Thanksgiving Game Remains in Detroit in ‘09
NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 01.30.2009/3:47PM
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The Lions’ traditional Thanksgiving Day game is safe, at least for another year.
Despite potshots from fans and some media members that the game should be taken away from Detroit, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the games will continue to be hosted by Detroit and Dallas in 2009. A third game is rotated.
Goodell addressed the issue as his annual pre-Super Bowl press conference on Friday in Tampa. A transcript was made available.
“With respect to the Thanksgiving Day game, as you know, I attended that game a little bit over a year ago,“ Goodell said. “I understand it’s a great tradition in Detroit and in Dallas. It’s something that our owners have raised from time to time. It will not change for this season. As to whether the ownership feels the same, we will discuss it as we get later into the year. We certainly will raise it.“
The Lions hosted the first game in 1934, the year they relocated to Detroit from Portsmouth, Ohio. Dallas added a second game in 1966.
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Going to the Matt: Millen, Stafford, Hall Picks
NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 01.30.2009/10:13AM
Contact Mike O’Hara at mikeoharasports.com
Old Matt: If only everyone was as forgetful or unaware of his infamy in Detroit as Martha Stewart, Matt Millen’s life would be a lot more pleasant.
Millen was the subject of a contest on Martha Stewart’s pre-Super Bowl show Friday afternoon, and he stumped the panel of media celebrities and members of Martha’s studio audience.
First, a disclaimer is in order. I don’t watch the Martha Stewart Show. It happened to be on in the workout room I was using.
Honest.
Martha’s guests were Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, co-hosts of the Today Show on NBC – the network televising Super Bowl 43. After chatting up Matt and Meredith, Martha invited two studio guests to team with the celebrities for a quick quiz – with such hard-ball questions as “which city hosted the first Super Bowl?”
You think she’d make it easy to win a giant cheese ball.
With the score 3-3, the tiebreaker called for a toughie: the only player to win a Super Bowl with three teams. When the stumper failed to get a response, Martha gave a hint: “The initials are M-M.”
I imagined that by that time, hundreds of shoes had been flung through television screens in southeast Michigan, but the panel was still stumped.
Martha finally was forced to read the answer: “Matt Milken,” she said haltingly.
Milken? Well, close enough.
New Matt: Good news, Lions.
If the Lions draft Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford with the first pick overall, he’d like to play in Detroit.
Stafford is making promotional appearances in Tampa and was interviewed Friday morning by Dan Patrick. Stafford said he’d like to wear the Honolulu blue and silver colors of the Lions, adding he’d like to be part of the turnaround effort.
Stafford was in good spirits as he joked with host Dan Patrick (hence the name, Dan Patrick Show. Clever, huh?)
We’ll update this later.
Hall of Fame: There is no perfect system for picking a Hall of Fame, but I like the NFL’s better than the others – and not just because I was a selector in recent years until my retirement in August from The Detroit News.
None of the NFL’s selectors holds the Pro Football Hall of Fame hostage with their insane personal agenda the way the loonies do who vote in baseball. There are some dolts who won’t vote for anybody on the first ballot. They can thump their chests all they want, but all it means is they would never vote for Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Cal Ripken and Rickey Henderson on the first ballot.
Every player who makes the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s final list of 17 candidates gets a thorough, fair discussion in the room on voting day – which is always the day before the Super Bowl.
Under the Hall’s bylaws, a minimum of four players and a maximum of seven must be voted in.
The 17 finalists included two senior candidates – Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey. They were selected in August by a vote of the Hall’s senior committee. I was a member of that committee.
Selectors are not allowed to consider any factor in a candidate’s career except what he did on the field, or in his capacity as a contributor – such as an owner, official or commissioner. That eliminates any prejudice toward players who weren’t cooperative with the media, or had issues away from the field.
Here, in order, is how I rank my top seven candidates from the Hall’s 17 finalists for the Class of 2009:
1. Bruce Smith, defensive end, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins. No discussion needed. His 200 sacks make him automatic.
2. Rod Woodson, cornerback, Steelers, 49ers, Ravens, Raiders: Just short of an all-time great, but a lock with 11 Pro Bowls, 71 interceptions.
3. Bob Hayes, wide receiver, Dallas Cowboys: He should have been in years ago. He was a football player and a track star, and he changed the way teams relied on speed to stretch the field. Way overdue for indudction.
4. Derrick Thomas, linebacker/defensive end, Kansas City Chiefs: Nine Pro Bowls, 126.5 sacks, and he was a turnover-causing machine.
5. Cris Carter, wide receiver, Eagles, Vikings, Dolphins: The numbers are there – 1,101 receptions, 130 TDs. He had longevity – 16 seasons – and brilliance. In an eight-year span, from 1993-2000, he caught 778 passes – an average of 97.4 receptions per year – and scored 90 TDs. That’s Hall of Fame production.
6. Ralph Wilson, owner, Buffalo Bills: He has found a way to keep his franchise in a small, struggling community. And the Bills went to an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls.
7. Randall McDaniel, guard, Vikings, Dolphins: In 14 years he went to 12 Pro Bowls. Somebody thought he was pretty good.
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