It is interesting to note, at least to a feeble mind such as my own, how the Detroit professional sports teams have changed ownership in recent years -- and gone splat. The long-time patriarchs having gone on to the billionaire club in the sky -- or somewhere -- what used to be proud, sort of, franchises, have quickly gone downhill.
Consider the Detroit Pistons. Once owned by Bill Davidson, who had the decency and generosity to build and fund a new arena (The Palace) out of his own pocket, passed on and left the works to his daughter Karen. She in turn, as kids often do, decided she didn't need the hassle and cashed out. Enter Tom Gores, originally a Michigan native, to purchase the Davidson enterprise. During the elder Davidson's tenure as owner, the Pistons won a few NBA titles and were pretty much contenders in most years. Now they stink, and the near future doesn't look any better. The Palace, still a world class facility, sits idle because Gores, in his infinite wisdom, moved the team back to Detroit -- where he can pay rent to play at Little Caesar's Arena -- built for a hockey team.
Decades ago, one Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Red Wings. Under his leadership, the Wings went from bottom feeders to winning a handful of Stanley Cups. Then he died. Enter the kids that inherited. After a record-setting quarter century of always making the playoffs, the Wings are now among the plankton of the NHL.
Same goes for the Detroit Tigers, which the elder Ilitch bought many moons ago. No, they never won a World Series under his watch, but he wasn't afraid to spend a ton of dough trying to get the best players available, and the Tigers were always at least contenders. Fast forward upon Mr. Ilitch's demise. The Tigers are in full-blown rebuild mode. That translates into terrible. The kids have managed to totally screw up the baseball team as well.
Of course, that leaves the Detroit Lions. The original William Clay Ford closed the deal for ownership on the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, way back in 1963. A dark day indeed, in more ways than one.
For the next half century, fifty+ -- count-em -- FIFTY+ years the Lions were likely the sorriest franchise in all of American professional sports. A laughingstock. It's one thing for 52 Super Bowls to have been played and the Lions never even getting there. But it's another when they've only won one -- count it -- ONE playoff game over all that time. Pitiful.
Alas, dear William Clay passed on as well. So what happened?
That left the team in the hands of, wait for it, his now 90+ year old widow Martha and their daughters, not exactly spring chickens themselves. Apparently, son Mustang Billy is too busy trying to run the Ford Motor Company to be bothered with a football team.
The daughters.
Martha Jr. aka "Muffy" was supposedly an academic "high achiever". That's nice.
Sheila was a state tennis champ and an honor student at Yale. Great.
Elizabeth married a money manager and stock broker. Well, duh.
Taken collectively, their wisdom regarding running an NFL team probably approaches my own when it comes to brain surgery or designing a spaceship to travel to Mars. Would you want ME operating on your head or be willing to blast off on a rocket ship I drew up the specs for? If so, you'd fit right in with the hard-core fans the Lions seem to still have. Hmmm. Maybe massive brain surgeries (lobotomies) are in order there as well. A thought.
And dear Willie Jr. mentioned above, seems to have been torn over the years as to what his calling was/is. He was into Buddhism, ecological issues, and had over a dozen jobs while bouncing around the Ford Motor Co. What to do indeed?
Then finally an offer he couldn't refuse. Run the whole car company. It's good to be a male heir sometimes.
Bottom line? If you thought the Lions had clueless leadership over the the past 50 years under the elder Willie, the current ownership makes him look like a genius.
One of Martha Sr.'s first moves was to name a President of the Lions. Who did she pick? An "estate manager", a guy who's expertise was in handling wills, trust funds, and the like. And a guy who freely admitted he knew nothing about running a professional football franchise. Heckuva move Martha.
All in all, Detroit sports fans should feel grateful for what the former owners of their teams were able to provide. Championships here and there, and at least contenders most years, not counting the Lions.
Because now that the next generation has taken over, it's all gone to the proverbial hell in a hand basket.
Know when you should be scared if you're a professional sports fan from any particular city?
When as team such as the historically sad-sack Lions represent your best hope across the sports spectrum at respectability.
I mean -- how low can you go?
Brrrr.
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