There's execution, and then there's execution

This just in: North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un has had his #2 executed for acting the wrong way and saying dumb things? And the dude was his own uncle? Wow. Methinks Joe Biden under appreciates just how lucky he is to be the veep in the US, instead of North Korea. There's a big difference between running on a ticket, and having that ticket punched later by the head man in a final sort of way, when he deems his underling to be a nuisance. But enough about that. Onward.

Sometimes, when it comes to the Detroit Lions, it gets to be downright comical. Yeah, the team itself still provides a few yuks here and there with some of their bone-headed antics, but I'm referring more to those that continue to be the snake-oil salespeople peddling their Honolulu blue and silver magic tonic. No matter what ails the team, or more specifically Lions' fans for that matter, keep swigging their miracle elixir and you'll feel better in the morning. Step right up and drop a few more house payments cheering your team on. The kids will be OK without college and ramen noodles aren't so bad after a while. But no matter what, keep believing the glass is eternally half full and will overflow any year now. Yes, I'm talking about some of the Lions' local scribes.

They seem to be kind of like stereotypical used car salespeople. They'll offer you a vehicle that's been all spiffed up and looks great. What they won't tell you is underneath the Turtle wax, the motor and tranny have more mileage on them than your average Kardashian, the brakes are iffy, front wheels out of alignment, and sometimes various things such as the power steering/brakes/windows and heater/AC work -- and sometimes they don't. But they'll sell it to you anyway, while padding their own pockets. I understand local scribes following any team have a job to do, and it's no doubt in their best interest to put a positive spin on things. Start ripping the home team, and they might find some of the "inner access" doors that were once open to them -- have been mysteriously closed. I get that.

But still, what price should be put on objectivity? After all, telling it like it is should be their prime mission. Then again, perhaps some of these people actually believe in what they write and say. A couple years ago, some had the belief and temerity to suggest the Lions were upwardly mobile, and a Super Bowl was in sight in the near future. The lemmings were quick to line up on the cliff again. Of course the Lions promptly did yet another of their age-old death-spirals to go 4-12 last year, quickly quashing such Pollyanna-esque folly.

So here's what I consider to be an interesting question:  How do you think such scribes and talking heads would fare if they were hooked up to a polygraph and asked some pointed questions about just how good they think the Lions REALLY are? Lie-detectors aren't admissable evidence, you say? True enough. But consider this -- they've been around since at least the 1950s, before computers, smart phones, the internet, space flight, etc. Given the leaps and bounds made in the technology of all that -- how reliable do you think polygraphs are these days? Folks have been quietly improving that sort of technology as well too, you know. Trust me, the modern versions are deathly accurate. Nobody beats them any more. The only reason they aren't put in play is because a lot of lawyers would find themselves as obsolete as rotary phones and 8-track tape players. And we couldn't have that now, could we?

Nevertheless, I can think of a few local Lions' media folks that I would dearly love to see wired up to see how they fared when asked if they really believed in what they've been preaching about that team over the years.

If they passed the test -- let them write and talk on.

But if they were proven to be liars, having knowingly misled so many gullible fans for so many years, then they have failed to properly execute their sworn journalistic, much less ethical duties.

Their punishment? Send them over to North Korea to interview for a job in the "sports ministry" with Dennis Rodman's buddy.

Now THAT'S a man that takes proper execution seriously.