After eight years of the most crushing failure by any team president or general manager in modern sports history, he is being rewarded with riches and fame.

Millen's return to the broadcast booth was trumpeted Monday by NBC, which sent out a glowing new release on his upcoming appearance for its Super Bowl coverage.

As president of the Detroit Lions , Millen's record was 31-97 (and, yes, he gets tagged with the 0-16 record this season). He became the punch line of the NFL, the poster boy of laughable failure.

The real beauty of this is Millen lasted eight years in Detroit for the same reason he is having rose petals thrown at his feet as he struts -- chest out -- into the broadcast booth: He talks a good game.

Personally, Millen is a wonderful person, a fun guy to hang out with and he tells great stories. World-class stories. Professionally, he tells great stories. World-class stories.

That is all he ever has been. Talk. And, man, was he good at it.

I've called Millen at his home in Pennsylvania several times since he left the Lions, including Monday. He didn't call me back and, as far as I know, he hasn't called back anybody in the Detroit media. That means there must be an addendum to the earlier proclamation: Millen talks a good game -- for money.

Let's go back to a couple things Millen said in his first broadcast Saturday during a staged interview with Dan Patrick. Wait, before we get to what Millen said, it's interesting what he didn't say, and what Patrick didn't say.

Patrick asked Millen if he would have fired himself, and Millen said, "I would have."

When asked if he was responsible for the past eight years, Millen said: "Oh, completely responsible. When you're head of Football operations, you throw it back on me. You can say something about coaching, say something about the players, but inevitably, I'm responsible for them, so I'm completely responsible."

Apparently, Millen thinks somebody should "say something" about the terrible coaching and lousy players, but he bravely will take the high road.

If Millen had stopped there, it would have been fine. But he wanted to dangle a little doubt in America's mind that it wasn't really his fault. So he said: "There's a lot more to it than that. I could give you excuses. I could give you reasons. To me, that's just an excuse after the fact."

So, say what you want, but remember this: Millen has the microphone again, and he will deliver his message his way. In a few weeks, people in America (at least those living outside Michigan and the state of reason) will be convinced Millen had nothing to do with the Lions' failures.

Millen is going to the Super Bowl. He is going there only to talk, but it's only fitting. Millen has been a world champion talker for the past eight years.