Matt Millen has been general manager for the Lions since 2001, and in that time the team has only won 31 games, set the record for the most consecutive road losses, have gone through a handful of coaches, and inspired a “Fire Millen” movement that included fan marches calling for Millen to be tarred, feathered and run out of town.

A few days ago I made a declaration on Twitter that I would not be rooting for the Lions until either Millen was fired or the sole owner, William Clay Ford Sr., passed ownership of the team along to his son. I now can cheer for my hometown team again, as this morning I was thrilled to learn that Millen had, in fact, been let go, after a dismal 0-3 start to the season and no hope of things getting better.

Might the end of the disastrous Millen era be a harbinger of good things to come? Most sports fans know about the infamous Chicago Cubs “Billy Goat” curse, which has supposedly prevented the team from winning a World Series over the last century. The Detroit Lions have their own curse, however, known as the “Curse of Bobby Layne.” Bobby Layne was a remarkably talented All-Pro quarterback who led the Lions to three championships in his eight years with the team. After he got injured, the Lions traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the story goes, Layne was so upset at the Lions the he vowed they wouldn’t win another championship “in fifty years.”

That fifty year deadline is up in 11 days. With the curse lifted, will the Lions be able to turn it around? I have my doubts, but even so, I’ll be rooting for them.

The most apt description for MySpace I’ve ever heard is that it’s like a terrible club with gaudy decorations, expensive drinks and awful music – but your friends hang out there, so you find yourself hanging out there, too.

Today was “International Delete Your MySpace Account Day.” I understand the reasoning here, but for me, it’s hindered by one important fact: MySpace is the most popular social network in the world. It’s important to understand MySpace because of its size and popularity. Like it or not, MySpace isn’t going anywhere, a fact that becomes especially evident when you compare it to the technically-superior competitors that have come and gone as MySpace has thrived.

So, although I was tempted to delete that rarely-visited, poorly-maintained private profile of mine, I ultimately decided to keep it. I’ll endure the drawbacks and hope MySpace gets its act together as other networks catch fire.

I’m a hockey fan, and grew up near Detroit (aka “Hockeytown“) where hockey is a very big deal. However, Detroit is a unique market, because people there actually care about the NHL. In most other places in the United States, hockey is an extremely niche product, and it’s struggling. People don’t understand the rules, they don’t grow up playing it, and games are difficult to come by on television.

Enter YouTube. Here’s a service that allows passionate fans of the NHL to share their favorite hockey moments on blogs, MySpace pages, messageboards, and other virtual meeting places. They’re saying, “I care so much about this sport I want you to watch it too.” The NHL is essentially hamstringing its most effective spokespeople!

I realize companies are still getting acclimated to this whole “social media” thing. But the “social” part is what makes it special – Otherwise, in this case, it’s just tiny, low resolution video of games that have already occurred. The NHL needs to realize this and enable its fans to act as evangelists for the league. It’s a situation where everyone wins.

UPDATE: Apparently the reports were wrong, and the NHL has not asked YouTube to change its embed policy.

My new blog, Speaking Sports, will focus entirely on (you guessed it) sports. I’ll confine all of my sports content there, and focus more on other PR matters here. Go and give the new blog a look!

My role will involve working with members of the media, directing them where to go, answering questions and the like. I’m excited, and I’m genuinely interested in meeting others who are professional communicators by trade.

I was in Detroit a day or two before the 2005 All Star (baseball) Game, and I thought the city looked great. I was within walking distance from Comerica Park, and there were a lot of people and a lot of energy. I saw some positive PR for Detroit come as a result. It was good for Detroit, a city where good PR can be scarce. Hopefully Super Bowl XL will bring similar results.

You’ve got to feel bad for the Vikings’ new owner, Zygi Wilf, who bought the team a scant four months ago.

To help repair the tarnished image of his team, Wilf has made attempts to become more transparent, making himself available to media, government officials, and sponsors. He’s also speaking directly to fans around the state. In response to the scandal, Wilf is working to adopt a tough new team code of conduct and promises to punish any players involved.

The Minnesota Vikings are making all the right moves in response to this crisis. Time and time again, Americans prove they’re willingness to "forgive and forget" as long as the person or organization who made the mistake is willing to be honest, up-front, and attempt to atone for their wrongdoing. Zygi Wilf’s doing all three.

Even non-sports fans remember the high-profile Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial. Even worse for the league was the Detroit Pistons/Indiana Pacers brawl in which several of Indiana’s players charged into the stands and assaulted fans. Additionally, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reports that some corporate customers of certain teams are "uncomfortable with the appearance of some players," i.e. tattoos, baggy clothes, flashy jewelry, etc.

To combat this, the NBA launched two new initiatives. The first is getting an excessive amount of attention compared to the second, which is far more important and in the long run has a good chance of improving the public and corporate perception of the league.

The first, of course, is the much-discussed NBA dress code, which some players have vocally decried as everything from "basically retarded" to "racist." I think this is most likely an initial knee-jerk reaction, since the dress code really isn’t that strict. It’s essentially "business casual," which is more lenient than the dress code *I* have to abide by at my job. (And I’m not complaining.)

The second initiative is the ambitious "NBA CARES," which emphasizes charity and volunteerism among NBA players. It sounds like it has the potential to make a genuine difference in the way the league’s players are viewed. Most importantly, it looks like it will have substance, which will be the key to its success. The NBA needs to show the public that its players are good, likeable people, the kind of players worth rooting for. While a dress code certainly won’t hurt, programs like NBA CARES will go much further in reinforcing that belief with the public and corporations.

I can imagine that Formula One officials are very red-faced this week. This weekend’s F1 "race" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was nothing less than a disaster, with 14 of the 20 total participants withdrawing from the race at the last minute, citing safety concerns. According to the Indianapolis Star, virtually everyone involved with Formula One blamed each other for the negative turn of events, which is why no compromise to continue the race was reached. Fans, who paid "an average" of $100 a ticket plus travel expenses, were understandably upset, and a number of attendees threw bottles and other debris onto the track to illustrate their disappointment.

This is inexcusable on F1′s part, and I have no doubt that they will pay the price. A sports league cannot treat its fans in this manner, especially ones in F1′s precarious position. Let’s face it- American race fans don’t need F1. They’ve got NASCAR, which, by all accounts, treats its fans like gold. If Formula One keeps up the antics it showed this weekend, it’ll find itself locked out of the United States, and I doubt many Americans will shed a tear.