"William Clay Ford Sr., overseer of the Detroit Lions, somehow managed to land in the financial red zone. The Lions were the only one of the 32 NFL franchises to lose money during the 2010 season.

Forbes has handed Ford Sr. the honor of being the worst owner in America's most popular sport. The Lions franchise value has gone down 3 percent during the past five years -- despite a beautiful new home stadium -- and the Lions have won just 23 percent of their games with that 0-16 season thrown in for good measure."

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201111/nfls-worst-owner-over-last-five-years

Got this friend of mine who talks Lions football with me and he is the optimistic one between us (what a surprise) and he is always talking to me about the "turn around" that is about to happen. Which is fine and all, I've been here since the season started and I think you guys know where I stand as far as "turn around" is concerned. But then I came up with the idea of. "If there was a turn around, wouldn't it fit perfect with a Hollywood feature film. To have one of the worst teams in all of major pro-sports to make a drastic turn around to become SuperBowl Champions."  Kind of a cliche, with all the '90s Disney sports movies and whatnot but to me it would be intriguing  to see a movie about my very own Detroit Lions and based off a true story. We tossed names around and one name that got constant attention was Billy Bob Thornton to play the role of Jim Schwartz, kind of older guy to be playing Coach Schwartz but if you hear him talk he has almost the same dialect as him. But my question to the community is that if there was a movie about the current/future Detroit Lions, who would you cast for who?

We seen the Lions lose a lot of close games this season and people called it "improvement", even during games where we should of won, the Lions managed to put up another “L”. A lot people said the Lions are improving because “we are no longer getting blown out”, “now we are actually playing hard”, “we are beating teams at one point in the game” or “here I have a bunch of stats to throw in your face to show otherwise” but still losing. Everything mentioned should be expected not something to get excited about or even defend but as the loyal fans that we are, we accepted it. Throughout the season I seen it as the “Same O’ Lions”: ‘01 and ’06 always come to mind, when playing hard throughout the whole season and losing a lot of close games to finish with a staggering record of a few wins and losses in double figures becomes acceptable for Lions' fans. This season, having a record of 2-10 and having memories of past seasons where there were similar results, I have seen it all before. Even at 2-10 people said this team was one of the better teams in the NFC or even NFL, how? At least 8 of the 10 losses were all decided between a TD and FG, good teams manage to pull out at least half of them and the ones they are leading in, in the dying seconds, good teams hardly ever choke. The Lions did the opposite and at that point in the season the record spoke for itself and not to mention, the Lions were not the only team with a losing record to lose a lot of close games this season. In my eyes, that was not improvement.

All I ask from this team is to get wins and not worry about who you lost due to injury and who is replacing those individuals, just play football and make plays when you are called upon. At the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, this team did not do that for the first 3 quarters of the season. Same ‘O Lions. But I will tell you what the Lions did do that I haven’t seen them do in a long time and that is keep playing until the final game and get wins in those final games.

I compare this season to ‘06 season a lot because I felt that team played with a lot heart throughout the season and only had a few wins to show for it. And even though that team didn’t pull out as many victories at the end of the season, they still fought to the bitter end and lost some close games to some premiere teams at the time. In week 17 with nothing to lose, those Lions went into hostile territory in Dallas, TX against a playoff bound Cowboys team and managed to win in a shootout against one of the leagues best offensive teams with a career backup QB, an XFL 3rd string WR, and one highly touted WR still trying to earn his stripes. I thought to myself, “Wow, this season was heart wrenching but they put their balls to the wall and finished the season with a bang. If they come back healthy with a few improvements, they could have a winning record next year and possibly playoffs.” That team did come back healthy the next season with a few improvements and managed to go 6-2 to begin the season and then the Same O’ Lions came back took that team away from me and everything went way down hill from there.

Even with the final victories in this season, I’m still going to be skeptical but I’m still proud they managed to finally overcome the adversities of a long and grueling season. But one thing I’m not going to do is let this team sucker me in again until I see more “improvement” and more wins at the beginning of the season, play consistently in the middle, and finish a season off strong. I’m actually pretty anxious to see what this team does during the off-season because like the previous teams I feel like this team could be a couple players away from being a winning team and maybe a playoff team. I’m just glad we didn’t tank the season, it does nothing for morale and then we get stuck with another highly paid first rounder at a position we probably don’t need.

The Lions were the Same O’ Lions but with everything shown here at the end, they do get my nod of approval and now we can talk about “improvement”.

Tads had a nice run down of the open practice and no complaints here on his look at the team, (I would just type up a reply but I think my cover on the game is going to be a little long).

Here are a few pointers I thought stood out to me:

First thing I notice when I seen the 'Stones walk on to the court was how slim both Ben Wallace and Charlie V. looked. Both looked like they had shed at least 20 lbs over the summer and reports were coming in that both had spent a lot of time working together to achieve better fitness. So seeing them for the first time (and not even remembering that they were working out over the off-season) was really encouraging.

What seems to be the talk of the weekend was Rasheed's surprise appearance (way to ruin the good surprise DetroitPistons.com Live Stream) but runner up to that surprise was John Kuester's ability to run the court on layup drills and watching a 55 year old man showing the young whippersnappers how it's done was a sight to see.

I know on paper it looks bad to have 10 guards on the roster but when you see it in person it really looks worse.

Rebounding will be an issue.

From here I'll rehash some points and a few that haven't been mentioned:

Gordon looked great. Dribbled into a few doubles early on but had his composure throughout the practice and was simply hitting almost every shot he took. People lost faith in him last year but at the very beginning of last season he looked like a steal for only a measly 4yr/50 million dollar contract. I'm willing to just chalk it up as a bad luck season if he can spot up and hit shots on a consistent basis like he was doing yesterday.

Charlie V. wasn't bad all-around, he did put his body out there to get a couple tough screens. But ya, besides some good o' KG type screens, he did sputter around for the majority of the game. He was indeed destroyed by Maxiell because he decided not to go strong enough and the time he did decide to go up strong to hole Maxiell again was there waiting for him.

Wilcox had his few flashes in the pan, he made a beautiful 12-14 ft turnaround jumper with the man all over him and had one monster dunk over a fumbled rebound by the defense. Other than that, again like Charlie, sputtered for most of the game.

Monroe looked out of rhythm and at times he did look lost. He saved face with some great hustle plays and good decisions on both defense and offense. Passing was good but he did make a terrible pass on the fast break, where he should of just took it to the rack for an easy two. On defense he was decent but hard to really gauge when there are no offensive threats to test his ability.

Stuckey: just transparent. Took his game to the hole when in trouble and looked comfortable taking his shots outside on the perimeter (non of them hit). But nothing really different about him.

Bynum looks like our best player as he just continues to perform at a high level. Sneaky on defense, picking pockets, and intercepting weak side passes. On offense he has extended his shooting game to long mid-range jump shots including a tough shot made over Stuckey.

Daye looked great as well. He looked comfortable and fluid, something we didn't see towards the end of the Summer League. He drew a charge at the beginning of the game and from there he was making one difficult shot after another something we really haven't seen him do any time last year or during the summer.

Jonas hustle play got him to come away with a few rebounds that weren't intended for him and his defense was solid as usual. He's looking to extend his shot out in 3 point territory as the majority of shots came from there and made a good number of them.

Terrico showing a nice little shooting touch at mid-range and did show some athleticism with an alley-oop he barely broke a sweat for. I noticed him directing traffic on offense with and with out the ball which I thought was kind of impressive for a rookie to take the some initiative like he did.

Summers looking more and more like a spot up shooter and nothing more. Had trouble creating his own shot off the dribble and when did create off the dribble he threw up a bad shot. Spot up shooting from the corners was really pretty good but other than that...

The "other" Hamilton, will be off the roster. No "surprise" Will Bynum in this year's Open Practice. Made bad decisions across the board and was undressed by Bynum with no mercy later on in the game.

Hope that gives you a little more insight on some of the other players that haven't gotten a lot of press, Thank you and Go Sparty! :D

From Henry Abbott:

NBA referees will have more reasons to issue technical fouls next season.

At the referees' annual meeting in Jersey City, N.J., on Thursday, the league announced the guidelines for technical fouls will expand to include "overt" player reactions to referee calls.

Referees have been instructed to call a technical for:

• Players making aggressive gestures, such as air punches, anywhere on the court.

• Demonstrative disagreement, such as when a player incredulously raises his hands, or smacks his own arm to demonstrate how he was fouled.

• Running directly at an official to complain about a call.

• Excessive inquiries about a call, even in a civilized tone.

[Ed. note: click-through to read the rest of the article, and consider this a friendly reminder not to cut-and-paste articles into FanPosts or FanShots ... -- Matt]

Detroit Pistons

Players: Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon

Legends: Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer

The same principle used with the Cavs applies here: Detroit's legend duo of Zeke and Laimbeer, same as the original arcade twosome in 1993, will undoubtedly appeal to Pistons fans more than the current crew … although I'm somewhat stunned that there are four current Pistons instead of three and that Ben Wallace isn't one of them.

(As mentioned before in another post, No Ben Wallace is an extreme disappointment but I think Isiah and Bill making a comeback kind of turns me on...sorry.)

Atlanta Hawks

Players: Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Mike Bibby

Legends: Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb

I voted for Jamal Crawford over Mike Bibby in my March exercise, but it's hard to quibble too much when the Hawks have such a tasty lineup. Smith was born to be in this game, and the presence of Nique and Spud as legends gives Atlanta three irresistibly explosive options for a game of two-on-two.


Boston Celtics

Players: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen

Legends: Larry Bird and Kevin McHale

You think Doc Rivers has problems in real life with all the big names (and egos) the Celtics have stockpiled? Try choosing only two Celts at a time from this six-pack. Boston's roster is one of the nine that include four current players instead of three because fan voting was so tight. Combine that with the fact that Bird was never in the arcade versions of Jam, and you can understand why the game's designers didn't try to wedge Shaquille O'Neal on this roster, too. (Although we have to believe that Shaq, in a nod to his l-o-n-g history with Jam, is among the hidden characters who can be unlocked.)

Miami Heat

Players: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh

Legends: Glen Rice and Rony Seikaly

Back in March, when EA invited fans to vote for the three-man squads they wanted to see in Jam, these were the other Heaters on the ballot besides Wade: Michael Beasley, Jermaine O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers and Quentin Richardson. Don't think South Floridians will mind, in other words, that the game's designers took the liberty of choosing LeBron and Bosh for them. (P.S. Rice and Seikaly repped Miami in the first arcade version in '93, which I'm told is indeed the main reason they were selected over, say, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway in the legends spots. Nostalgia.)

Chicago Bulls

Players: Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer

Legends: Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman

Jordan's status as the face of "NBA 2K11" means he can't appear as a Bulls legend, either, which is going to crush some gamers no matter what the consolation choices are. But I would think the six Bulls you can choose, with Pippen and Rodman included, should soften the blow at least a little. Right?

Orlando Magic

Players: Dwight Howard, Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis

Legends: Nick Anderson and Scott Skiles

Howard can't foul out in this virtual world and doesn't have to shoot free throws. (Neither, for that matter, does "legend" Anderson.) And with gritty, gutty Skiles available, perhaps you can look past the fact that neither of Orlando's other present-day top guards -- Jameer Nelson or J.J. Redick -- made the cut. The Magic, quite simply, are going to be a Jam handful.

New York Knicks

Players: Al Harrington, Danilo Gallinari and Amare Stoudemire

Legends: Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and John Starks

Harrington's free-agent defection to Denver, like the aforementioned trade involving Courtney Lee, came too late for Al to be removed from the Knicks' roster on the Wii version and replaced by a lefty we can't resist: Anthony Randolph. The consolation here: New York has three legends -- more than any other team -- along with Amare. And who doesn't want to see Ewing and Orlando pupil Dwight Howard go at it?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...=NBAJam-100907
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Just posted some of the teams that mattered, the rest of the East are in the link.

A few disappointments and mainly my main disappointment is that some of these teams got shafted of their original "Legends" and replaced them with a mascot or something. Something I would of liked to see as far as the "Legends" are concerned would be to see each team get at least 4 or 5 of them from the teams' past (doesn't have to be from NBA Jam's past).

For example: The Bucks are one of those teams that got shafted of their original NBA Jam roster. So instead of replacing them with a mascot they should of got rights for Oscar Robinson, Kareem Abdul Jabar, etc. to list as their "Legends".

And for teams that got their original roster back liked the Pistons, I would of liked to see them get a few more "Legends" that were not in the original game like Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman (he's on the Bulls roster but it should be Horace Grant not Rodman), Vinny Johnson, Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, etc. Doesn't have to be all those names but a few more Legends would of been nice.

Don't want to get everyone's hopes up but I thought this was a nice little touch made on the new Madden. I haven't played a Madden game in a couple of years now, so I don't know if this is a new feature or not (apparently, each team gets their own Superbowl celebration). Now if only they can actually make something out of this season in real life on a real football field I think every Lions' fan (not just the ones who play video games) will have something to celebrate.

Link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-zfyHy4C4U

And yes it does bring a tear to my eyes but will not make me dish out 60 bucks.

Don't want to get everyone's hopes up but I thought this was a nice little touch made on the new Madden. I haven't played a Madden game in a couple of years now, so I don't know if this is a new feature or not (apparently, each team gets their own Superbowl celebration). Now if only they can actually make something out of this season in real life on a real football field I think every Lions fan (not just the ones who play video games) will have something to celebrate.

Link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-zfyHy4C4U

I know haven't been to the site that much lately so I might be late on this but has anyone heard of the Europe prospect Ryan Richards?

The guy is a 6'10  (6'11 in shoes) powerforward who is very versitile; he can ball handle, shoot (from beyond 15ft), he finishes under the rim, decent post game and footwork. He rebounds, he's athletic, he's quick and fast for his size but his defense is a little below par. DraftExpress doesn't have him drafted but they say he has had some very impressive workouts during the combine. 

He (just turned) 19 years old and is a little light at 225 lbs.

Here is a little highlight video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiANnojm34I

Who is he and can we get a more in-depth review on him?

Worth a 2nd round pick or not?

Could you see him helping the Pistons in the future?

Well, the tourney is underway and I don't see any "Official" March Madness fanpost, thread, or anything so I decided to put one up for the die hard college hoops fans. I think I will get things started by saying I can't believe Robert Morris is taking down Villanova right now, I had Nova going into the elite eight but this morning out of pure instinct  I cut them short in the Sweet Sixteen (thank god). Otherwise things are going exactly as planned. :::evil grin:::

...with SB Nation's set up. Not sure if this is right place to put this (as far as it being a fanpost) but I have been having difficulty almost everyday trying to sign on to here. I don't if anyone else is experiencing the same problem but every time I try to sign on at the top right hand corner of the screen the advertising banner blocks the sign in menu. Today it got me itching because usually if this happens I just have to refresh the page once and then the menu overlaps the banner but today I had to refresh it like four times and then close my browser and reopen it just for the banner to get the hell out the way.

Don't know (I doubt only because it's probably the way the site is set up) if Matt W or Packey can fix this but if you can maybe reposition the advertising banner or something. 

I'm using Firefox, so that might be the problem but I find Firefox to be more computer friendly using this site than IE...but maybe not anymore.

Leaving put back or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

For those of you that don't know (who doesn't), The Pistons haven't won in Utah since November of 2002. But Utah has had Atlanta's number for 17 YEARS! Holy hell. Maybe not worth a fanpost but I thought this was something that was worth mentioning. Atlanta did end this streak last night against Utah (with a final score of 105 to 100). Let's hope our current streak with Utah doesn't last that long, one thing is certain, Utah does NOT like losing on their home court, (I wish the Pistons were that determined).

Yahoo! article

Boxscore