0209230306
DETROIT FREE PRESS
020923
Monday, September 23, 2002
METRO FINAL
1A
Photo ERIC SEALS/Detroit Free Press
Despite the late rally Sunday, many of the 61,505 fans weren't in the
best of moods. From some of Ford Field's best seats, these fans in the closing
minutes: 1) Wished for the return of Wayne Fontes, fired as coach in 1996. 2)
Sported bags because of the Lions' winless record. 3) Worried about the fate
of the Stanley Cup champions.
Ford Field welcomes its first regular-season crowd. Gates opened while the
Tigers were losing at Comerica Park.
(following photograph appeared in the State edition, page 1A.)
Joe Smithson, 59, of Waterford show his true colors at Ford Field.
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
FORD FIELD OPENER
Copyright (c) 2002, Detroit Free Press
A BEAUTIFUL STADIUM, BUT STILL AN UGLY TEAM
HARRINGTON LEADS A LATE RALLY, BUT LIONS FALL TO PACKERS, 37-31
And the honeymoon's over.
It lasted about an hour, just long enough to see a new stadium open, a new set
of traffic problems develop, the guys from Fox make their first and likely
last visit until 2006, and our mayor proudly waving while wearing a black
velour T-shirt. When the first touchdown at Ford Field was scored on a reverse
punt return, the crowd went wild. The home team had a lead! Football was being
played in downtown Detroit!
And then, reality set in. It wasn't football, it was the Lions. You can take
the team out of the ugly but you can't take the ugly out of the team. The good
news is, it was much closer than the other losses this season. The bad news
is, the other losses were blowouts.
Green Bay 37, Detroit 31. The season is still winless. The defense is still
porous.
And we're out of new stadiums.
History will show that the Lions opened their 2002 home campaign the same day
that the Tigers, at next-door Comerica Park, ended theirs. As my radio
colleague Ken Brown noted: Only in Detroit can you get comedy and tragedy in
adjacent stadiums.
The Lions tried Sunday. On the field, they tried. In the control booths, they
tried. They threw every feel-good face they could on the giant scoreboard.
Ernie Harwell. Steve Yzerman. Unfortunately, football games last three hours.
Eventually, you have to show the plays.
And what we saw in those plays were fumbles, interceptions and a
return-the-favor mentality whenever the Packers gave them a break. The Lions
closed late in the game with a terrific James Stewart tackle-breaking
touchdown. And they even had a last-minute drive, led by rookie quarterback
Joey Harrington, that had "Hollywood Ending" written all over it.
Unfortunately, the Lions moved south, not west. Harrington's last pass was
overthrown and intercepted.
New building, same old bricks.
"There's no consolation in this league -- yet, we continue to lay it on the
line every Sunday," coach Marty Mornhinweg said. "This football team has
improved immensely."
That may be. But it is a mark of the Lions' sad history that a close loss
almost feels like a victory. Until we convince the NFL of that, the standings
aren't going to change.
Last week, Mornhinweg tried to soften the poor start by saying, "If we win
this one, we'll be in second place in our division."
So here's the good news. They lost, and they're still tied for third place in
their division.
Of course, the division has only four teams.
No thanks to the Fox folks
Now, let us stress the positive where we can. The new stadium is beautiful. A
monument to football. And one day, when they start playing it here, it'll
really be something.
No, seriously, this week, this season, Lions fans must do what they have been
trained to do best: wait.
It will be easier to do in Ford Field, not only because of the crystal clear
giant screens, the clean, well-lighted views (didn't the Silverdome always
feel like there was a blue film over your eyes?), but also because there is a
sense of "there" there, you see other buildings as you drive in, you are
actually in a city, not a highway exit.
The concourses are wide, the roof does not look like a melting marshmallow,
and even the elevator operators are nicer. One of them Sunday, while
encouraging more people to come in, said, "We got plenty of room in here. This
ain't Pontiac."
No, it isn't.
But these are the Lions. They played hard, no doubt about that. They didn't
quit, no doubt about that. Then again, there will never be a week when they'll
have more motivation to win than they had Sunday -- a new stadium, a raucous
crowd and a Green Bay team missing its best running back.
They still came up short.
Once again, the Lions' defense couldn't stop a runny nose. The Packers
converted 12 of their 21 third downs, racked up 347 passing yards, and would
have had more than their 37 points had Brett Favre not been so flippant with a
few throws and the Packers not so butterfingers with their fumbles.
The Lions have now given up 49 points, 31 points and 37 points.
The good news: The big shots from Fox did their hour-long pre-game from the
new stadium.
The bad news: Terry Bradshaw screamed that if the Lions lost this one, they
"should fire the coach tomorrow!"
Thanks for coming, guys. Airport's that way.
Cheers for the doughnut
How was Joey Harrington, you ask? In his first pro start, he played much like
what he is, a rookie quarterback forced to learn on the run. He did some very
nice things -- his first touchdown pass was a masterful display of timing --
and he almost threw one to Mikhael Ricks in the closing seconds that would
have made him a quick legend. He didn't panic under pressure, even though he
got to sniff more of the new FieldTurf than he cared to.
"I'm a little new in there," he admitted. "I'm learning you don't get as many
chances as you do in college, so you got to take advantage of every one.
"But the big thing I learned today was the character of these players. In that
fourth quarter, every set of eyes was up, every chin was up. We all believed
we were going to march down the field and score."
Wow. This new building stuff really works.
Well, better to be 0-3 and optimistic than 0-3 and depressed. By the way, can
I say this about the Lions' mascot -- who now comes out of a cage before the
team takes the field? Rule No. 1: It is not good when the mascot looks like
he'd lose a fight to Winnie the Pooh.
Having said that, the good news is the Lions can get better, but the new
stadium doesn't have to. We have a wonderful place to see football, although I
do worry about some of the technology.
In between quarters, on the giant scoreboard, they put up a race between three
fast-food cartoon characters. As a result, one of the biggest cheers of the
day came for a chocolate-covered doughnut.
Hey. You take what you can get. At least the doughnut wasn't intercepted.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch
Albom Show" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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