Tracking former Lions

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Barry Sanders documentary 'Bye Bye Barry' set for Fox Theatre world premiere

Premiere event will be held for Detroit Lions season ticket holders.



Adam Graham
The Detroit News



Detroit's Fox Theatre will host the world premiere of the Barry Sanders documentary "Bye Bye Barry" on Friday, Detroit Lions officials announced Tuesday.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. screening are not available to the public and will only be made available to Lions season ticket holders.

Barry Sanders_10-30-2023.jpg

Sanders is expected to attend the premiere and walk the red carpet along with members of the Lions organization, including head coach Dan Campbell, quarterback Jared Goff, running back Jahmyr Gibbs and Lions great Chris Spielman.

"Bye Bye Barry" finds Sanders telling his story in his own words, including his decision to walk away from football at age 31. The Hall of Fame running back played for the Lions for 10 seasons from 1989 to 1998 and retired with 15,269 rushing yards, just shy of Walter Payton’s all-time rushing record of 16,276 yards.

"Bye Bye Barry" features interviews with a host of Detroit luminaries, including Eminem, Jeff Daniels, Tim Allen, Jalen Rose, Calvin Johnson, Herman Moore, Chris Spielman and Jamele Hill. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, Dallas Cowboys star Emmitt Smith and ESPN's Dan Patrick are also featured in the movie, which is directed by Paul Monusky, Micaela Powers and Angela Torma.

Barry Sanders on Amazon Prime Video.jpg

"Bye Bye Barry" was announced in September and is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 21.

A statue of Sanders was unveiled outside of Ford Field in September.


agraham@detroitnews.com

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Detroit Lions to host Barry Sanders doc premiere for season ticket holders at Fox Theatre


Andrew Birkle
Detroit Free Press

Lomas Brown, Barry Sanders, Wayne Fontes.jpg

The Detroit Lions will host a private premiere of the new documentary "Bye Bye Barry," which focuses on Barry Sanders' sudden decision to retire in 1999, on Friday at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.

The event will be invite-only for a handful of season ticket holders and other select groups, but those who are able to attend will be surrounded by major Lions figures. Sanders himself is set to be in attendance, as well as Lions head coach Dan Campbell, quarterback Jared Goff, former Lions linebacker and front-office member Chris Spielman, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs.


The documentary was first announced back in September and promised to finally explain his shocking retirement as he was on the verge of passing Walter Payton's all-time rushing record.

Barry Sanders_9-16-2023.jpg

Sanders called the new doc "the definitive movie on my life," back when it was teased in September.

Season ticket holders who are invited to the event can start being admitted at 6:30 p.m. and the showing will begin at 7:30 p.m.


The movie is being presented by Amazon Video Sports and is a production of NFL Films.

Earlier this football season, the Lions unveiled a new statue of Sanders outside of Ford Field during an emotional ceremony.


“You’d walk across that Silverdome parking lot in cold and wintery weather but everybody always had a smile...That day they’d see Barry Sanders do something that they’d never seen before,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at the unveiling. “Barry Sanders, on and off the field, always made Detroit proud.”

Sanders played in 153 games with the Lions from 1988-1999 and rushed for an incredible 15,269 yards while leading the NFL in rushing four times.

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Barry Sanders embraces spotlight at Fox Theatre 'Bye Bye Barry' documentary premiere



Adam Graham
The Detroit News



The famously spotlight-averse Barry Sanders took center stage at Detroit's Fox Theatre Friday night for the world premiere of his documentary, "Bye Bye Barry."

The Hall of Fame Detroit Lions running back greeted the audience of around 4,000, made up of jersey-wearing Detroit Lions season ticket holders and current and former Lions teammates, by giving a short introduction to the film, which covers his career and his decision to walk away from football at age 31. It premieres Tuesday on Amazon Prime Video.

Barry Sanders_11-17-2023.jpg

"It's pretty awesome, it's pretty special," Sanders said prior to the screening, speaking on the film's green carpet outside the Fox Theatre, which was designed to look like a section of football field. Of embracing the process of making the documentary, which he says he was first contacted about several years ago, Sanders admitted it was a bit outside his comfort zone. "It is something I guess I had to come to grips with, and just kind of be brought along with the process," he said.


Sanders, 55, was joined on the green carpet by several of his sons, and he greeted former teammates Chris Spielman and Lomas Brown with open arms. Both Spielman and Brown appear in the film, along with Detroit sports personalities such as Jemele Hill and Jalen Rose, actors Tim Allen and Jeff Daniels, and superstar rapper Eminem.

Executive producer Ken Rodgers of NFL Films said the film came together after the Lions were showcased on the HBO docuseries "Hard Knocks" in 2022. The energy around that show had Rodgers and his team re-examining Sanders' story, especially his 1999 retirement, which he infamously handled by fax machine. It was a story worth exploring, he said.



"We figured this has been long enough now, there's a whole generation that doesn't know this story and didn't see Barry play. It's time to bring it back," said Rodgers. "There's a nostalgia factor here where you look back at the '90s and you realize hey, that's been longer than I thought it was, and let's revisit."


Filming primarily took place earlier this year, and Sanders speaks to cameras inside an empty Fox Theatre, so there was a synchronicity with holding the premiere at the historic downtown theater.

"Putting Barry Sanders on stage, the place he never felt comfortable, brings the story full circle," Rodgers said. "Barry allows himself to be the center of attention, on center stage, physically, literally, for the first time, and that's an important part of the story."

Barry J. Sanders and Barry Sanders.jpg

Spielman said Sanders' story is an important one to tell. "There's never been anyone like him, I don't think there ever will be anyone like him," he said. "Any time that can be showcased, future generations need to know how great he was."

Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who was just 4 years old when Sanders retired, said his first awareness of Sanders came from playing video games.


"When I was playing 'Madden' and they would bring back the legend players, and he had the speed and the jukes and all that, that's probably the first I learned about how great he was," Goff said.

Sanders, of course, was the man of the hour, and he sported a pair of custom Air Force Ones, with a film reel on one side to celebrate the premiere of the doc.

Barry Sanders on Amazon Prime Video.jpg

In the film, Sanders speaks a lot about his relationship with his father, William, who died in 2011. Unlike Barry, William loved the spotlight, and Barry said his father would have been in his element at the premiere event, honoring his son.

"It would have been hard to get him away from the cameras, man," Sanders said. "He always loved talking, sharing his opinion, and taking as much spotlight as he could. So he would have loved this."


agraham@detroitnews.com

[-Deborah-]

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Another reason why I couldn't stand WCF Sr as the Owner of The Detroit Lions is explained in this video:

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The Lions, the Steelers and a crazy, botched Thanksgiving coin flip 25 years ago


By Jason Jones
6h ago


Robert Porcher and Jerome Bettis.jpg

Editor’s note: Throughout the month of November, we remember some of the best NFL, college football and sports culture occasions around the Thanksgiving holiday in Thanksgiving Sports Moments.

A coin toss in sports is supposed to be simple, not memorable.



But one on Thanksgiving 25 years ago in Detroit is a heads-or-tails call still talked about by those involved.

The coin toss at the Pontiac Silverdome on Nov. 26, 1998, before overtime between the Detroit Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers remains famous (or infamous, depending on which side of the fence you’re on). Steelers running back Jerome Bettis was asked by referee Phil Luckett to call heads or tails.



Bettis called “tails.” Luckett heard “heads.”

The gaffe resulted in Detroit taking the ball first in overtime, and the Lions capped a seven-play drive with a 42-yard Jason Hanson field goal to beat the Steelers 19-16 in overtime.



Before the flip, Luckett addressed Detroit’s Robert Porcher and Ray Roberts and Pittsburgh’s Bettis and defensive back Carnell Lake:

The first team to score wins the game. We’ll have a toss to determine who receives. Who will call it for Pittsburgh?



Luckett told Bettis to call heads or tails in the air.

“Heads is the call,” Luckett said.



“I said tails,” Bettis responded.

“He said heads. It is a tails,” a mic’d-up Luckett said to the Lions, Steelers and 78,139 in attendance at the Silverdome.



“Ref! He called tails!” a discombobulated Lake said to Luckett.

To which Porcher then turned to Luckett and said, “We want the ball.”

Twenty-five years later, the entire scenario is a source of humor for those involved. Well … at least to the Lions.

“We were not going to correct it,” said Porcher, the former defensive end who was Detroit’s defensive captain. “So, yeah, I am with the officials. If the cameras are on, I’m with the officials.”



Porcher looked at Roberts, Detroit’s offensive captain, at midfield. Both were stunned at what transpired — but also were not going to argue a decision in their team’s favor.

“I looked at Ray and was like, ‘We’ll take the ball,'” Porcher said. “Jerome was like, ‘Wait a minute, What’s going on here?’ … I ran back to the sideline, and I couldn’t believe it. We couldn’t believe it.”



It wasn’t the best day for the future Hall of Fame running backs competing in the game. Bettis finished with 67 yards on 26 carries. Barry Sanders ran 20 times for just 33 yards — 21 of those yards coming on one carry.

In fact, there weren’t many offensive standouts during that Thanksgiving game. Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart threw for 225 yards with a touchdown and interception, and he was sacked five times. Detroit quarterback Charlie Batch threw for 236 yards and a score, but he was sacked four times. Lions receiver Herman Moore finished with eight catches for 148 yards and a touchdown, and he had the gaudiest offensive stats of the afternoon.



With everything that happened on the field, the talk of a misrepresented coin toss led the majority of the storylines the next day.

“I remember it wasn’t a good game for me,” Sanders said, “but (the coin toss mistake) was just something that never happened before in my career or even watching football. You get that part wrong?



“But if I’m not mistaken, it ended up helping us.”

Sanders did enough in overtime to help the Lions win with a 9-yard run to set up Hanson’s final kick. The field goal was Hanson’s fourth of the day.



“Jason Hanson did what he always did,” Porcher said. “It was a done deal. It was time to go home and celebrate.”

That the Steeler involved in the coin toss was Bettis was a cruel twist of fate. Bettis is from Detroit, and playing the Lions on Thanksgiving was an opportunity to spend the holiday in his hometown.



Instead, he ended up associated with one of the weirder moments in NFL Thanksgiving game history.

“I knew Jerome pretty well back then, him being a Detroit boy,” Sanders said. “It was just bizarre, honestly, bizarre that he called tails or whatever, and it ended up being tails and they gave it to us. Whatever he called, they didn’t hear him, or they misheard him.”

Porcher is still friends with Bettis. It’s become something of a Thanksgiving tradition for Porcher to show a bewildered Bettis looking at Lake trying to figure out what happened.



It’s a source of a good laugh for Porcher. For Bettis, not so much. But apparently, Bettis has a good sense of humor.

“He doesn’t bring it up every time we see each other, but it definitely comes up,” Porcher said. “Then on Thanksgiving, they always show it. At some point, he and I will text. We don’t do it every Thanksgiving but, I’ll be like ‘Hey man, just checking on you.'”



This series is part of a partnership with Accenture.

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.


Jason Jones is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering Culture. Previously, he spent 16 years at the Sacramento Bee, covering the Sacramento Kings and Oakland Raiders. He's a proud Southern California native and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley Follow Jason on Twitter @mr_jasonjones

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[-Deborah-]

Former Lions QB Erik Kramer blasts Wayne Fontes: "Did you even know where the practice field was?"

By Will Burchfield
35 minutes ago

The last quarterback to win a playoff game for the Lions says they would have won a bunch more of 'em with a better coach.

"Had we had a coaching staff and an organization like Dallas, we probably could have won a couple Super Bowls," Erik Kramer said on 97.1 The Ticket. "That team in '91 really mirrored the current team in terms of talent and being young. What I see in this Detroit team that’s different is that the coaching staff actually does know what they’re doing and they seem to be all rowing in the same direction from the top down. That, I think, none of us have seen in Detroit, maybe ever."

Kramer -- on tour for his recently-released book 'The Ultimate Comeback: Surviving a Suicide Attempt, Conquering Depression, and Living with a Purpose' -- only played three seasons for the Lions and was the primary starter for just one of them. That was in 1991 when he replaced the injured Rodney Peete halfway through the year and guided a team led by Barry Sanders to a 6-2 finish, the division title and a first-round playoff win over the Cowboys at the Silverdome.

How much credit Kramer deserves for that can be debated. He threw eight touchdowns and eight picks in his eight regular season starts, though he was lights-out in the playoff win in maybe the best game of his career. He came back to earth the next week in the Lions' blowout loss to the Redskins in the NFC championship.

Kramer also took the reins late in the 1993 season and helped the Lions clinch another division title before they crashed out of the playoffs in a first-round loss to the Packers. Kramer, who threw one touchdown and two picks that day, moved on to the Bears the next season and the Lions haven't hosted a playoff game since.

Anyway, Wayne Fontes was the head coach of those teams, and remains the winningest head coach in Lions history -- even with a sub.-500 record of 66-67 in his nine years at the helm. While Kramer was watching the Bye Bye Barry documentary released last month, he took exception, just like fellow former Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell, to Fontes' telling Sanders at a recent homecoming game that the missing piece in Detroit was a star quarterback.

"Wayne comes back and he’s talking, ‘All we needed was a quarterback.' I’m like, all we needed was a frickin’ coach. Like, did you even know where the practice field was? That’s the thing. That dude, in particular, didn’t have any idea there was even a game going on. He would go like, 'Hey, let’s run that play again when Barry scores,'" Kramer said.

There is some irony here. In his conversation with Sanders, Fontes said he tried to acquire star quarterbacks Joe Montana and Warren Moon late in their careers to elevate the Lions' roster. And Kramer said one of his gripes with the Lions organization is that "back then in the NFC, there were basically three teams that would go hunt for whoever: the Packers, 49ers and Cowboys. And the opposite was true of Detroit." Except Fontes was apparently hunting Hall of Famers.

All that said, Kramer is highly supportive of where the Lions stand today and likes the team's chances to finally win another playoff game. He's attended homecoming games at Ford Field the last handful of years, including this season for the Lions' rout of the Raiders on Monday Night Football. Kramer said that night "was the closest I felt" to the playoff win at the Silverdome.

"It was electric," he said. "And the Silverdome back then, (the capacity) was closer to 80,000, everybody had a white something to shake. I’m just glad I didn’t play for Dallas that day, because it was deafening. And Ford Field on that Monday Night Football game was the closest thing I ever heard to that."

Kramer, 59, considers it a "miracle of life" that he survived a depression-induced suicide attempt in 2015, "because I did everything I could possibly do to ensure that I wouldn’t be here," he said. "Thankfully the doctors did what they did and the people around me just hung in there the entire time. Medically, there’s probably not a long list of folks that have put a gun to their head, pulled the trigger and then lived to tell about it."

Kramer has since made it his purpose to raise awareness around suicide prevention and to help anyone who might be in a place similar to the one he was in eight years ago. He said that after he gave a talk at a recent seminar, a woman approached him, clearly emotional, and explained that 10 months after her mother passed away, her sister committed suicide.

"And I said, 'What those of us who do that don’t realize and lose perspective on is that for us, it’s over. For those who are around us and love us, it’s just beginning,'" said Kramer. "Depression will knock your socks off and send you down a hole where you lose perspective on what life really is, so I’m thankful for the fact that I get a second chance."

[edindetroit]

"And I said, 'What those of us who do that don’t realize and lose perspective on is that for us, it’s over. For those who are around us and love us, it’s just beginning,'" said Kramer. "Depression will knock your socks off and send you down a hole where you lose perspective on what life really is, so I’m thankful for the fact that I get a second chance."

I worked with a guy that was talking suicide and I told him he needed to stick around for his little boy. He said "he'll be alright" and I told him no he won't. I knew a kid whose dad offed himself and he was never the same after that.

[-Deborah-]

Sad.

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Valenti actually cracked me up today. He said 'Johnny Moo-Moo's is returning to call the plays tonight' referring to Fatty Patty. Johnny Moo-Moo's. Classic.

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Valenti actually cracked me up today. He said 'Johnny Moo-Moo's is returning to call the plays tonight' referring to Fatty Patty. Johnny Moo-Moo's. Classic.

I'm conflicted.

I don't care one bit for Seattle, and if they lose tonight, we clinch a Playoff spot.

However, Philly losing tonight would help us potentially have a Home playoff game vs. the Eagles if we win out and Philadelphia stumbles a bit more at the end of their season.

Also, I hate Matt Patricia.



A prime example of a mediocre man that has failed up.

Ugh. Go team that has Fatty Patty.

Triple ugh.