Thursday Notes: Ricky Sandoval Passes Away
- Lions director of security Ricky Sandoval passed away today at the age of 49 after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. My condolences go out to the Sandoval family.
- I chimed in with my thoughts on when Matthew Stafford should play on the Washington Post's website.
- Dennis Northcutt is "excited" about playing for Detroit, so much so that he is coming in with the attitude that the Lions won the Super Bowl last season.
- Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez have remained good friends and hung out quite a bit at the rookie symposium.
- In a ranking of franchises from the four major pro sports leagues, ESPN The Magazine had the Lions at No. 119 out of 122 teams. The Red Wings came in fourth behind the Los Angeles Angels, Carolina Hurricanes, and Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Wings had a new arena, they'd probably top the list.
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Wednesday Notes: Trade with Jaguars Finalized
- My prayers go out to Ricky Sandoval, the Lions director of security who just celebrated his 49th birthday yesterday. Unfortunately Ricky is in the hospital and is "beginning to slip away." He has battled with pancreatic cancer for the last three years.
- The Gerald Alexander-Dennis Northcutt trade was finalized on Tuesday. Alexander was surprised by the trade, as were most Lions fans. I'm really only surprised that the Lions dealt him for Northcutt, as him being moved isn't too shocking. As Tom Kowalski explains, the chances of Alexander making the roster weren't all that great, so the team obviously figured it would get something out of him rather than just cut him after training camp.
- Patrick Hayes of It's Just Sports recently spoke with Otis Wiley, getting an update on the former Spartan's status with the Lions.
Now, where are you at right now, you're with the Lions right?
Wiley would have been on the Lions after the draft if he hadn't failed his physical, so it sounds like he will get another shot at joining the team when training camp begins. Considering he hasn't been able to spend any time on the team so far, I would put his chances of making it past the first round of cuts fairly low. The safety position, as we learned from the above-mentioned trade, is pretty much set in stone barring an injury.
Yeah, with the Lions. In July I go back and tryout again and if I get on the roster, it'll be a nice little smooth sail after that. - The NFL Network caught up with Matthew Stafford and Brandon Pettigrew at the rookie symposium.
- Thousands of people, including Jared DeVries, attended the funeral of Iowa high school coach Ed Thomas.
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Lions Announce Creation of New Season-Ticket Packages
Official release from the Lions:
The Detroit Lions are offering several, flexible season ticket packages for the 2009 season. Along with the Full Season Plan that includes all 10 Lions home games, fans can now purchase Half-Season Plans, "The Roar Zone" Plan, and the "Pick Your Games" Plan.
Along with the new flexible, season ticket packages, the Lions are offering the "All You Can Eat" Seat. This option is being made available to Detroit sports fans for the first time in this market in regular stadium seating areas.
"One of our most important business objectives is to present our fans with several options to attend Lions games at Ford Field that provide great value," said Lions President Tom Lewand. "We recognize that this is a tough economic environment for all fans, and increased flexibility is necessary to respond to that environment."
For further information on season tickets, fans can visit www.detroitlions.com/tickets or call the Lions Ticket Office at Ford Field (313.262.2002).
More after the jump.
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Prisco's Take on Lions' QB Race
This story is probably not for those of you in Culpepper's corner, but an interesting read nonetheless.
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1952 NFL Championship Game Film
As promised, I will be posting some of the historical items/memorabilia my grandfather, Garrard "Buster" Ramsey, Detroit Lions Defensive Coach 1952-1959, held onto from his career. We'll begin here with the 1952 World Championship game footage that my family converted from the old 16 millimeter reel to DVD and then finally to the web. The Lions won this game 17-7 over the Cleveland Browns. This footage is 30 minutes long, so I cut it up into 10 minute segments for ease of viewing. I hope y'all enjoy this glimpse of the Lions' past!!!
Game begins after the jump!
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Monday Notes: Lions Play Host to Former Season-Ticket Holders
- Jon Jansen sounds like he is open to playing any position on the offensive line if it means he will get playing time. All backup offensive linemen need to be versatile, as that allows the Lions to keep fewer linemen on the team and active during games. Jansen is no exception, and although he will primarily be a right tackle (likely backing up Gosder Cherilus), he will probably get time at every other position on the O-line as well.
- Around 120 former season-ticket holders attended practice on Wednesday of last week. More than 6,000 were invited, and there were only 60 or so left by the time practice was over. The numbers may not seem all that impressive, but at the end of the day the Lions sold 30 season-ticket packages, meaning the event was a success in that sense. The invite was a way for the Lions to reach out to ex-ticket holders, hoping to get them back in the team's good graces. I doubt this will be the last effort to do that, as Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz seem committed to getting the team to be more open to the fans, especially the ones that dish out money for tickets or used to do that.
- Pontiac still hasn't sold the Silverdome, and unless some unforeseen sale is made, it looks like the former home of the Lions will be put up for auction sometime in the future.
- Former Lion Reggie Rogers was sentenced to two years in jail for two different DUI cases. Both of these came after he killed three teenagers in an accident where he ran a stop sign back in 1988. That accident led to the end of his career with the Lions, and the latest two incidents have led to an end of his freedom for a couple years.
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Lions Trade Gerald Alexander to Jaguars for Dennis Northcut
According to John Clayton, the Lions have traded safety Gerald Alexander to the Jaguars for wide receiver Dennis Northcutt. Apparently Northcutt found out a trade was imminent earlier in the week, but nothing happened until today. The Lions weren't interested in parting with a draft pick, so they decided to send Alexander to Jacksonville.
Alexander was drafted in 2007 and started every game during his rookie year. A neck injury ended his season early last year after only starting one game. Although Alexander has recovered well from his injury, he became expendable after Louis Delmas was drafted and Marquand Manuel was signed. I was actually just thinking earlier today that the safety position was getting a bit crowded, so I'm not too surprised that Alexander was dealt to the Jaguars. This leaves the Lions with Delmas, Manuel, Kalvin Pearson, Daniel Bullocks, Stuart Schweigert, and LaMarcus Hicks at the safety position.
Northcutt is entering his tenth season in the league. He played for the Browns from 2000 to 2006 before signing a five-year deal with the Jaguars in 2007. He put up solid stats at receiver in Jacksonville and occasionally returned punts.
In other news, the Lions signed undrafted rookie wide receiver Kenneth Harris, who played at Georgia, and released offensive lineman James Blair, formerly of Western Michigan.
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