Millen Ousted By Lions

Matt Millen was fired yesterday by the Detroit Lions, a move promoted by this very blog after the Lions were smoked in their first three games of the season. Lions owner William Clay Ford relieved Millen of his duties as team president after the club went a league-worst 31-84 since his tenure began in 2001. And while Millen wasn't solely to blame for the fact that the franchise has won just one playoff game since 1957, he certainly wasn't getting the team any closer to any sort of success.


If the Chicago Cubs are going to end their 100-year World Series drought, they may have to do it in spite of one of their supposed aces, Carlos Zambrano. With two outs in the third inning Wednesday night at Shea Stadium, Zambrano walked three consecutive New York Mets to force in a run before giving up a grand slam to Carlos Delgado. And just like that the Great 'Z' appeared to be a potential weak link for the Cubs' postseason rotation. I realize the guy pitched a no-hitter 11 days ago and that his velocity was consistently at 94 mph and occasionally hit 96 last night, but his lack of consistent control in crucial situations has always been his downfall. His emotional nature on the mound, often cited as a positive intangible, clearly took him out of his game last night in his final regular season start for the Cubs.


Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox saw their lead in the AL Central slip to a mere half-game as their offense could only muster a pair of runs in another loss to the Minnesota Twins. The Sox fell to 1-7 in the Metrodome, and Gavin Floyd looks to play stopper tonight and cut the White Sox' magic number to three.


CC Sabathia worked on short rest last night, striking out a season-high 11 over seven innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers over Pittsburgh for the 11th straight time. The win moved the Brewers into a tie with the Mets in the race for the NL Wild Card. The Brewers began September with a 5 1/2-game advantage in the wild card race but saw it evaporate with a 2-8 road trip that saw Dale Sveum promoted to manage the club for the fired Ned Yost. Sveum said that Yovani Gallardo, out since May 1, will start today against the Pirates after returning from a knee injury.

And the Mets suffered what manager Jerry "Gandhi" Manuel said was their worst loss of the season last night, blowing a 5-1 lead and stranding a leadoff triple in the bottom on the ninth. GM Omar Minaya, however, is sitting comfortably and carelessly by with his nice newly extended contract.

It's Millen's Time...To Go

31-84. Since the start of the 2001 season, Matt Millen's first year as President and CEO of the Detroit Lions, the team has sustained at least nine losses in every campaign. 31-84. For three years, the team failed to win a road game, going 24 games without road success in a league where home field is not as advantageous as other professional leagues. 31-84. The Detroit Lions are unquestionably the worst franchise in all of team sports.

Yet Mr. Millen is the second-highest paid general manager in the league. The fact that he still has a job after admitting that the team's record under his command has been "beyond awful" is mind-boggling. Millen played 12 seasons in the NFL and played on four Super Bowl winners. He knows what it takes to win. He was a tremendous commentator, offering top-notch insight not often seen by today's analysts. But he can't put a winning team on the field.


Lions vice chairman Bill Ford said yesterday, "I think the fans deserve better, and if it were in my authority, which it's not, I'd make some significant changes." When asked if Millen should leave the team, Ford said, "Yes, I do." Ford, the executive chairman of the Ford Motor Co. and son of William Clay Ford, should have the power to dismiss Millen because his dad hasn't done anything to help the franchise since he took control in 1964. Why the senior Ford has consistently stood by his decision to hire and keep Millen is beyond me, but there must be change in Detroit if that team wants to ever sniff the playoffs again.


By the way, how did Shareef Abdur-Rahim average 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 12 NBA seasons?

And also, have the Chargers stopped scoring yet?