It's a lesson that should be learned by all fans of sports franchises.
All teams lose for a reason. The more difficult part is trying to figure out what that reason is, and how to fix it.
For example, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs were awful in the 1950s and early 1960s because they were slow to integrate fully, giving opponents a huge advantage in acquiring talent. Closer to my home, the Buffalo Bills probably suffered at times because Ralph Wilson was too loyal to certain members of his organization. Loyalty isn't a sin, but it can get in the way. The current Buffalo Sabres team changed the culture of the franchise by tanking in an attempt to draft Connor McDavid. It didn't work, and the Sabres are still paying a price for that years later.
All of that brings us to "The Lions Finally Roar," by Bill Morris.
The Lions won a championship in 1957, the end of a nice run in that decade which is ancient history to some football fans. Since then Detroit has been better than mediocre occasionally, average at times, worst than that more often, aimless most of the time.
So what's gone on with the Lions over the years? Morris answers that question here. If I were writing a blurb for an advertisement, I'd describe the book as "wildly entertaining." Because it is.
The biggest problem through most of those years, according to Morris, is the business practices used by owner William Clay Ford. He's the grandson of a guy named Henry Ford, who you might have heard about - particularly in the Detroit area. The Ford make a stockpile or seven of money over the years, leaving Bill Ford living a rather privileged life. He had a role at Ford, but he didn't play the internal politics game particularly well there, and wanted to something a little more fulfilling on the side.
Therefore, he eventually decided to buy the Detroit Lions, the local NFL franchise. The problem over the years that he relied on his friends, who may or may not have known much about how to put together a winner in the NFL. Mostly it was the latter. Ford and Company were often making it up as they went along, and it showed.
A major stumbling block was represented by the 22-year tenure of Russ Thomas, the veteran general manager of the team. He became something of a scapegoat for the team's problems, and probably deserved it. Thomas was a tough negotiator who didn't seem to realize that you need to spend some money (relatively speaking) to earn some money in the football business. While Morris doesn't say so, based on the era it is certainly possible that Thomas received bonuses for keeping the payroll down.
The Lions kept churning through coaches during Ford's tenure. While most of the players thought he was a nice enough person, it was quickly obvious that Bill wasn't going to figure out how to get it right. Some of the team's best players - Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson - retired early rather than put up with the losing any longer. Meanwhile, Detroit's fans remained loyal during those years, even though the team was on a shrinking list of franchises that never reached a Super Bowl.
Just to add some drama to the story, Morris has some fascinating details about life among the executives at the Ford Motor Company. There's probably a good book out there about that part of the story, but Morris does a fine job of summarizing the situation here. Let's just say Shakespeare would be proud of some of the twists and turns of the story.
And the Detroit area is a member of the supporting cast in the story. The city fell on some hard economic times after 1957; they didn't call it "The Rust Belt" for nothing. The Lions were one of the few unifying forces in a city that became greatly divided along racial lines.
After all that, Morris - the son of an associate of Bill Ford - probably was relieved to see the Lions rebound in recent years. They reached the NFC Championship game in 2024, shortly before this book was published, and they have competent people in place in the key positions under ownership that is allowing them to do their jobs.
Morris has written about the history of Detroit in the past, and even sat down with his father and recorded a long interview about the senior Morris's dealings with Ford. His writing style works extremely well. He's like most of the fans there. Morris isn't afraid to have fun with with the horrible turns the franchise has taken - it's almost felt like a curse was in place at times - but there's a rooting interest for for Detroit and its Lions too.
There probably won't be a more entertaining book about football written this year, and even non-Lions fans will enjoy every page. I certainly did.
Five stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualified purchases.)
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