Get off Joey's back, PLEASE

The Lions held their only open-to-the-public practice this past Saturday. Many of the 20,000+ fans in attendance booed Joey Harrington every time he made a poor play. The booing incident had been the topic of sports talk radio here in D-town for the past several days. I have heard two basic arguments for why people boo him:

1. The fans who attended are basically blue collar folks who can't afford tickets to a game. They were actually getting rid of pent up booing that had been there for three years. They usually booed at their TV sets, but this was the first time they could convey it at Joey directly.

2. The fans who attended are basically blue collar fans who can't "connect" with Joey and his west coast tree hugging Oregonian ways. They don't like his happy go lucky personality, his "life goes on" after a loss attitude. They feel he doesn't care whether he wins or loses, doesn't share their passion, and doesn't try hard enough to connect with the fans, to be one of the guys. He is too high-cultured, too caviar and champagne, he plays piano -- he is not one of us. According to this argument, fans are a bunch of dull-headed bigots who don't want someone who is not like them representing them (unless he plays lights out dynamic Pro Bowl football) .

I have a few things to say to those fans regardless of their reason for booing him:

Joey has improved statistically every season. He is on a steady, albeit slow learning curve. His QB rating has improved, his mistakes have gone down, his TD/INT ratio has gotten better, and qualitatively, he appears to be improving his game management. He has made progress despite not having consistent weapons around him. People forget, he never had the weapons he will have this season. I expect him to make a huge leap this year, now that he has 3 seasons under his belt, and a wealth of talent around him.

It would also be nice if his coach, who gets credit for being such a good guy, would stop pulling the rug out from underneath him, show him unwavering support, tell the fans to knock if off, and together get the job done.

Joey doen't deserve the criticism he is getting, and people who have a problem with his "personality" better focus on whether that is a legitimate beef, or veiled bigotry. I don't care what his proclivities are, but apparently, too many Lions fans are in the Stone Ages. For that matter, too many members of the media as well. I happen to be straight, but I am really offended by the "gay" jokes on sports talk radio, essentially homophobic rants by hosts and callers alike, who make the implication that Joey is "soft," or that he isn't a guy that others are "comfortable with in the locker room."

Those are fighting words, because they are making veiled accusations, which is wrong to do on several levels: (1) There is nothing wrong with being gay, so there is no reason to accuse someone of being gay, (2) It is extremely bigoted and stereotypical to accuse Joey of being gay just because he is a guy who appreciates the finer things on life, and has a life beyond football, (3) let him be gay or straight or questioning, or whatever....what does that have to do with it? Can he play football? (4) Finally, all these callers and radio hosts (you heard me Spineless Spindler) who accuse him of being soft --you are so wrong!!! Have you seen him shy away from contact when he is running toward the 1st down marker? Haven't you paid attention to how quickly he jumps up and pats the defender on the butt after being crunched from the blindside on another Jeff Backus missed assignment? Have you been paying attention to his consecutive games streak?

If you're a true Lions fan, you'll really want the team to succeed. Get on board, ride the wave, and see what happens. In a worse case scenario, Joey sinks, the team stinks, and we trade our number 1 in 06 for Phillip Rivers (Gargia is NOT the answer). We've waited this long for a winner, let Joey show us if he can be this year's Drew Brees. And let Mooch prove he can really coach. Otherwise, we'll be looking to replace him, as well.