Detroit Fury?

[Micro67]

What's going on with the Fury? Are they closing down? Does anyone have any Fury merchandise (especially a bumper sticker) they would like to trade?

[patmc16]

It sure doesn't look good. The whole situation reminds me of the Detroit Vipers ordeal from a few years back. The Vipers also played at the Palace, as the Fury does (did?). The fact that the team was dead was probably the worst kept secret in Detroit sports at the time. If I remember right, their press releases near the end sounded alot like the statement put ot by the Fury Director of Operations. The Vipers were dragging their feet waiting for the IHL to fold. Once that happened, they had an excuse to fold without it being their own fault (i.e. the team was lousy after becoming an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning who were equally lousy at the time and, therefore, no one came to see them). With the death of the IHL the Vipers claimed "we have no league to play in, so we can't play." Never mind the fact that 6 IHL teams now play in the AHL. Anyway, I'm getting off the point. I don't think the Fury are waiting on the AFL to fold, but I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with an equally lame excuse. It's too bad it didn't work this time. The Detroit Drive were 100x more sucessful on the field and at the box office.

I have a few things I could trade (no bumper stickers). Micro, feel free to pm me if you are interested.

[FirebirdDW]

Let me know if you want one by emailing me (FirebirdDW@yahoo.com) how much you would pay me, including postage.

[patmc16]

UPDATE:

I'm getting deja vu all over again. I visited one of the Palace Locker Room stores today. PLR is the team store mainly for teams playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills (plus some stuff for other Detroit teams). The Fury merchandise was virtually non-existant, and what they did have was on clearance. I picked up a Fury replica jersey for $10 (originally $50). The other things seemed to be 1/2 off. The jerseys, bumper stickers and a couple of different glasses was all that was left. I asked the clerk about the rumours. He said he had heard the same rumours, but didn't know if they were true (but he guessed so). This is exactly the same situation the Detroit Vipers were in 3 years ago. No one knew anything for sure, but yet they were dumping merchandise left and right. Within a month or so, the Vipers were defunct.

The clerk made a piont that I hadn't considered. Bill Davidson, who co-owns the Fury with the Ford family (owners of the Lions), owns 4 professional franchises, a lot for anyone to have on their plate. 3 of the franchises are the current champions of their respective leagues. The NBA Pistons, WNBA Shock, and NHL Lightning are all owned by Davidson. And then there is the Fury, who peaked in their first season and have been anywhere from bad to horrible ever since. If you were going to get rid of 1 of these 4 franchises, which would you choose? As far as the Ford family, they are used to putting a bad to average product on the field with the Lions and still making money. They just can't do that with an AFL franchise, so why would they be interested in continuing with the Fury?

I'm now at least 90% sure the Fury will never take the field again.

[patmc16]

ANOTHER UPDATE:

It was announced this morning on the local news that the Detroit Fury have folded. They made it official late last night. The writing has been on the wall for some time. From a fans perspective, this was handled exactly the same way the folding of the Detroit Vipers was in '01. I guess we will know ahead of time if Davidson folds any other of his franchises.

Too bad. RIP Detroit Fury.

[patmc16]

While there doesn't seem to be any official statement from the league, the following is buried in a release about 2005 AFL alignment:

The Carolina Cobras, Detroit Fury and Indiana Firebirds were terminated. Several local ownership groups are currently attempting to revive these teams and will be considered by the board if applications are submitted in the near future.

I realize that this is not something that the league is proud of, but why wouldn't they release a statement about it? Do they think no one will notice if they don't talk about it?

[Pounder]

Kind of like the way that George W buries comments about "Iraq isn't responsible for 9/11" while otherwise letting that thought ferment among segments of the population.

Kind of like how John Kerry talks about W's lack of competence when the question is directed to JFK2's "experience," while all the noise swirls around everyone who ever set foot on a swift boat.

The AFL is using proven psychology, as it applies to mass thinking. The mistake the AFL makes is not realizing that the masses don't want to care about AFL, and the core are taken for granted.

[khalldog]

Why bring politics into this?

Besides, you make no sense.