(Photo by Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images)
It’s not often Detroit Lions fans are treated to a William Clay Ford press conference.
When the Lions owner, generally reclusive in nature, does step into the limelight, no matter how briefly, it’s difficult to determine what to take from it.
He says the right things for the most part.
He wants to win. The fans deserve better. Things are changing for the better. He’s the one accountable for the team.
And so on. He’s mending fences, at one of the two times per year he typically does so: when the season has gone down the tubes and he expresses mild disappointment (akin in severity to the disappointment expressed when one fails to win the lottery, only Ford plays with 1/32 odds every year), and now: the season ticket marketing blitz.
This year is no different. After the Lions started a heart-wrenching 0-3, and his own son, Bill Ford Jr., came out in the media saying Millen should be fired, Ford Sr. did just that within days, addressing the media appropriately. And then? Nothing, until now, the hot time for season ticket sales.
So obviously, Ford’s aim is to come out and inspire confidence in the fans that this team is going to make Detroit proud and win some games, right? Presumably, but many of his comments can be analyzed under different lenses to derive different conclusions.
He may be sincere. He certainly sounds like a nice enough old man, and he is at least verbally committed to keep the Lions in Detroit, despite the possibility of a stronger market elsewhere, particularly one that isn’t on the verge of total municipal collapse.
He could be offering some subterfuge, some clever words to cover up his ineptitude. He says he’s accountable, but what does that mean, exactly? Does it mean he owes the fans an apology after a few more 4-win seasons? Or is he going to do something about it?
Finally, he could just not really know what he’s saying. As fans have suggested for years, he could just be a man whose only qualification to own an NFL franchise is lots and lots of money. As nice of a person as he may be (which I hear all too often), he could just be stupid, ignorant to the ways of NFL ownership.
Honestly, I have no earthly idea which of the above three is the case… so the only thing left to do is to analyze his comments from every angle. You be the judge.
Ford on His Desire to Win
“I want it, I can promise you that.”
“I thought it was horrible every time we’d lose. I’d go ‘Oh, geez.’”
“The thing I liked really (about Wednesday’s minicamp) was the player attitude. I mean, they’re going at it like, you know, we can win, which is great.”
“Of course, [the fans] want us to win, and so do I — more than anything. But I think if they realize that we’re going to go down with our guns blazing, I think that’s a positive thing to have happen.”
How to take this? He says he wants to win, but he doesn’t exactly seethe confidence.
So in this instance, Ford:
A) Really, truly wants to win, and though his “Oh, geez,” at Lions losses may pale in comparison to a million fans’ stream of relentless obscenities at the field/TV screen, his commitment is nonetheless solid (albeit with a few bad decisions).
B) Wants everyone to think he cares, because when it’s obvious the owner doesn’t care, the tickets don’t sell. At the same time, he’s tempering expectations while sounding optimistic by effectively saying that he wants to win, but will settle for “going down with guns blazing,” which is to say still losing, but competitively, perhaps in high-scoring games.
C) Has absolutely no idea what to expect, but vaguely knows that winning is a good thing, and has decided that’s something he wants to do. He also thinks it’s “great” that the players on the team “feel like, you know, they can win,” in kind of the same way a grandparent thinks it’s great that his overweight grandson who can’t hit or catch tries out for the baseball team.
Ford on Lions Fans
“I feel so sorry for the fans of Detroit. I give them full marks for being loyal and showing up and we didn’t perform the way we should’ve performed or the way we could’ve performed. I really felt worse for them than I did for myself.”
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