Can I just close my eyes and we all just fast-forward to the regular season?

Can somehow we find a way to just let us fans skip out on the drama of the franchise tags, possible holdouts, needed contract restructurings and high-priced free agent negotiations? Or at least let me because I am about to start pulling my hair out, I just want to open my eyes at kick off on opening day of the first game and see who is actually suited up and ready to play football for the Detroit Lions.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It’d just be a lot easier that way, this crap is just too stressful for Lions slappies!

The latest discouraging free agent news is that Stephen Tulloch and the Lions aren’t even close to making a deal yet, this after hearing that Cliff Avril doesn’t believe in the hometown discount. We knew the price of success would cost the Lions organization. But what about us fans?

There is a ton of hand-wringing amongst Lions fans and it sucks. I see it everyday on my Lions facebook page.

Don’t get me wrong, I will take the hand-wringing along with the winning of course, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!

Yesterday I wrote about the beauty of Martin Mayhew’s moves and he deserves all the credit he has gotten so far, but boy do we need he and Tom Lewand to pull a few rabbits out of the hat this offseason in order to keep this ship headed in the right direction at it’s current fast pace. This is a critical stage and things could go bad quickly if not handled correctly.
Continue reading “How High Is The Price Of Winning For Detroit Lions Fans?” »

2/20/2012 - Wow! People are turning on Cliff Avril quicker than a gold-digger would on her newly-bankrupt 80 year old husband after a stock market crash!

Fans have long been known to be fickle creatures, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. But I wish my fellow Detroit Lions fans had a little bit more understanding for a man’s own personal financial decisions that are made public unlike most of ours are.

My question is this? Whose really being the selfish one, Cliff Avril? Detroit Lions fans? Both maybe?

Everyone will obviously have a different opinion and that’s the beauty of debate with other fans of the same team.

Cliff Avril’s decision on what his contract demands are, are his decision and his right as a man. How do you feel when someone tries to count your money? You don’t like it right? Well the messed up thing about a professional football player’s situation is that everybody is counting his money and deciding what is “enough” for him and his family.

It’s funny that so many people love capitalism and free markets until it comes down to a pro athlete who is really a business in and of himself. I especially don’t begrudge a man’s contract demands when he is taking the field in the National Football League.

Why? For the very obvious reason that every time these men take the field they have a very legitimate chance of being carted off that exact same field on that very day. Do you remember Bo Jackson and how great his career would’ve been? Do you remember Detroit Lions Mike Utley or Reggie Brown and how great they could’ve been?

Well that could easily be any NFL player that touches the turf on any given Sunday in the organized violence that we call the NFL, a life full of would’ve beens and could’ve beens. When is the last time those woulda & couldas paid a bill?
Continue reading “Possible Cliff Avril Holdout Worries Me But Doesn’t Anger Me – You Mad?” »

2/14/2012 - Today Lions fans got a chance to get up close and personal with Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand by way of phone conference. I myself listened in as Tom Lewand held the conference call with Detroit Lions season ticket holders while Dan Miller mediated/hosted.

Although let me be clear, I’m quite the idiot and mistakenly hung up on the conference call halfway through it and didn’t know what number to call in order to be reconnected (the Lions call the ticket-holders to start the conference.)

That’s what I get for trying to listen to a conference call and talk with other Lions fans on my Lions Detroit Facebook page at the same time.   :-/

Anyway, enough about my buffoonery and on to the conference call with Lewand.
Continue reading “Lions In Dire Need Of Contract Restructuring To Keep Their Own Free Agents” »

While doing my usually bumping around the net for all things Lions-related I ran into an interesting list by the well-respected Pete Prisco. The senior columnist for CBS Sports put together a list of the top 50 NFL Free Agents.

Of course with me being the Lions slappy I am I wanted to see where our Free Agents ranked and I was hoping they ranked highly just out of pure respect for there talent. These are our guys right? I also wanted to see who would be a nice pickup for the Detroit Lions out of the other Free Agents.

So unsurprisingly, the list starts off with Mario Williams at #1 and descends from there, well you don’t have to wait long to get to the Lions very own Cliff Avril sitting there at number 4!

I must say that as much as the Lions seem to get downplayed in the media I was a little shocked that they had Cliff Avril ranked so highly, now please don’t misunderstand me, I strongly feel that he definitely deserves the #4 ranking but I just didn’t expect it from big media.

I was very happy for the recognition our Detroit guy received and started puffing my chest out a little bit, but then instantly started to feel a bad feeling and it wasn’t gas smart aleck. That feeling was a sinking feeling and it still sticks with me right now. My gut is telling me that Cliff Avril is going to be gone unless the Lions use the franchise tag on him, which is not the prime option for either the player or the organization.

It’s amazing how Cliff Avril’s star has sky-rocketed!

Last year when I glowingly mentioned Cliff Avril’s name to a buddy of mine that lives in Chicago, my friend whose an avid Bear fan barely knew who I was talking about. But now, Cliff Avril’s name is well known because of the success of the Detroit Lions this past year and it may ironically end the relationship between the team and the player. I certainly hope not, I think Cliff Avril is heck of a talent and I’d hate to have that guy lining up against us. I also think his personality fits well with the people in this area, people generally like the guy in Detroit and feel that he’s one of us. He’s “Detroit cool”.

But is winning in the place he was drafted and is bringing a Championship to the place where he once went 0-16 truly important to Cliff? Who knows… Only Avril knows and if it is important will he give those feeling a place in the negotiations with the Lions?

We all know that the NFL is a business, but I’m not so jaded as to think that some players don’t still have a sense of sentimentality to their roots or to the city and people who live and die with them. Do NFL players still give “hometown deals” or do they always play the “it’s up to my agent” game? I guess we will see.

If Cliff is determined to grab every single penny that he can possibly get, he has every right to that and I won’t be mad at the man. I can’t feed his family so I won’t judge him, but if he is reasonable with the Lions and agrees to a contract that both pays him well and helps keep this team on track to a Super Bowl the guy will be a legend around the D. And that’s like currency, THERE ARE NO MORE PASSIONATE FANS THAN IN DETROIT!

The Alvin Harper Of D-Lineman?

Doug Karsch of the “Karsch & Anderson” show of 97.1 The Ticket radio show in Detroit posed the question of whether Cliff Avril is the Alvin Harper of defensive lineman or not. You know how Alvin Harper looked great when playing next to Michael Irvin in Dallas but when he left for the big contract in Tampa he proved to not be so great(to say the least). Alvin Harper’s success was a by-product of the Dallas system and the greatness of Michael Irvin. So is Cliff Avril’s case the same with Detroit’s wide 9 system and him playing next to Suh and the rest?

I truly don’t think that’s the case with Cliff at all, I think he’s a guy that is coming into his own and really becoming a star player in his own right. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think he wouldn’t continue to benefit greatly by playing on the same D-line as the beastly Ndamukong Suh, Corey Williams, Nick Fairley & crew. These guys have something special here and I hope Cliff values it. This team is on a fast track to a championship and Detroiters would love to see Cliff stick it out with us from the lowest lows to the highest highs. We’ve watched Cliff Avril grow, hopefully we don’t have to watch him go.

Here’s to hoping for some Detroit Love from the big guy!

Tidbits: Stephen Tulloch ranked #37 on the list of Top 50 Free Agents, Pete Prisco says this about the Lions MLB…

37. Stephen Tulloch, MLB, Detroit Lions: On a one-year deal, he had 111 tackles and two picks for the Lions. He just turned 27, so age isn’t an issue. He’s a steady player.