Mick turns tricks, and other thoughts

With their Super Bowl appearance approaching, there has been a lot of rancor about the Rolling Stones selling out to the stiff, corporate National Football League.

This is a surprise?

It's what the Stones do best. Fans like to act disillusioned by this recent shilling, but Mick Jagger and the rest of the crew have been corporate whores for decades. This is not some sudden, abhorrent development.

E-Trade sponsored the group's last tour. "Start Me Up" was sold to Microsoft for use the company's advertising in the late 1980s. Those are obvious; some of Mick's efforts have been more subtle. In a move of cunning commercialism, he placed a duet with Dave Matthews on the live No Security album to exploit Matthews' rising popularity.

(Dave wrecked "Memory Motel," singing it while he was apparently gargling with shards of broken glass, but that's beside the point).

As far back their 1967 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Stones sold out. Television officials did not want "Let's Spend The Night Together" aired, so Mick acquiesed and changed the lyrics to the tame "Let's Spend Some Time Together."

Don't get me wrong. I like the Rolling Stones. Always have. Their early music taps a dark, raw angst that no band in history has matched. But their shameless commercialism has always been part of the deal.

So let's stop acting like it's some regrettable sign of the times.

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More disarray in Detroit. This time it has nothing to do with the Rolling Stones.

The Detroit Lions are a franchise in disarray. That was never more evident than Thursday, when former Rams coach Mike Martz, a man not exactly known for ingenuity, decided he'd rather make no money this year than serve as the team's offensive coordinator.

That's like saying to Johnny, the skateboarding punk on the corner, "Hey, want to come sit on the board of my company," and having him respond, "Nah, I'd rather flip burgers at McDonalds.

Expect plenty of "Fire Millen" chants at Ford Field on Sunday.

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This column is a few months old, but it is hilarious. It's a keeper, especially if you work in journalism and have seen various lightweight scum plagiarize your work. Three cheers to Leonard Pitts.