Did 'Detroit News' Cross the Line at Lions Press Conference?

By: Mark Fitzgerald Were Detroit News sports columnist Rob Parker's questions to Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli an attempt at humor that went awry, as he says, or a personal attack that inappropriately dragged family into a football matter?

Parker has been roundly criticized in print and on TV for a question he posed at a Sunday press conference after repeatedly asking what it would take for the 0-15 Lions to fire their defensive coordinator, Joe Barry. Finally, Parker asked Marinelli if he wished his daughter had married a better defensive coordinator.

Barry is Marinelli's son-in-law, who was hired last season.

Marinelli appeared to ignore the question at the press conference Sunday, which was played around the nation as stations reviewed the day's games.

But the News reported Tuesday that he got angrier the more he thought about it.

"I just think any time you attack my daughter, I got a problem with that -- in a room of stink, and as a man, and it was premeditated," Marinelli said, according to the unbylined article. "I think there's something wrong with that, yeah."

Marinelli was asked if the question crossed the line, and said, "Big time."

Managing Editor Don Nauss told E&P the question was "inappropriate and unprofessional."

"It's something we take very seriously, and that we intend to deal with in an appropriate matter," said Nauss, who added he couldn't comment in more detail because it was a personnel matter.

Parker, for his part, maintained the question was part of his usual bantering with Marinelli, a stab at humor that went flat. He apologized in a column Monday.

"Rod Marinelli and I have a different relationship," he wrote. "On the surface, you might think it's adversarial. He hates me and I hate him. In reality, it's one built on mutual respect."

He said with the question he was trying to "lighten the moment in a tense situation" as the media grilled Marinelli about the Lion's 15th straight defeat.

"What might have seemed like a personal attack wasn't," Parker wrote. "Sunday, with my attempt at humor, I was trying to get Marinelli to lighten up, have some fun after a rough day. Who knows, Marinelli, a straight shooter who never goes off script, might actually have given us a funny quote. He didn't. My attempt failed.

"And because of that, my attempt at humor may have seemed slighted, cruel, and even insensitive. For that, I apologize."

Marinelli said he hadn't read the column, but had heard about it -- and wasn't impressed.

"I didn't read it, I was just told a little bit about it, and I don't accept anything," Marinelli said.