12/21/24
September 24, 2008
Millen out as Lions president, GM: Detroit fans, your wish appears to have finally come true.
I believe the theme song for this news story ought to be "Finally" by CeCe Peniston.
posted by Venicemenace at 11:46 AM on September 24, 2008
I'm impressed with the power of SportsFilter. One day an article on getting rid of Millen and the next day, he's gone. Impressive to say the least. Think it can work on the economy too?
posted by dbt302 at 12:34 PM on September 24, 2008
In this story on ESPN.com, Millen's wife told him he is out of "football prison".
posted by boredom_08 at 01:08 PM on September 24, 2008
I believe the theme song for this news story ought to be "Finally" by CeCe Peniston.
Or Beat It by Michael Jackson.
posted by BoKnows at 01:13 PM on September 24, 2008
I have a friend who lives in Detroit. He just emailed me his top lines said on sports radio today from a Detroit sports talk station::
"I haven't been this happy since my wife divorced me 5 years ago" "The Lions are now the only team in NFL history to get a win in there bye week" (bye week this week) "This must be like how the Ewoks felt at the end of Star Wars!" (My favorite!) "Never have 2 people getting fired made a whole city so happy!" (talking about the mayor)
posted by Debo270 at 01:17 PM on September 24, 2008
This is long overdue but I'll take it. If there was a worse general manager in sports I'd love to hear about him (Isiah Thomas was terrible yes, but I believe Millen was worse). Hopefully Ford can find somebody with some actual front office experience who can turn the Lions around. Without a good general manager they won't go anywhere. I wonder if Joe Dumars knows anything about football?
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 02:11 PM on September 24, 2008
That quote by Millen's wife seems pretty ill-advised, at least where his future job prospects are concerned. The Lions gave the guy more years to prove himself -- and got less in return -- than just about any GM in the league.
posted by rcade at 02:11 PM on September 24, 2008
This just in: the Ford family of Detroit and the Brown family of Cincinnati are huddling up at this hour so that the Brown family can help guide the Fords on what direction to take from this point forward.
Then the Browns and Fords will travel to Wall Street and Washington together to save the country from financial collapse.
Ocho Cinco will be in charge in Cincinnati until the Brown family returns.
Rich Kotite will hold down the fort in Detroit until the Fords return.
posted by beaverboard at 03:08 PM on September 24, 2008
Now maybe we can get the Bengals to follow suit and fire Mike Brown... oh, wait....DAMMIT!!!
posted by srw12 at 03:41 PM on September 24, 2008
I'm happy about their choice of interim GMs, Martin Mayhew. He is incredibly smart and capable and knows everything about football.
posted by bperk at 07:56 PM on September 24, 2008
Millen mentioned maybe getting back behind a mike.
Anyone that hires Millen back as a broadcaster will be subject to ridicule along with Millen himself.
I don't want to see or hear him on TV or radio. I just hope he goes away.
posted by beaverboard at 08:52 PM on September 24, 2008
If there was a worse general manager in sports I'd love to hear about him
I'd like to throw out Mike Lynn as a candidate for worst GM. What he did to the Vikings with the Herschel Walker trade affected the franchise for years. Could have maybe talked with the coach prior to trading three year's worth of #1 & #2 picks, and a couple additional picks. I do hear that the Cowboys erected a statue of him at Valley Ranch.
posted by dviking at 11:33 PM on September 24, 2008
This is really bad news for The Hoser.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:10 AM on September 25, 2008
As a Vikings fan, while I agree Mike Lynn made one really, really awful trade, it didn't cause the Vikings to suck for seven straight years (going on eight) as Millen's constant mis-management has. And Lynn was the head of a committee more than the sole guy in charge as Millen has been.
posted by TheQatarian at 10:12 AM on September 25, 2008
This is really bad news for The Hoser.
I'll miss the weekly Matt Millen jokes.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:36 AM on September 25, 2008
Isiah Thomas was terrible yes, but I believe Millen was worse
I disagree. Granted, it sure seems as if both Isiah and Millen had some incriminating information of the owner of each team that they used to blackmail them into keeping them on as GM's even though they continuously sucked (tell me it doesn't seem that way...I dare you!!) but Isiah takes the cake.
This is the same guy that not only sunk the Knicks organization to a whole new low but he also sexually harrassed and then fired the same high ranking employee that didn't appreciate his advances so she sued the Knicks organization and subsequently won a lawsuit for over $10 million dollars.
Sure, Millen made some huge mistakes as a GM and should never, ever hold that kind of position again (maybe the Raiders will hire him) but he didn't pull the kind of things that Isiah did so smugly. Good riddance to both I say.
posted by BornIcon at 11:04 AM on September 25, 2008
Isaiah does take the cake. He wrecked the CBA well before he ever got to New York. What a fool.
posted by beaverboard at 11:27 AM on September 25, 2008
Too bad the Ford's waited sooooooooo long. Bill Polian from Indianoplis would have made a good builder of a winning team. It will take time but good bye Millen.
posted by coach at 08:23 AM on September 26, 2008
As a Vikings fan, while I agree Mike Lynn made one really, really awful trade, it didn't cause the Vikings to suck for seven straight years (going on eight) as Millen's constant mis-management has. And Lynn was the head of a committee more than the sole guy in charge as Millen has been.
I'm beginning to think that you're actually part of the Viking's front office. First you're on board with the whole T-Jack project, and now you're defending Lynn!!!
That trade most certainly caused the Vikings to suck for at least seven years. No team gives up that many picks and builds a decent franchise. Just go back and look at some of the players that were picked up with those picks. Emmitt Smith alone could help build a team. Don't buy that "head of a committee" the call was clearly his, as was disclosed at the time. The coach was absolutely against the deal.
posted by dviking at 03:53 PM on September 26, 2008
ugh...hate HTML...not sure why my entire post was italicized...only meant for the first part to be.
posted by dviking at 03:54 PM on September 26, 2008
I can hear the screams of joy in Detroit from here. And I'm in Minneapolis. What the hell took so long?