Sports teams like to come up with catchy sayings, aimed at either getting the players motivated (i.e., “no pain, no gain”) or persuading the fans to buy tickets and otherwise support the effort .

In Detroit, the front office has unwittingly offered up a new slogan for the Lions, courtesy of an internal e-mail that inadvertently was sent to Kevin Furlong, who canceled his half-dozen season tickets due to the manner in which the team had handled an error regarding the location of the seats.

“F–k ‘em until next year,” one Lions employee was saying to another in the e-mail that ended up being sent inadvertently to Furlong.

Even more disturbing, in our opinion, was the reaction of Lions COO Tom Lewand to the notion that the profane attitude correlates to the attitude of the entire organization.

“If you write that, it will be factually incorrect and bordering on slander,” Lewand told Pat Caputo of the Oakland Press.  ”And I will come after you.”

Ooooooo.

Lewand, we believe, has been far more responsible for the mess that is the Detroit Lions than anyone has realized.  And we think there’s definitely a correlation between Lewand’s empty threat and the empty suit that he wears to work every day.

Lions CEO Matt Millen has, to his credit, not blamed others in the organization for the failures of the team.  As legend has it, decisions like the hiring of coach Marty Morningsomething, the hiring of coach Steve Mariucci, and the drafting of quarterback Joey Harrington weren’t Millen’s.  But Millen has never pointed a finger, publicly or privately, at those who made those calls.

As to Lewand, Millen also has been diplomatic.  But based on everything we’ve seen and heard, Lewand is just another one of those non-football business guys who find a way to claim credit when things are going well, and who have no accountability when things are going poorly.

The fact that one of the employees who ultimately report to Lewand would express such sour thoughts about a paying customer, and then be sufficiently stupid to send the e-mail to the customer in question, suggests that the incident should result accountability other than the type that arises when a team loses a lot more games than it wins. 

In this context, it’s a matter of what’s proper and what isn’t, and the “f–k ‘em” buck should ultimately stop on Lewand’s desk.