Get some facts and come back and seebe. Get some facts and come back
and Seebee. Don't fill up salaries or other things. Get some facts and
come back and Seebee. You can't handle the true now told our players you
need a bit more like a dog. We don't need a bunch of cats
in here. Looking in the mirror, I look good. I got my
extra bands on, I got my other shoes. Be a doll. We
don't need no mouns. We don't need no cats. We need more dolls.
Why you're not a detain Oh you're not. At the time, we
weren't good. There's no sense of asking me things about the game. I'm
telling you we laid an egg. So I'm not gonna break it down for
you. He sucks. He sucked. He laid an egg. That's all
I have to say. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna break it
down for you. Nothing went well for us. It's on us. We
have to figure it out every way. SHOWDA, it is showtime. Welcome
on a Thursday. Glad you're with us throughout the great state of Michigan.
On Exes and Bros. We're with you Monday through Friday, six until nine
Flint, Cadillac, Grand Rapids, Grayling, Gaylord, Midland, Saganaw,
Bay City, Pataski, Charlevoid, Traverse City. We are there for you
to talk about anything that might be on your mind here on Exus and Bros.
On a day to day basis really fortunate to be able to bring in
this next guest. He's as admired as maybe any writer who has ever written
in the state of Michigan. I mean, there are certain writers where you
look at and you say, you know what, I believe him. That's
not always easy. A lot of people feel like they have been fortunate to
work with a legend like Mike O'Hara, who's in the Michigan Sports Hall of
Fame, and rightfully so, he's been doing as well as anybody. From
nineteen sixty six through two thousand and eight he was of the Detroit News and
after that time with the Lions in on Lions dot Com, and he's been
a Liones beat writer since nineteen seventy seven. He has served his country and
he has served this area so gracefully and so well, and he joins us
now that he's going to retire on Monday, and rightfully so Michael Harris with
us here on Exis and Bros. Michael, thank you, congratulations. It's
so well deserved. How did you know it was time? It just felt
that way, And I think I was probably a year late. I probably
should have retired last year, not this year. Yeah, not this year.
It's just the things that were easy to do were quite as easy,
and just just just had that feeling that it's time to go. But now
I guess I think I kind of got caught up in the new organization and
all that thought. I could just see what they had in this last year,
and it turned out they had a lot, And I don't regret staying
another year. I really don't. Yeah, I don't think anybody who reads
your synopsis, your breakdowns, your analysis feels that either what have you enjoyed
most about your career? Well, it's you know, I'm not a player,
so I can't, but it's really similar to that for us. You
know, it's it's the test room, you know, kind of to come
to work and the the insults start to fly and all of that, and
then I start to talk about things in the game, and you know,
it's still competing. Don't get me wrong, but you know what it's like
to start talking about what happened yesterday what might happen tomorrow, you know.
And that was the fun part, just sort of interacting with with guys from
you know, from the other other papers and other media outlets. That that
was really to me the fun of the business. What's interesting, too,
is that this team might have its best opportunity. You would know this better
than I, but this team might have its best opportunity to reach the super
Bowl, and you may not be able to write about that if you're leaving
on Monday. Did you ever think about that as you were contemplating this decision?
Well, that's why I stayed another for this year. It was just
know the season we just had. No I thought about it, Yeah,
but no I didn't. They wouldn't do it for that reason. I really
wouldn't. By the way, I just like to mention one thing. A
guy who's made boll of this a lot easier is Tim twenty than you know.
He came over from the Detroit News about a year before I did to
the and I think he's probably one of the most prolific writers I've ever been
prouded my life. He just does so many things does him so well.
It's just it's really been a pleasure looking with Tim. Yeah, it's a
great points. He's excellent at what he does and he yeah, he really
is. And he sent something out on Twitter. He's been so well accommodating,
endearing and understanding and willing to learn. I mean, it's it's funny,
even when you do it for as long as you and Tim has done,
you can still learn from people. And absolutely yeah, and he wrote,
look, legend I'm so fortunate to being able to work with and learn
from Mike at both the Detroit News and here with the Lions over the last
twenty years. It's not like he stayed to claim to his territory and said
I'm sorry, I feel threatened by a legendary writer. Instead, he opened
his arms to you. And I think you've done that for quite a few
people as well, so many stories with the Detroit Lions. I'm sure you
get asked this all the time by people. So I'll just be one in
the many of a line of people who've asked you this. Is there any
one particular player or storyline that sticks out to you in all the years you've
covered this franchise, well, this one really stands out, and it is
not a good one. I don't think that Berry Sanders retirement was that was
one, and I was expecting it. I really was. And I'll tell
you a quick, little quick story that one of the writers for ESPN had
just a little item in his column that offseason that Barry wasn't happy and he
sort of got a sense of that, you know, And so I called
his father, William, who I got to know somewhat not you know,
we want close friends, but he was always accommodating to talk. And I
said, mister Williams dot Williams. Anyway, I said, I asked him
to say that what I remember on Sports Illustrated And I said, what's the
deal? And he said, he's sick of them, He's sick of losing.
Oh boy, this is going to be something. It turned out to
be just a blackbuster story from that moment until Barry Sanders, you know,
did not show up for training camp three months later or whatever it was.
And then then and then it was just to me that was probably the biggest
story that I covered. It was involved with or whatever you want to call
it. Michael, by the way, I'm sorry, just want to think.
So it wasn't my favorite because I wanted to see Barry Sanders play and
not just a great player, but a great person too. But to me,
it was the most obviously had the most impact. Michael here joining us
here on Exes and Bros. He retires Monday, and he's a Michigan Sports
Hall of Famer. He's been the reason you read about the Lions for for
so many decades. When you when you look back at all the teams and
all the players you've covered, is there what's the biggest misnomer that people failed
to realize about a player or this franchise. That the Fordes don't want to
don't care about winning and losing, and they care very much about it.
That's why they made so many changes. And I'm just going, since I
came on the beat in nineteen seventy seven, you know, they add up
the number of coaching changes and personnel changes and all that, but we'd be
here for a month and a half or something like that. They put all
that together. But you know, they care very much and they always have,
always will through different generations. You know, mister William clay Ford passed
away, and think it was nineteen, nineteen eighty, nineteen eighty for something
like twenty I'm sorry, twenty fifteen. And then his wife, Martha Firestone
Ford took over and absolutely committed to winning. And then now Sheila hamp the
daughter and who really has been on the front line there of changing things for
the Detroit Lions, and she's been successful. She's had the success that the
other ones haven't had for whatever reason. What do you like about this Lion's
team? Younger players with talent and speed? I like speed, and then
they have that. They have a lot of other excuse me, a lot
of other things too, but they have some interchangeable perps and and I don't
think if you look at that team, look, nobody has it all.
And it's just it's it's impossible, what really is because no matter how well
things are going, you're going to have they're going to change personnel from one
season to the next. I mean, there's a been somebody came up with
a figure one time on the average, thirty percent of your rosteril channel from
one season to the next. I don't know if that's exactly true, but
I'm sure it's not saying off. And so that's the hard part is putting
all these players back together. But the however they've done and through the just
great drafting. You know, really, but Bred Holmes, the general manager,
and with the head coach Dan Campbell, chime it in. They've really
been able in three years. The first three years. We haven't seen this
year's team play yet, but in the first three years, excuse, they've
really put together good players, not just first round players, but you know,
all the way through the through the noster and through the draft, they've
been able to put together good players on the field for the and they're going
to be good, not just this year and next to it, every they're
going to be good for a while. They really are because they don't have
like any aging players that they have to get rid of. They're pretty solid
from top to bout him. He's been writing in this area since nineteen sixty
six. He's covered the line since nineteen seventy seven. He's a Hall of
Famer. He's Michael Harra. Mike, thanks for your time, Congratulations,
appreciate the friendship and all that you've done and keeping things interesting for Lions fans,
whether they're winning or losing. You deserve this, my friend, congrats,
Hey ch thanks thanks for calling me. I appreciate it.