Twenty-two days and counting until the new-look Detroit Lions open training camp, officially putting the worst season in NFL history in the rearview mirror.

Finally! The day can’t come soon enough when talk of a quarterback controversy between top draft pick Matthew Stafford and veteran Duante Culpepper fills this space rather than flash backs to Matt Millen exit interviews.

Like the Lions — who are starting anew with head coach Jim Schwartz, a franchise quarterback in camp and several new verteran free agent acquisitions — The Oakland Press is reshaping the way we cover the Lions this year.

This blog posting is intended to make you an educated consumer on this site. You may not agree with the way the blog is presented, you may disagree with the number of contributors or the level of expertise of each contributor, you may not like the change. That’s OK. In today’s modern world of interactive journalism, everyone is an expert, free to express his or her opinion in various forms of communication. We get that. In fact, we embrace that.

That’s the wonderful (and miserable) thing about the Internet. the ability to interact between the writer and consumer.

So here it is, the ground rules for what to expect when you visit Lions Lowdown and what we expect in return from you.

The purpose of this blog is to inform, educate, humor and interact with readers looking for more coverage than The Oakland Press pool of reporters can squeeze into the daily printed product.

To do that, we have called on the expertise of several staff members to post to this site.

Beat writer Paula Pasche, who is on vacation until the team opens training camp on July 31, will be the point person here. As news happens in training camp, as players succumb to the dog days of August or tough drills of Schwartz, Pasche will let you know about it. Count on it. Expect no less.

When Schwartz sees things he likes in the play of his quarterbacks, or expresses displeasure with the way the offensive line is protecting the money men, you won’t have to wait until tomorrow’s paper to read the news. We’ll post reports following each workout.

Because the Internet has no boundaries like the printed product does, we feel this blog is simply too big for one person. The Internet is not bound by a midnight deadline or a specific page count.

Lions fans are hungry for news and analysis as much they crave wins on the football field. To that end, staff writers Matt Mowery and Dave Pemberton along with columnist Pat Caputo, online editor Stephen Frye and yours truly will be contributors to this site. While Mowery and Pemberton won’t have their laptop computers just outside the practice site as Pasche will, both writers will spend enough time on the beat to provide features and analysis pieces. Both Mowery and Pemberton are seasoned journalists and have been behind the scenes contributors to Lions coverage in recent years.

The idea is to first and foremost, break news and educate you to the best of our ability as news happens regarding the Lions. Beyond that, however, we also hope to tap into this new form of communication by doing our best to entertain and have fun with Detroit’s pro football team.

You. of course, are encouraged to take part in the process. When you don’t agree with something we’ve written, by all means, let us know. When you have a question you think one of our reporters should ask a player or coach, again, let us know.

When a writer posts a story or an opinion on this blog, you’ll be able to identify a name at the end. While we don’t require the same from you, act as if your name appeared at the end. It’s easy to speak your mind when no one knows who you are or where you live.

When a player drops a punt or fumbles the ball, his name is right there on the back of his jersey for all to see. When a reporter or columnist posts a blog, his or her name and reputation are at stake. Keep that in mind when you chime in on this site. State your opinion with the same amount of respect and confidence as if your name and reputation were on the line.

Our intention is to keep feeding this site with fresh news and opinions. Expect to find something on this site Monday-Friday even as the team remains in a deep sleep until the start of training camp.

As news breaks, we’ll report it. If things remain quiet, we’ll do our best to entertain and encourage interaction to kill the time between now and the end of the month.

Enough said. Like the Lions, we hope this is the start of something big. How big will be determined in large part by you.

Jeff Kuehn,

sports editor