An Apology

Yesterday I admitted that I’d probably suck at working the draft. I said I would be the Matt Millen of Matt Millen’s.

I was wrong for making that comparison, and today would like to publicly appologize to myself.

Matt Millen is the Matt Millen of Matt Millen’s.

He is the only person, in the world, that could get away with running a team into the ground through years of sucking at scouting and drafting and then somehow continue to find work analyzing the very functions of football that he failed at. Matt Millen is truly one of a kind. There is no way, even with the best of training that I could do that.

Recently Millen joked about his affinity for picking wide receivers and how most of them flourished only after Millen left the team or they left Millen. I’m not a Lions fan. Not even close. Since I still remember the Barry Sanders days of football, I really didn’t completely mind watching them self-destruct. But if I were a Lions fan, watching the man who practically single-handedly killed my team laugh about the mistakes would probably make me very ill.

And then there’s the announcement that Millen believes the 15 minutes combine interviews are a waste of time. I don’t have the exact quote in front of me, so any Millen supporters who want to ream me with “that’s not what he said” go right ahead. I understand that players preparing for the combine are coached up in nearly every aspect. They practice all the drills and they practice the interviews.

In the past year I have been on countless job interviews. When preparing for the interviews for the jobs I really wanted, you best believe I practiced. I thought about the types of questions I would be asked, prepared my answers and made notes. Why wouldn’t a college kid, about to head to the biggest job interview of his life get some coaching. That’s nothing new. And for Millen to assert that the interviews were a waste because the kids were coached too much is a joke. Maybe they were a waste for him because he didn’t ask anything besides, “What’s your name?” and “Can you play wide receiver?”

Let’s all go ask Dez Bryant if he was prepared for Ireland’s infamous question last year about the possibility of Bryant’s mom being a prostitute. Not that I’m condoning that question, but let’s be real here, a player practices for the interview, you practice for interviewing the player. If Millen couldn’t figure out that, well then, frankly, it’s no surprise that the Lions are where they are now.

But this is not a bash Millen article. It’s an I’m sorry Jayme article.

I know me. I know that I am better than Millen. Just ask the cab driver who drove Alex and I home from Sherlock’s in Dallas. I grilled him like it was my job. And if I can figure that out, then I must be at least one step ahead of Millen.

So, me, myself and I, I am very very sorry. You would not be the Matt Millen of Matt Millen’s. You’d be mediocre. And that’s heads above Millen.

Side note, this post would make an excellent drinking game. Drink every time you read Matt Millen. We like to be interactive here at the Lounge.