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These Lions Are Worth Rooting For

The Associated Press

One Detroit columnist took a cheap shot at Rod Marinelli after the Lions' latest loss.

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2008

TAMPA - Misery doesn't love company.

"Sure, I want them to win," Steve Spurrier said a few weeks ago. "I want that record."

Heisman? National title? Ball coach quarterbacked the 1976 0-14 Bucs.

Now that's something.

Now come the 2008 Detroit Lions, 0-15 with one game left.

Spurrier is pulling for a win, but not because of any record.

"It seems like the American thing to do."

"They still have a game to go," said Barry Smith, a receiver for the '76 Bucs. "It only counts if you go oh-for. That's what it's all about. No, they've got to lose out."

He doesn't really want that.

"I don't think any decent human being wants anyone to go through what we did or what the Lions are going through."

Smith's son is finishing his football career at Georgia Tech. Barry Smith knows Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, a former star for Tech.

"He's a great kid," Smith said of Johnson. "It's about people."

It's easy to forget that as we laugh at the Lions.

After the Lions' 15th loss, this one to the Saints, a Detroit newspaper columnist asked Lions coach Rod Marinelli if he wished his daughter had married a better defensive coordinator. It was a cheap, needless thing to do.

I thought about Marinelli, who once ran the defensive line for the Bucs and always was a decent man. Mostly I thought about his son-in-law, Joe Barry, the Lions' defensive coordinator and a wonderful, classy guy.

Barry coached linebackers for the Bucs. He helped win a world championship.

I still remember him coming up the tunnel in Charlotte after the Bucs won a big game against the Panthers in the playoff season of 2005. Barry stopped me.

"You like apples?" he asked. "How do you like them apples?"

Good Joe Hunting.

I called Joe Barry on Monday. We played tag. He left a message Monday night. The Lions go to Green Bay for their final game. They haven't won there in 17 years. Marinelli and Barry will doubtless lose their jobs. An 0-16 season will do that.

Anyway, Joe Barry's message:

"I appreciate your call. It means a lot. Everybody in Tampa still holds a special place in my heart. Hope you're doing good, hope you're obviously doing better than I am. I feel like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. But I'm still waking up every day, fight the fight, and not letting anybody get me down ... Great hearing from you. Have a good one."

It's always about people.

It's about Joe Barry, husband, father of four, still fighting the fight.

Pull for his team if you think of it. Take it from the Spur Dog: It's the American thing to do.

Marry Christmas, Lions.

Good hunting, Joe.

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