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Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:36 pm EST

Columnist who asked about Marinelli's daughter resigns

By MJD

Remember the Detroit News columnist who asked Rod Marinelli, "Do you wish your daughter had married a better defensive coordinator?" Yeah ... he's no longer a Detroit News columnist.

He was demoted to "general assignment sports reporter," and then he resigned. From Richard Prince's Journal-isms:

"He doesn't work here any more," Managing Editor Donald Nauss said. He said [Rob] Parker resigned on Friday. Asked whether this followed a suspension of his column, Nauss said, "I can't talk about personnel matters."

Parker, who had been at the paper for eight years, could not be reached for comment and has not responded to previous requests.

It's all extremely unfortunate. It's a shame that Marinelli had to take the public insult, it's a shame his daughter was dragged into it, and it's a shame that a man who worked at the Detroit News for years is now out of a job. None of this had to happen.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not defending what Parker did. I still think he was 100 percent in the wrong to ask the question.

But I also believe there wasn't any malice in his heart when he did what he did, and I believe he really did think he was just making a harmless little joke. It doesn't excuse anything, obviously, but it's not like Parker went into that press conference thinking, "I'm going to talk about this chump's daughter."

The end result is that Marinelli and Parker now find themselves in the same place: unemployment. But my guess is that Marinelli's in much better shape to find another job before Parker does.

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41 Comments

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  1. Incredibly_Disrespected
    1. Posted by Incredibly_Disrespected Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:48 pm EDT

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    Move to dallas, dude..... They'll hire anyone
  2. KING
    2. Posted by KING Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:20 pm EDT

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    Does that mean we get terry foster back !!!!!
  3. Jay Mac
    3. Posted by Jay Mac Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    Parker couldn't stomach his demotion? lol. I'm bet his wife is wondering if she married the right man now...
    tough time to be out of work.
  4. Double Down
    4. Posted by Double Down Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:35 pm EDT

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    Detroit might just be 16-0 next season
  5. Mr B
    5. Posted by Mr B Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:15 pm EDT

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    Everybody in the media should fire that pompous ass!
  6. Geoff P
    6. Posted by Geoff P Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:08 pm EDT

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    heard him on mike and mike this morning on the way into work. you should get a hold of the tape...
  7. Geoff P
    7. Posted by Geoff P Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:08 pm EDT

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    here's a link to the interview on mike and mike
    http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/espnradio/player?id=3816183
  8. g mack
    8. Posted by g mack Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    yeah maybe his wife should have married a better reporter......that was uncalled for, thats a howard stern type of comment....bababooey to him and good luck in but [profane]t egypt
  9. domenick2x
    9. Posted by domenick2x Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:46 pm EDT

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    "But my guess is that Marinelli's in much better shape to find another job before Parker does."
    I hear any chump can Blog.... :)
  10. BJ
    10. Posted by BJ Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:12 pm EDT

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    Thought One: Apparently, Lions' brass agreed with the reporter.
    Thought Two: If the record-setting former head coach does find a job -- I wonder if they'll let him bring his son-in-law along this time?
    Thought Three: (Now I'm being redundant) This isn't anything serious. This is football in Detroit. A winless coach deserves a zing. Besides, where were all you holier-than-thou Lions fans when Millen was getting tossed under the bus? OH, SLAM!
  11. orenthal
    11. Posted by orenthal Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:23 pm EDT

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    This joke wasn't about Marinelli's daughter, it was about Marinelli hiring dumb relatives for positions at which they were wildly unqualified. Dude should have been promoted, not fired. Go Lions! 2-14 in 2009!
  12. Hitman
    12. Posted by Hitman Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:48 pm EDT

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    You reap what you sow. Revel in your just reward, Parker.
  13. Paul
    13. Posted by Paul Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:02 pm EDT

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    if only the lion's front office was as aggressive in the firing of millen as was the detroit news was with parker.
  14. Travis
    14. Posted by Travis Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:28 pm EDT

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    He had a radio show in Detroit called "Parker and The Man", but he got fired from that after making some off-color comments. He is on ESPN's "1st and 10" a lot and I'm sure he makes okay money from that. I'm sure he's not rushing around to find a new job, he's a good reporter, he'll find work.
  15. Scott E
    15. Posted by Scott E Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:34 pm EDT

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    Orenthal - M's son-in-law had a good record at Tampa and was well respected before attaching himself to the Lion Express Line to Nowhere bus.
  16. Herman L
    16. Posted by Herman L Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:18 pm EDT

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    This is to be seen as an excuse to cut costs by the FP. Period. Parker's replacement, if replaced, will be paid far less. Parker's conversation with Sarg Rod was in a spirit of friendly jest....something we do in relationships all the time. Sarg Rod's public reaction was a convenient way of deflecting the issue: his decision to pad the income of his family by hiring inept son-in-law. (Maybe we will hear a argument from MM during the Super Bowl advocating the employment of coaches who are related as the sure road to bbuilding a succesful franchise.)
  17. Scott E
    17. Posted by Scott E Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:34 pm EDT

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    Of course, they say you can't pick your relatives or your reporters (the ones covering you), but you can pick your coaches and coaches can choose whether or not to take a job offer. It's the local fans who get screwed.
  18. Scott E
    18. Posted by Scott E Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:34 pm EDT

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    Parker's comment may have been said in jest, but it was stupid, in poor taste, and basically said to cause more attention to himself. If he was an excellent reporter, he'd have been reprimanded and kept on in full standing. But this wasn't the first blemish on his record (the MSU false story reporting) and it was probably an easy decision to get rid of him.
    Dominick2x - Parker could start his own blog, "Shutdown Oval." That way he can't back himself into a corner. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it.
  19. baddog162
    19. Posted by baddog162 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:37 pm EDT

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    I agree with no. 10 BJ and no 11 ORENTHAL but then I live in LIONS land. Come back PARKER you told and tell it DAM stright !!!
  20. rocksoldier1
    20. Posted by rocksoldier1 Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:47 pm EDT

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    I think the whole thing about the question was WAY overblown. it was a joke. a BAD joke, but a joke. Marinelli could have just let it go, Parker wasnt 'attacking' his daughter. but Parker had made it his mission to make Marinelli crack, and had been working all season to make him do that. Ive never liked Parker, and im glad he is gone, but I dont like the situation in which he left.
  21. mikez34
    21. Posted by mikez34 Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:20 pm EDT

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    Parker is a chump and deserved to be fired. He is pompus and arrogant and I can't stand him. He had no right to bring his daughter into it and I believe he had malice.
  22. JasonB
    22. Posted by JasonB Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:33 pm EDT

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    BJ,
    you really think Millen was "thrown under the bus"? that implies he was a scapegoat who got canned to save someone else's neck. Millen himself admitted that he deserved to be fired earlier than he was, and no one threw him under the bus. He earned his ticket out of town with is horrible performance. If he had any respect for the city of Detroit he would have left 2 years ago.
    and while it was a lousy attempt at a joke I don't think it was a fireable offense by the reporter, my hunch is he got canned for the accumulation of foolish events and his less then stellar reputation at a writer.
  23. FairlyHonestBob
    23. Posted by FairlyHonestBob Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:28 pm EDT

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    Sometimes justice is served. That was a total punk question.
  24. BJ
    24. Posted by BJ Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:12 pm EDT

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    Jason,
    Millen should've been fired long ago.
    I was only making a comparison between the constant Millen badgering (rightly so) over the last several years and one reporter's single wisecrack that incensed a crap storm.
    My point: I'm sure much worse things were said about Millen's mother than what was said about Rod's son-in-law (he's a bad coordinator).
  25. Jabir1
    25. Posted by Jabir1 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    His son in-law was the D-coor right, heading the worst DEF in the League, right?
    It was a light hearted comment and should have been taken that way. No wonder he couldn't win a game. If you can't handle someone saying that about you, you don't belong in a women's gymnastics locker room, much less in the NFL.
    It had nothing to do with that morons daughter but his inability to hire or motivate anyone to do anything.
    Just think where the Lions might be if his daughter had married Bill Parsells.

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