Poor  Tom Lewand, the battered president of that football team that appears at Ford field but has never played there.

   Lewand, who prefers to work behind the scenes, is back center stage on all the sports pages because his boss, William Clay Ford, decided to keep Lewand rather than boot him out the door.

   All of this brought back memories, as folks in this political town knew Lewand when he wore glasses, carried around a few extra pounds, and was the major domo for a guy named Jim Blanchard.

   In a previous life before he got drawn into the world of sports, Lewand was the very first chief of staff for the newly elected governor and his long time pal Jamie Blanchard.

   Lewand brought a wealth of desire but lacked the experience even though Blanchard initially had confidence in his friend's abilities to make the execu tive office hum with efficiency.

    Does any of those sound familiar gang?

    Free Press columnist Drew Sharp writes that Lewand is not the most qualified to "clean up the mess" in the Detroit Lions organization and he is there only because "Ford likes him."

    Lewand has lasted eight years with the football club which is considerably longer than he endured in the governor's office.

    The Blanchard transition after former Gov. Bill Milliken was a klutzy and bungled operation and Lewand was smack dab in the middle of that, too.

     In his defense he knew nothing about the Lansing culture and neither did his boss.  Everyone around the new governor was well intentioned, but it became painfully obvious that Lewand had to go and within about a year, he did.

     Mr. Lewand recovered and went on to become a successful guy except for this Lion's blotch on his resume.

     So Tom-bo, here ya go again. But this time you're getting a chance to turn this thing around, which is more than you got some twenty years ago.

     

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