Kinda wierd I think - Fans should have stopped going to the games 15 years ago. Empty stadiums game after game sends a message. Now it looks like they may have finally made the right management decisons by changing over to Hamp and sweeping the GM/coaches and looking more long term and people boo them. I would at least wait and see how the changes manifest over the next year. Hamp may end up being the best thing that has happened for lions fans in our lifetime. Give her a little support until this change prooves disastrous. My ONLY complaint of Hamp was her stubborness and not cutting ties with Quinn and MP a year earlier. But since then she seems to be working hard to change things.
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On point, broseph. Exactly my sentiments. WCF was terrible. I actually think Martha tried her best, and was better than WCF. Sheila saw Martha’s effort and how miserably it failed…then amplified the effort by 10. Sheila is trying. WCF was just a good ol’ boy, who thought it was a prestigious and profitable thing to hang with his buddies.
For the first time in my life, the Lions have an owner that wants to win.
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I would certainly welcome them being bought by a rich man or woman who had to work hard harder and be smarter for everything they have. The trust fund baby ownership thing hasn’t worked out so well.
That said, Sheila has at least given the appearance that she wants to take things in a better direction.
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Really Air?
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Anyone who has had any interaction with Amazon beyond just having cruddy Chinese crap dumped off at their door would agree with this statement.
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I will take the unpopular position that the Fords are, all in all, pretty good owners.
The Fords are top-notch in the ways that owners really matter.
- They care deeply about Detroit and Michigan.
- They built their own damn stadium rather than saddling taxpayers with the burden.
- They are not cheap.
- They’ve tried pretty much every way of trying to put a winner on the field.
Has their hiring / firing of GMs ended up being really bad historically? Duh and/or hello. But it’s not like they’re being cheap or not trying. They’re also not meddling nitwits like Dan Snyder.
I’m also going to nip the argument about owners demanding excellence in the bud with a "Best of @Doctor_Love " episode (aka rerun):
I don’t know if the crowd was booing because they supported Calvin vs. the team, or if it was just a bunch of drunks pissed at a losing team. Probably a combination of both, and that’s fine. But I think people need to be careful what they wish for when wanting an ownership change. It can be far worse.
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I am in full support of fans booing ownership any chance the fans get. It goes back to why fans boo to begin with. They boo to voice their displeasure with the player or the player’s performance.
The Ford’s ownership performance has been horrendous. One of the biggest losers in sports ownership history.
Does that mean I don’t like Sheila Ford Hamp? No, of course not. I realize she hasn’t had control of the team for very long, and I truly believe she is doing what she can to make the Lions a winner. But I still think she should get booed for what she represents. I hope she knows better than to take it personally. Its about the position she holds and what that position has represented for 60 years.
But these boos need to happen. They are well deserved
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I donf think I would’ve booed but I’m not a fan of the lions business practice thst has them go after signing bonuses
If this repeats , and we saw it has -
And it’s Sewell retiring early with tile to injury
Would Shiela ok going after the signing bonus now that she’s experienced the fall out ?
By the way , in real time, this was the type of fall out / cost / repercussion that I was saying made it a dumb business decision.
It’s quite possible she would’ve been cheered fir the moves she’s made of it weren’t for the disconnect on how Fords treated Cslvin based on how happy he made their fans
- which is weird because that’s exactly what she was saying - the family thanked him fir what he did for the fans.
Since this is all part of the cost of that decision
I’m hoping she’ll never want to be in thst position again and just let the players keep it as the cost of doing business like it was with Perriman and Collins.
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I agree with Natty that Sheila is trying. I give her all the credit in the world for that. If anything I think she won’t hesitate to make necessary moves at the top in effort to get better. She ain’t gonna hang on to her buddies like her old man did. But if this team was sold I’d love for Dan Gilbert to own them!
But the “boos” are meaningless as long as you still show up and spend money. Write a letter, make a phone call, stop buying the product. Those are all ways to positively impact something. Booing is an easy thing to do because everyone else is doing it but it is really meaningless without action.
I would agree somewhat. But you can’t tell me that Sheila Ford Hamp didn’t feel those boos. She did. I get the feeling it got to her more than any letter would. She got the message.
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All you “Fords sell the team” folks better beware what you are adkng for.
Ask St.Louis, Cleveland, Baltimore, Oakland, San Diego, Los Angles, etc. His they liked losing their NFL teams.
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That would be terrible!
Respect all the opinions here and can see the point but I agree the most with you here @Doctor_Love
To add, Hamp hanging onto the previous regime, while not ideal, also was her first year as sole decision maker. Kind of like a new coaching staff, you need time to figure out what’s going on. Sure it was a year (or two) later than we would’ve preferred but it was her time to evaluate what was going on. And she made her decision and hopefully gained confidence in her decision making and authority from that year.
Additionally, I thought it was telling Rod Wood was not present (or at least that I saw). That may be a sign of her telling him to stay away for the sake of CJ. Perhaps moving forward his role in the public eye becomes less and less, especially now they have Spielman. Wood can go back to counting beans and never have to do another interview or make another decision again. Speaking of, it was kind of obvious Wood was acting as the bridge between Martha and Sheila when he OKed the firing of Coombs or whoever the ST coordinator was. Since the hiring of Holmes and Campbell his presence has been less and less, and I think CJ is a big reason for that and Hamp knows it.
Anyway, just my thoughts… I think she’s done as much as she can and hopefully has the right people in place now. At least the hiring process for this regime appeared much more robust and informed than just listening to an old family friend.
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@Doctor_Love
I like lions ownership seeming loyal to Detroit abd Michigan. I like their diverse hiring track record and long time support of social causes.
But it’s fear based to only worry it’ll be worse -
Arguably the lions would be attractive as an investment because support for team has hardly wavered with no winning. It’s a big historic nfl market to pull a team out of , might not exactly be a better landing spot Michigan as a state has a lot to offer , players money can even stretch far in comparison to some other places.
The problem has been winning and image of organization
And unless a buyer was buying because they specifically want to move the team
It seems like a buyer might see a huge potential in staying there
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If you compare Detroit to the other cities that teams have moved from, Detroit is worse than those cities in so many ways. But when it comes to how many moves were stadium driven…we haven’t really had that problem.
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I don’t know about that… Detroit is not the best, but St. Louis? I know Detroit is what it is… however, Chicago, NY, LA… other major cities with huge crime problems (especially Chicago whether it’s broadcasted or not). I think Michigan has a ton to offer. Detroit could be better, but I don’t think it’s the worst. But I am biased as well
Stadium is a big one
But the tv market is big and the fan loyalty is bananas.
I love the Fords for not forcing the tax payers to pay for their stadium
And hopefully Ford field stays viable as a revenue generator to not need a new stadium for awhile.
Also now that those teams did move it changes the next available best options
Which is which places would be significant upgrade to Detroit ? As a key turn on investment where you just need to improve the product.
With the cap gains hit on the franchise
It would have to sell for so much to make it really worth selling
Wouldn’t it ?
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I can appreciate being biased. At the same time the only way someone can post what you just did is thru bias. To anybody looking from the outside in it doesn’t compute. I like to joke that when people are talking about the best places to live in Detroit…they talk about places not named Detroit.
Cleveland fans aren’t loyal?
Detroit sports teams have been in place since the cities prime. The city has taken a huge dump since then. If you reshuffle the deck in 2021 and have each team pick a city to put their team in…I’m not sure Detroit makes the top 32.
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