Amazing story from SbB via The Oakland Press (Oakland County, Michigan) today. Kevin Furlong (no relation to Edward) has been a Detroit Lions season ticket holder for quite some time, and he'd been even trying to get better seats and even more tickets as of late to no avail. He was so fed up with the ticket department that he decided email the team to cancel his seats.

Seems all well and good right? Well that was until one of the Lions' employees accidentally hit reply all on and email and a special message got back to Mr. Furlong....

When Kevin Furlong received an e-mail from an employee of the Detroit Lions ticket office, he did a double take.

"F--- 'em until next year," it said.

It was an inadvertent transmission, meant to be sent from one Lions employee, Matt Schul, to another, Lance Powser, about Furlong's ordeal with the Lions ticket office. Furlong felt compelled to cancel six season tickets worth more than $5,000 for the 2008 season. The Lions were trying to convince him to renew.

Cast aside the graphic language and examine only the meaning, and I find these words to be telling. In my opinion, they sum up the organization's attitude in its totality.

The Lions take their support for granted.

Wow right? The customer most certainly isn't always right and we have no idea what Kevin said to elicit this response, but that's rather telling about the Lions. What's even more telling is the response Oakland Press Reporter Pat Cuputo got when he asked the Lions about the email....

Lions executive vice president and chief operating officer Tom Lewand vehemently disagreed with my contention there is a correlation between the tone set by Ford and Millen -- and this incident.

"If you write that, it will be factually incorrect and bordering on slander," Lewand said. "And I will come after you."

Do I feel threatened by Lewand? No. Am I angry he said those things. No. They were said out of loyalty and emotion -- and I understand and respect that.

But it doesn't change my opinion. And I don't believe I'm exactly a club of one in this town when it comes to believing Lions leadership is inept and insensitive.

It's one of the great mysteries in the world as to how Matt Millen is still employed in the NFL, and I'm inclined to agree with Caputo on his assessment. Hitting "reply all" is something we've all done before by accident, but that's a little much if you ask me.

Detroit Lions’ Customer Service Policy: “F— ‘Em” (Sports By Brooks)
Does e-mail show how Lions really feel about their fans? (The Oakland Press)