What I’m about to tell you is awesome, and, no, I don’t think I’m overselling it.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell recently called the team’s press room “the dungeon of doom’’ because of the negative attitude of the reporters who toil there daily.
The Lions are 1-7 after finishing 11-5 last season. In 10 of the past 15 seasons, they have lost 10 or more games. That includes the 0-16 debacle in 2008. They haven’t won a division title since 1993.
That’s going to rub off on anyone. You hang out with skunks long enough, you start smelling like one. But according to Caldwell, the reporters are rotting from the inside out. Hence his “dungeon of doom’’ nickname for the media work room.
“(The negativity is) the first thing that I think you notice here,’’ he said.
Caldwell said Detroit is a more negative media market than anywhere he has worked.
“There’s no question,’’ he said. “That’s a fact. I’m giving you the facts. Not every single person, I’m not trying to cover the entire group, because that would be unfair, but I’m just talking about overall.’’
I’m not sure what Caldwell wants from Lions beat reporters, who by all rights should wear the vacant look of people who have seen too much carnage. Wait, yes, I do. He wants reporters to cover the team as if it were the local high school’s squad. It has been a rough season, but wasn’t Homecoming against the Bears great? Yes, coach, it was.
Just make sure you pay close attention to the president of the booster club. He wants your butt fired.
