Millen Not the One to Hate

With this weekend being a match-up of Michigan and Michigan State (Both Undefeated) and Matt Millen being one of the announcers for the game on TV, there seems to be a lot of resurfaced hate for the former Detroit Lions General Manager. But is Matt Millen the one who the fans should be hating?

If someone offered you a job in something you love and offered to pay you extremely well, wouldn't you take it? Of course you would. And so did Matt Millen.

If after a few years you showed that you pretty much had no idea how to do a good job, would you just up and give up the money and quit a job you love? Of course not. You would keep trying to get better at it so long as you loved it.

Now let's say in stead of quitting and rather than your boss firing you, your boss came up and offered you a new contract? Would you turn it down? Of course you would not!

The fact is, no matter how badly it is going, to walk away would be as good as quitting. The last thing any man with any real respect for himself wants, is to be labeled a quitter. Think Bobby Ross. When his name is mentioned, the first thought that pops into my head is no longer "the great coach at Michigan". No. Now it is the coach that quit because he was failing. So why would we expect someone else to do something that none of us would do?

Matt Millen might have been one of the worst GMs of all time in the NFL, if not all sports. He definitely should take some of the blame for ruining the Lions. However, as fans, if you feel you need to hate someone for the shape the Lions were in and their infamous 0-16 season, Matt Millen is the wrong person to hate. After all, he only did what any one of us would do. Accept contracts to run an NFL team and get paid handsomely for it. If you must hate someone, that someone should be Bill Ford Sr.

It was Ford who hired Millen. It was the Fords who went after Millen, not Millen who chased the Fords for a job. It was the Fords who instead of firing him for a bad job, they gave him contract extensions.

We hate Millen for signing a contract that any one of us would love to sign. We hate Millen for drafting horribly, yet after the drafts, not once did the papers ever grade him badly. We hate Millen for signing contract extensions, even though any one of us would have done the same.

The fans of the Detroit Lions need to except the fact that Millen is not the one who deserves the hate. Ford is, if anyone is. Millen only did what any one of us would have done.

As for Millen being an announcer... grow up people. Where did Millen screw up the worst? As a General Manager! In choosing draft picks and knowing how to run a team. He still knows football, he just doesn't know real talent! IF the Lions or one of the Michigan based colleges hired Millen as a scout or coach, then I can see everyone getting upset. To think he cannot talk football just because he sucked as a GM? That is ridiculous. One has nothing to do with the other.

The fact is, it is wrong to hate Millen because he is the wrong person to hate. It is wrong to hate Millen as an announcer, because that is what he was actually good at before the Lions offered him that first dreaded contract. He is back to where he belongs. Announcing games rather than managing the teams.