Lions Fans Deserve Credit

[Failed Bridge]

DETROIT -- Frustrated about cheering for a team perennially mired in the depths of the NFL, Detroit Lions fans marched around Ford Field on Sunday to demand the firing of team president Matt Millen.

 

Chanting and carrying signs, they also screamed for the Ford family to sell the team to someone who cares about winning.

 

Steven Beaton, 32, of Dearborn, said he didn't think the rally would do any good.

 

"We've got two good teams here and the other two are horrible," he said. "That's got to change."

 

The march, sponsored by a local sports talk radio station, began at a bar five blocks from the stadium about two hours before Sunday's home finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.

 

Fans carried signs that said "Fire Millen," "Commitment to Ineptness," and "Fed Up." One wore a hat reading "Blame Ford First."

 

Among their chants were calls of "Ho, ho, ho, Millen must go."

 

Many marchers wore orange to support the Bengals rather than the home team. They also wore shirts calling for Millen's firing and marking their participation in the "2005 Angry Fan March."

 

The Lions are 4-9 this year and have the league's worst record during the past five seasons, 20-57.

 

At the previous home game, fans displayed "Fire Millen" signs and chanted for his dismissal. The scene turned into a circus of sorts when one fan ran from section to section, dodging security, with a "Fire Millen" sign, before he was tackled as he ran up steps toward the exits.

 

The anti-Millen signs and chants have surfaced at games of other Detroit sports teams since Thanksgiving, as well as at University of Michigan and Michigan State basketball games.

 

On Friday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace joined fans in the chant during a late timeout in the game against the Chicago Bulls.

 

Even when the Pistons played in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday night, a fan in the upper deck held a "Fire Millen" sign.

 

Lions owner William Clay Ford gave Millen a five-year contract extension last offseason after four miserable seasons. Ford allowed the former linebacker to fire coach Steve Mariucci after two-plus seasons. Mariucci was fired just after Thanksgiving.

 

You know you're terrible when players from teams in a different sport that play in the same city as you join the fans in their calling for your head.

[2GOLD]

Matt Millen brings people together from all different races, sports and tax brackets.

He should run for Congress or something.

[Vampiro69]

Can't blame the fans on this. Look at the picks Harrington, Charlie Rogers, Roy Williams, Mike Williams, Kevin Jones. Only Jones and Roy Williams have done anything respectable.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

To be fair, Mike Williams hasn't been in football a full year. No matter how well he trains himself for a year, he wouldn't be ready for NFL. Give him a year or two in the NFL and he should be better.

[Guest]

Mike Williams gets a break because it's his rookie season and he didn't play at all last year.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Yeah if you wanna blame Millen for something, use the hundreds of other things he's screwed up.

 

Geez, he's not even good with the PR aspect. Remember the whole "faggot" incident?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Lions fans deserve credit for being so loyal despite their team eternally sucking so hard for so long.

[Annabelle]

charles rogers is well on his way to becoming the next darrell russell. not exactly in death, just wasted potential with drugs & so forth. they aren't even dressing him on a regular basis.

[Failed Bridge]

Darrell Russell was into cocaine and all sorts of shit. I'd say Rogers is more like Ricky Williams, minus the weird philisophical approach to life. I think he needs to get out of Detroit to have any success though. With the injuries and suspension from drugs it just seems like he needs a fresh start. If I was San Diego I'd take a flier on him. Keenan McCardell is not at an age where he's going to get better and Erik Parker is more a 3rd WR. They're going to have a good deal of picks in the up-coming draft (considerably more when they trade Philip Rivers) so they could afford to give up a 3rd or 4th round pick on him.

[Bruiser Chong]

charles rogers is well on his way to becoming the next darrell russell. not exactly in death, just wasted potential with drugs & so forth. they aren't even dressing him on a regular basis.

That's because he's an idiot. Anyone in Saginaw who knew the guy already knew this, but he's showing his intellectual shortcomings off on the grand stage now.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Darrell Russell was into cocaine and all sorts of shit. I'd say Rogers is more like Ricky Williams, minus the weird philisophical approach to life. I think he needs to get out of Detroit to have any success though. With the injuries and suspension from drugs it just seems like he needs a fresh start. If I was San Diego I'd take a flier on him. Keenan McCardell is not at an age where he's going to get better and Erik Parker is more a 3rd WR. They're going to have a good deal of picks in the up-coming draft (considerably more when they trade Philip Rivers) so they could afford to give up a 3rd or 4th round pick on him.

 

Dude... just...no. San Diego's better off staying away from bong boy.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

It appears the organized fan protest is gaining popularity. There were similar movements against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last season. Nice to see fans taking some matters in their own hands and gaining publicity against lacksidaisal management/ownership.

[Guest Leelee]

Lackadaisical.

[The Czech Republic]

Proofreading is my job. Stop that.

[Failed Bridge]

Dude... just...no. San Diego's better off staying away from bong boy.

He has a ton of talent and potential but he needs a disciplinarian(Czech will tell me if I spelled that wrong) type Head Coach. For a late first day or early second day draft pick the Chargers really couldn't go wrong here.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Lackadaisical.

Yeah, I was just winging it when I spelled that.

[The Czech Republic]

Dude... just...no. San Diego's better off staying away from bong boy.

disciplinarian(Czech will tell me if I spelled that wrong)

u got it d00d

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Dude... just...no. San Diego's better off staying away from bong boy.

He has a ton of talent and potential but he needs a disciplinarian(Czech will tell me if I spelled that wrong) type Head Coach. For a late first day or early second day draft pick the Chargers really couldn't go wrong here.

 

San Diego has Vincent Jackson who is pretty good. If Detroit accepts a 3rd rounder and a scrub for Rogers, I will laugh at the Lions for giving up a 1st round pick on him only to let him go for a later pick. If that's the deal Lions is looking for, then perhaps that's a good idea.

[Justice]

Eh, this isn't anything compared to chanting "Let's Go Red Wings" on Monday Night Football. Now that was classic.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

I hate people who chant the name of another team in the area for a specific sport. I hear about the Philly fans chanting "Eagles" at the Phillies and now Detroit's fans. It's not "classic", it's disrespectful. Big difference.

[lomasmoney]

Didn't Chuck get something like a four on his ACT, and that was the reason why he sat out his first year at MSU and didn't the guy have like 3 kids by 12th grade. Why the Lions would draft a guy who is a known jackass and lives an hour away from all his homeboys I will never know.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Those protesters are friggin' nuts. It was ZERO degrees this morning, and I'm 2 hours south of detroit.

 

March in the offseason when it's warm.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Agent of Oblivion

[lomasmoney]

Its so entertaining that the Bengals ( my second favorite team behind the Lions), have been able to become a legit Super Bowl contender by building off solid drafting and scouting and good coaching. These are three things the Lions have just not had the last 5 or 6 years. Bengals fans are major league bandwagon fans, one of the kids I watched the game with last night was trying to tell me that the Bengals won the Super Bowl last time it was in Detroit, and that they had two super bowls. I responded no they happened to lose both of those games to San Francisco. He argued for like 20 minutes with me about it until I told him to look it up. I just hate those fans who come around to their hometown team once they finally get good. I remember the days of Ki-Jana Carter, Akili Smith, David Klingler, etc, and how bad the team was managed.

[Jorge Gorgeous]

I hate people who chant the name of another team in the area for a specific sport. I hear about the Philly fans chanting "Eagles" at the Phillies and now Detroit's fans. It's not "classic", it's disrespectful. Big difference.

 

Well no shit.

[nl5xsk1]

I hate people who chant the name of another team in the area for a specific sport. I hear about the Philly fans chanting "Eagles" at the Phillies and now Detroit's fans. It's not "classic", it's disrespectful. Big difference.

Try being in Boston where a "Yankees Suck" chant can break out at ANY game, regardless of the sport and who the Boston team is playing. I find the chant to be moronic during a Sox/Yanks game, let alone during a Bruins/Flyers game or some other non-baseball/non-NY sporting event.

[snuffbox]

Didn't Chuck get something like a four on his ACT, and that was the reason why he sat out his first year at MSU and didn't the guy have like 3 kids by 12th grade. Why the Lions would draft a guy who is a known jackass and lives an hour away from all his homeboys I will never know.

 

1)ESPN ranked him high

 

2)Matt Millen also scored a 4 on his ACT

[LooseCannon25]

Didn't Chuck get something like a four on his ACT, and that was the reason why he sat out his first year at MSU and didn't the guy have like 3 kids by 12th grade. Why the Lions would draft a guy who is a known jackass and lives an hour away from all his homeboys I will never know.

 

 

H'es the stupidest player in the NFL........not named Kellen Winslow Jr.

[Danville_Wrestling]

Its so entertaining that the Bengals ( my second favorite team behind the Lions), have been able to become a legit Super Bowl contender by building off solid drafting and scouting and good coaching. These are three things the Lions have just not had the last 5 or 6 years. Bengals fans are major league bandwagon fans, one of the kids I watched the game with last night was trying to tell me that the Bengals won the Super Bowl last time it was in Detroit, and that they had two super bowls. I responded no they happened to lose both of those games to San Francisco. He argued for like 20 minutes with me about it until I told him to look it up. I just hate those fans who come around to their hometown team once they finally get good. I remember the days of Ki-Jana Carter, Akili Smith, David Klingler, etc, and how bad the team was managed.

 

Amen. I've been rooting for the Bengals since 1992 when I was eight years old and after all of the frustration and heartbreak it is finally rewarding to see how far the Bengals have managed to come. To be quite honest pessimism was so instilled in me from those bust years in the 1990s that I thought the Bengals would somehow fall to 8-8 again after they'd gotten to 8 wins this season. Hopefully we can keep this up instead of it being a flash in the pan experience, but my hopes of this success continuing are high.

[Gert T]

Just think if Will Allen hadn't destroyed Willis MaGahee's leg in the Fiesta Bowl, he'd be a Lion, and might be making Harrington look a little better.

 

Yeah sadly about 30 percent of Bengals fans are bandwagon. Some are closet fans, but I also had a kid at school today tell me how we won back-to-back in '88 & '89. Didn't have the heart.

[lomasmoney]

I just hate it because the bandwagon fans are like you grew up outside of Detroit what do you know about the Bengals. Then I remind them not only was I born in Cincinnati but I spent every summer there until i was about 11 so I am a huge Cincy sports fan.