| 17 March 2010
Easy pun, I know. But former Lions linebacker Larry Foote did himself no favors with his "Thank God I didn't sign a longer deal there" comment (there being Detroit, obviously) on Monday, then back pedaling faster than a cornerback covering Calvin Johnson today.
"You can't really explain it until you go through it," he said. "You talk about dog days. Those were dog days, especially being a competitive person and losing. But I made some good relationships and it was good going home playing there. I'm just glad I'm back and thank God I didn't sign a longer deal there."
Reading between the lines:
"I made some quick cash, got beat out by a rookie, and couldn't get out of there fast enough."
"But if I'd have gone to any team (last year), I still would be saying, 'Thank God' I had an opportunity to come back to Pittsburgh.'"
Reading between the lines:
"Nevermind. I burned some bridges, but if I act all contrite, maybe they'll buy my so-called apology."
I'm sorry, but as someone who supposedly considers\ed himself a "Detroiter" should have known EXACTLY how his words were going to be taken back "home." The Detroit metro area gets crapped upon on a regular basis by people who have never spent any time in SE MI. The last thing we need is a well known athlete, one who grew up in the city, taking a half-assed potshot after getting paid millions to play for his hometown team.
In fact, that makes it worse than coming from some asshat know-nothing blowhard talking head or columnist who's only idea of Detroit is Metro Airport, a hotel room in Dearborn, the I-94 expressway (known as the Ford Freeway, for what it's worth), and the Ford Field pressbox.
Detroiters, for that matter, Michiganders, carry a massive chip on their shoulders over this sort of insult. Foote knows that, and if he doesn't, then he really isn't a Detroiter. Instead of being gracious over his year as a Lion, he instead decided to throw red meat to Steelers fans by dissing the Lions, and by association, this area.
Trust me, if the Lions wanted him to start, and came up with comparable cash, Foote would have stayed. They didn't, and Foote's comments came off as sour grapes from someone who ended up not coming back to the Lions due to being outplayed by a 3rd round pick from of Wisconsin, Deandre Levy.
It was a shitty thing to say. No amount of backpedaling by Foote (and he's doing plenty) is going earn back what respect Lions fans may have had for him.
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