerned with doing all the little things that it takes to win.  Most people want to point fingers at the pitching, and they should.  But when you're up by three with two outs, and you have to turn it over to a shaky bullpen, stealing third isn't the surest bet.  It starts at the top. Leyland has always said that and I hold him just as responsible.  But it's the players that play the game. Duh! Everyone knows that  - but what troubles me most is the 40-thousand fans that pay money to watch this garbage and  the players don't seem to care.  They score runs when they already have a 10-2 lead and they can't score when they trail 3-1.  They also seem to make their pitches and get outs when the game is already decided, instead of coming in to hold when they need just one out with a one run lead.  We've seen a bevy of injuries and that has hurt the Tigers. But when this season began I never in my wildest dreams thought that Detroit would be so small in the rearview mirror by mid August that all hope for the post season can be burried in the field turf at Ford Field.   It's not only difficult to watch this team anymore, but I'm to the point where I just won't do it.  That is unless I have to go to the game for work or when I'm home with my family. Oh it hurts! 

There are always two sides to every story, and many times those two sides aren't black and white.  Such is the case of Brett Favre's retirement and presumptive comeback.  The story began on March 3, 2008 when Favre bid a tearful farewell to the Packers and the NFL - and there's no telling where it will end.  Everything else in between is the gray area. When the future Hall of Famers broke his silence for the first time Monday night on "On the Record" with Gretta Van Susteren, Favre said the Packers wanted him to make a decision about his future before the draft and free agency so that they could plan accordingly. In early March, Favre said he didn't feel like he could committ 100 percent, so in order to accomodate the team he decided to step aside.  But in the following four months is when things really became murky - thus the gray area - with Favre telling Ted Thomspson and Mike McCarthy that he wanted to come back and play at the end of March, but inexplicably and suddenly cancelled a meeting between the two sides that had been arranged to take place down in Mississippi.  But if there is one thing that is cut and dry about this whole mellow drama it's this:  Favre knew when he retired that there was a real possibility that the Packers would move on without him, and the Packers knew there was a real possibility that the 38 year old Favre would reconsider. So what I don't understand is, if the Packers would have taken Favre at the end of March, why not take him now.  At the least they could open training camp with a QB competition that will get more national attention than the final days of Barbaro. If Favre really has something left in the tank, then line him up in the front row and let 'em race. The worst thing that could happen is Aaron Rodgers could rightfully win out and claim the position and the Packers could say "See we were right all along."  Or Favre could do what he does best and rise to the occasion and take the reins and continue his legacy, untarnished, for yet another season . And since I'm dealing in the gray areas, why not take Favre back and put him on the trade block and see what you can get for him? What's the worst thing that could happen, Favre goes to some team outside the division or in the AFC and gets a few more minutes of glory.  What the Packers fail to realize is that they are going up against history. And whether Favre's choice to make a comeback is right or wrong, there's no winning when you're trying to tell one of the most beloved sports figures in the NFL to pull up a rocking chair before he's really ready.  That my friends is black and white.

From the tears he cried in March to the text messages he sent in July, it's hard to imagine the Brett Favre retirement and unretirement saga could go so wrong.  He put together a career worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and ended it with one of his best seasons ever.  When Favre announced he was leaving four months ago, it was perceived as the classy way to go out - on his own terms at his own discretion with his head held high.  But with his intentions to come back now coming to the forefront - and claims that the Packers gave him every chance to do so in late March - Favre's sterling reputation is slowly starting tarnish.  Cleary as a professional athlete he has an ego, probably a very large one, so I get that he thinks there is still fuel in the tank and the ability to get the job done.  Life's short and he won't sit on his death bed thinking about staying in the NFL too long - but he will be singed by regrets that he left too soon.  All of that  is understandable. It's one thing to change your mind because you miss the game, it's another thing to tell the team to move on without you because you are certain about your choice.  The Packers had no choice but to move forward without Favre in late March and draft two quarterbacks.  Now the plan has changed without Favre and his ego can't seem to handle that.  So instead of saying "I'll come back and do whatever I can in whatever role you need me to help this team win" Favre has said "cut me loose so I can go somewhere else and start".  This is the biggest fumble of Favre's illustrious career.  And it will only get worse before it gets better - as the flames on both side are fanned by public opinion and fan rallies that will grow bigger, angrier and louder in Green Bay and around the country.  Neither side can win in this win, but time will only tell whether Favre or the Packers will be the biggest loser.

This one has been burning my back side for the better part of a week now and I can't take it anymore.  Sorry if my past few blogs have been composed out of anger but there are some really strange things going on in the (usually uplifting) world of sports that require some explanation.  The latest is the hypocracy of the journalists, fans, players and GMs around the NHL that actually have the gall to complain about Marian Hossa's new deal with the Wings. The fact that people even consider that a contract for $7.4 Million dollars is short changing an athlete of what he rightfully deserves.  Let me repeat that nice and loud so you understand - 

SEVEN POINT FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!!!!! Ok. To me this is one of the best stories I've ever heard and I for one can't wait to see him at Joe Louis Arena so I can personally shake his hand.  In the day and age when most players are jumping ship from team to team, in order to get the most money or the best financial package, the decision that Hossa made is a breath of fresh air.  Finally someone has the guts to be totally up front and honest about what he's really looking for.  And I don't mean just someone, I mean a world class professional athlete, who could have made the decision to just make a money grab and run - boy wouldn't that be taking the moral high road.  In the day and age when so many fans, owners and journalists are ripping any players who takes the next big deal that comes along, we should be rushing to praise Hossa.  Instead I've ready story after story from columnists around North America that actually believe what Hossa is doing constitutes band wagon jumping! Forget that.  Here's a guy that not only pulled his weight throughout the post season with the Pens, but did so quietly and professionally while all of the spotlight and praise was directed at Crosby and Malkin - two guys who couldn't do what Hossa did in the finals - and that was put the biscuit in the basket.  If Marian Hossa decides that he wants to play for more money, in exchange for his best chance to win - I say "God bless him."  Decisions like that don't come around very often .... just ask Chris Chelios, who knows what matters and is content to stay, and everyone celebrates his choices.  As they should and we should as well with the newest Wing!!!!!

Am I the only one who sees a resemblance between the Tigers, winners of 18 of 22, and the 2008 Red Wings, who are still basking in the glow of their most recent Stanley Cup Win?  Granted one team skates on ice, plays in doors and using much longer bats. But I'm talking more about the character of the team.  For starters, they've turned their noses up on the history of their awful start and have become just the second team in Major Leaguel history to get one game above .500 at the exact midway point of the season.  Not that the Wings ever had to overcome those kind of odds during the season, but they did start the season at a record pace, only to falter to one of the rockiest February records in recent history. During that stretch, the Wings battled endless injuries, of the Groin variety. Enter the Tigers, who are now facing their third (oblique/hip flexor) injury in as many weeks.  But what makes these teams so similar is the way each of them has been able to plug in a new piece and see immediate results.  Johan Franzen picked up the slack while Tomas Holmstrom was out, and now with the Tigers we are seeing Dane Sardinha, Matt Joyce and Armando Galarraga step in under pressure and deliver. This is the mark of not only great management, but also tremendous depth, as we learned only too well is what it takes to win a championship in this day and age.  The Tigers climb from 12 below .500 to games over must continue, however, for us to continue to even breathe the word playoffs in the same sentence as the 2006 A-L champs.  To his credit, Jim Leyland has kept his demeanor steadier than ever during his rockiest season at the helm in Detroit. Now the key will be whether or not his team can continue to handle its recent success and keep the pedal to the metal for the entire second half.  Just like the Wings ..... but minus the skates, the ice and the 6-time Norris Trohpy winning goalie!  Okay, maybe they aren't quite the same, but they do have the same owner????  

These are the days that remind us why we root, cheer, support and even shed tears for our favorite teams.  As the Wings clinched their 11th Stanley Cup in franchise history last Wednesday night, there weren't just 30 men and an organization (pronounced Or-gan-eyes-a-shun) celebrating the achievement.  Instead it was the entire tri-county area and state, sharing in the elation and culmination, as if we skated every shift, absorbed every hit and turned away every puck with the players ourselves. I will never forget the emotion that filled the Joe in 1997 when Steve Yzerman lifted 42 years of failure off the shoulders of millions of fans - that moment can never be erased in our conscience no matter how many cups follow.  But this year's version of the Wings Cup winners has proven to be both memorable and unique, not to mention special in its own way.  From Chris Osgood, who so many remembered as the teary eyed young goalie, who let in the series eliminating goal against the Sharks in '94, to Chris Chelios, the grizzled veteran who has endeared himself to this city by playing for less, planting roots and making a difference as a local business owner in Detroit.  This Cup belongs to all of those players and to head coach Mike Babcock. But this cup also belongs to the fans (or as the Wings marketing trust would say "Citizens of Hockeytown) and the players are keenly aware of that.  After this year's parade you heard numerous accounts from players about the emotion and sense of pride they felt when their motorcade turned the corner onto Woodward Avenue, where they were greeted by hundreds of thousands of fans.  All wearing Red and White and the Winged Wheel,  there not only to show their support, but to take part in what they feel they helped accomplish.  Now the city of Detroit has become Cup Central with accounts night after night of the team making the rounds about town with Lord Stanley in tow, not just to celebrate for themselves, but to share their achievement with the fans that they love and appreciate.  On the Friday following the parade, it was Osgood who suggested during their private gathering with his teammates in an upstairs room at Cheli's downtown, to take the cup out to share with the people.  They did ... and everyone who was there now has a memory to last a lifetime.  This is the true fulfillment of the Stanley cup. Players shed blood, sweat and tears for the chance to carry it over their heads, and that's how it should be.  But there is no better sight than to see the shiny, silver, chalis being passed through a crowd ..... arms outstretched, reaching and hoping for just a touch, and eyes filled with tears.  The tears of joy for a memory that can never be erased!  Enjoy this Summer Detroit - it doesn't get much better than this, and we've all earned it.

Surely you've heard the saying 'That which does not kill you, makes you stronger' . I like that one, but at this point in time it seems a bit extreme for the Wings current playoff scenario.  But it seems that when times get tough, as they most certainly have for our mighty Redwings in just a few short days, the tough get going - right?  I mean if it's always darkest before the dawn, then shouldn't we toss out our alarm clocks and wait for the fat lady to sing?  Okay, I admit I'm a little overboard with all this cliche stuff.... but the Wings current predicament has me saying deja vu all over again and I'm not quite sure way.  I certainly didn't follow hockey the last time a team came back from down three games to none to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs 33 years ago, but somehow I'm hooked on a feeling!  It can't happen to us, not hear, not now.  These wings are far too experienced to get rattled ..... that according to Chris Osgood, who should know since he's the back up to the first guy that got pulled after losing back to back games in the post season.  I know it's apples and oranges, but for a team that prides itself on getting going when the going gets touch, I'm feeling strangely nervous. So let's get the Cliche's rolling in the right direction to keep our boys encouraged and make sure that they learn from their mistakes of game four and five and take care of business in game six. Afterall, it's adversity like this that can prepare a team for the tougher battles that lie ahead, but let's face it without a win pretty soon, they may not get to those tougher battles.  So look before you leap and play to the final whistle, cuz there's no quit in this team and there's no W in Dallas. Okay so I made that one up, but it's only because I can ... just like the Wings. But they better show us in a hurry before we have to turn our focus to all those cliche's about lessons learned and Shoulda, coulda, woulda!

Enough is enough!  In the past week I've heard people rip our Hockey team because of its "European influence", rip our baseball team because of its "failure to live up to expectations" and our basketball team, or at least the fans, because they are "spoiled by all the recent success", (I'll just leave the Lions out of this arguement). And I'm not even considering the way Detroit gets blasted for it's Mayoral mayhem and urban blight. Well I've had enough, and instead of drawing a sword and trying to defend the city "I choose to live in" , I'm just saying nothing!  The only reason people really blast Detroit is because they don't get it. Outsiders complain about everything from the crime to the weather, because it's a convenient excuse that they've heard before - call it the (cheap shot) easy way out.  Well just sit awhile and watch our teams and talk to the fans. Never before has there been such an amazing run by not one, but two different teams in a single city. Not only are the Pistons headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for a franchise record sixth straight season, but the Redwings are headed back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fifth time in 14 years - something no other team has done in that time span. Oh by the way, don't forget they're doing it with their back up goalie, but that's a blog for another day!  There is a palpable electricty in the air in our city right now, and finally some of the world is seeing it. Like last week when ESPN led with the Pistons and Redwings as their top two stories, not once but twice in the same week! That has never happened before, but it may be a growing trend. Frankly, I prefer to live in the annonymity and second class status that we here in the D have grown so accustomed to over the past four decades.  For those of you who don't get it, that's just fine, because we know what it's like to be a fan and how to handle success - and still sell out arenas after all these years. This may be the best possible way to put a band aid on all of the economic woes that have befallen our Great Lakes State. Don Cherry can say all he wants about our teams and our city, but he better check his facts before he jumps to any critical conclusions. Detroit is on a championship destiny that doesn't come around very often and that's only the beginning of why I'm proud to say I choose to live in the D and LOVE IT!   That didn't sound too defensive did it?

Just when it seemed I had been lulled to sleep by the Wings 4 game dismantling of the beaten up and beleaguered Colorado Avalanche, I woke up just in time, or in this case stayed awake, long enough to watch one of the most entertaining and exhilarating hockey games I've ever witnessed.  when I returned home from Denver on Friday night, I waited with anticipation to watch what would unfold in game five between the Sharks and Stars to see who Detroit would play next.  What I got was much more than I could have ever bargained for.  And then there was game Six!  Like many die hard sports and hockey fans in the Motor City I was alone in the dark way into the wee hours of Monday morning watching a 1-1 tie turn not just into overtime, but four overtimes.  I even managed a quick nap between the first and second OT's to keep me fresh for what would come next.  Can anyone argue against Playoff hockey as the most entertaining viewing in all of sports???? If you can you obviously weren't watching Sunday night or Monday morning.  Dallas showed grittiness and defensive finesse that will be a challenge for the Wings to unlock, but I have no doubt they will.  But I must say I was slightly disappointed to watch the Sharks lose, even though I got more than two games out of game six, only because the only thing that would have been more exciting than four overtimes to decide that game, would have been a game seven.  So as we settle in to begin watching the Wings and Stars rekindle their Western Conference Series from 1998, the same year Detroit won its second of back to back cups, which is perhaps a good omen, I have only one wish: Let it go SEVEN, or at least give me a few overtime dramas to keep the best part of the NHL season alive just a little longer.  Because watching hockey well past midnight, knowing that the next goal wins it, but having no idea who will score it, how it will come and how long the game will last, is one of the best things I would ever want to do.  Better than Six in fact, that game nearly went eight. 

Of all the years the Lions had to go screw things up and finish with a (some say improved) record of 7-9 they had to pick this year.  There are so many more of the defensive stallwarts that Rod Marinelli would love to "coach up" than he has had a chance to ogle over in past years. Not that he's been here that long, or that he's had that much say. But you can bet that going into his third season as Head Coach of the Lions - the so called "Year of the Hot Seat", Coach Rod will make sure that he gets to call the shots more than he ever has before. We started to see it a little with the selection of Linebacker Ernie Sims and Safety Daniel Bullocks in 2006, but this year make no mistake about it, the Lions will go defense first! Because afterall, that is not only what wins championships, but it's what sets the tone in regular season victories. And as long as you have Jon Kitna, effiient, but never the flashy passer, calling the signals, your defense has to establish the tone of your team. Afterall true toughness comes from hitting someone in the mouth every Sunday and that begins on the defensive side of the ball. As we all know too well coach Rod lives and breathes in the trenches .... and that's of the defensive variety. So without further ado, I will tell you that long before the Lions are on the clock this Saturday, there will be more than several hundred fans, analysts and media pundits saying the Lions need offense, and they will all be wrong. Detroit is known as the "D" and Marinelli will not go down without a fight without a great big life preserver shaped like a giant "D". Obviously it's what they do in rounds two through seven that will ultimately affect this team in the long run, but what happens at that 15th pick will get the most attention and define the direction that "Marinelli's Lions" are headed in. Matt Millen may be the President, the Ford family the owners, but make no mistake .... Rod Marinelli is the Commander. So forget about RB Rashard Mendenhall out of Illinois, sure they need a top tier runner, but he isn't enough to put them over the top.  Forget a trade (for Roy Williams) to move up in the draft and take QB Matt Ryan from Boston College.  If Detroit had just tanked from the start of the '07 season, instead of teasing and taunting fans with a glass ceiling 6-2 start, they could have been in a better position to take an impact defensive stud like Chris Long, Vernon Gholston or Sedrick Ellis. But by the time the 15th pick rolls around they will be long gone and already making tackles. Detroit won't be left out in the cold however, they could land a solid mid first rounder such as LB Jerod Mayo out of Tennessee or CB Leodis McKelvin out of Troy State, who Scouts Inc list as the 15th overall player available and is tall as the day is long (a novel idea for a Lions corner). With any luck they may see some draft day shake ups that allow Florida DE Derrick Harvey to slip down to their pick, although don't count on it.  One thing is for sure, as the clock continues to tick down to draft day, there is an ample amount of posturing, deception and deal making going on behind the scenes ..... and that mean's my arguement regarding what I think the Lions should do and will do is full of as many holes as Swiss Cheese ..... much like these Lions.