KRT Wire | 12/15/2003 | One sorry Lion: Next thing Millen says should be `good-bye'

KRT Wire | 12/15/2003 | One sorry Lion: Next thing Millen says should be `good-bye': "Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2003

One sorry Lion: Next thing Millen says should be `good-bye'
BY DREW SHARP
Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT) - `I apologize to anybody who I offended with that remark' - team president Matt Millen
DETROIT - The words came with equal parts difficulty and discomfort. Those are the consequences when your foot once again lodges in your throat.
An embarrassed Matt Millen took the podium Monday in an attempt to keep his derogatory remarks to Johnnie Morton from snowballing out of control. But instead of controlling the damage, Millen added fuel to the sentiment that the job of rebuilding this franchise might extend beyond his grasp. He basically described the incident Sunday in Kansas City, then made a hurried exit without taking questions.
There's no excusing Millen's tasteless insensitivity when he fired a slur against homosexuals after Kansas City's 45-17 victory over the Lions, calling Morton a 'faggot.' Morton, a former Lions receiver, now plays for the Chiefs. But Millen isn't a player anymore. He isn't part of the locker room, where smack-talk is packaged as camaraderie.
Despite his penchant for wearing Nikes with his sport jacket, he's an executive, and he has to learn to take the higher road. He can't bow to the impulses that settled scores on the field but have gotten him in hot water as the Lions' chief executive.
'I reacted inappropriately and said something I shouldn't have,' Millen said. 'And I apologize to anybody who I offended with that remark.'
Taken on its own, the confrontation with Morton was a momentary lapse. But when viewed alongside Millen's $200,000 fine for violating the spirit of the NFL's minority hiring initiative, "