Detroit fan wears NSFW shirt behind Red Wings bench [Photo]

1. I am Detroit Lions fan. There, I said it. I suppose if scores other lowly Lion fans like me were in the room that they would morosely greet me, akin to an AA meeting and moan, “Hi John.” They know the feeling.
   It hurts. Not like Jalen Hurts. We will come to that later.
   My father is a Lions fan. His father was a Lions fan. Family lore has it that my grandfather had a tryout for the Lions during the Depression but soon realized that the wages and benefits of a union laborer in the Motor City were a far better and a more stable way to earn a living. It still may be.
   My father grew to be a football fan during the Golden Age of professional football – the 1950s. During that decade the Lions won three NFL championships in five years. They were led by the great Bobby Layne and according to my Dad they dominated other teams with great players who were great leaders.
   Then things started to drastically change. Layne was traded away. Sure, the Lions would battle the Packers – and even occasionally win – the 1962 Thanksgiving Day Massacre where Alex Karras and Joe Schmidt led a defense that brutally roughed up Lombardi’s lads in front of fans in old Tiger Stadium. We will come back to the Packers.
   Towards the end of the decade there was even a book, Paper Lion, by George Plimpton which was turned into a movie with the same name starring Alan Alda and the actual Lions. They still lost.
   I remember when Tom Dempsey, who was born without toes on his right foot and without four fingers on his right hand, kicked a 63-yard field goal – a record which stood for years – will come back to that – that gave his New Orleans Saints a 19-17 last-second win over the Lions in the Big Easy.
   I recall the Lions losing to the Dallas Cowboys 5-0. Yes, that was the score, more like baseball shutout rather than a gridiron contest. The lowest scoring post-season game ever. When Bill Munson’s pass was tipped and intercepted my father bolted up out of his chair like he was ejecting from a jet aircraft. I know. I was sitting on the floor in front of him. He was seething with resentment for the Cowboys.
   The next year the Lions were the only team ever to have a player die during a game. Chuck Hughes was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Texas. He later played for the Eagles before joining the Lions in the 1970 season. The next year, late in the game, with Detroit trailing 28–23, Hughes, a tight end, was a decoy on a pass play. After the play ended he began running back to the huddle. Suddenly, he dropped to the turf clutching his chest around the 20-yard line. Both teams’ doctors and trainers, along with a physician who happened to be attending the game, ran to Hughes to try to save him. He died that afternoon.
   The Lions would lose and lose and lose. They would lose to the Packers, the Vikings, and Bears regularly.
   On Thanksgiving, in 1980, the Lions and Bears were tied 17-17 at the end of regulation. It was the first Thanksgiving game to go into overtime. Da Bears returned the overtime kickoff for a touchdown and it was then the shortest overtime at 13 seconds — a regular-season record that stands today.
   In 1983 the Lions lost to the San Francisco 49ers by one point 24-23 in the playoffs. The Lions kicker made three field goals, including a postseason record 54-yard kick, but missed two attempts in the fourth quarter, the second a potential game-winning 43-yard kick with five seconds left.
   I am not making these things up. Still, they had a magical moment in the Pontiac Silverdome. If fact one game was pure magic. I know. I was there.
   In 1992 I was home on military leave when my father’s best man called and asked if my father and I wanted to join him to see the Lions play the Cowboys again in the playoffs. This time they scored their only playoff win in the Super Bowl era in franchise history. Detroit pummeled the visiting Dallas Cowboys, 38-6, to win the NFC divisional-round matchup. I thought my father would weep for joy.
   It was short-lived. They lost the next round.
   The Lions were at Philadelphia on December 30th, 1995, and lost the wild card game. I was stationed at the Pentagon but was up for a wedding in Villanova and was watching in the kitchen with the staff when the Eagles scored 31 unanswered points in the second quarter. During the best man’s toast to the couple wedding guests could hear me cry out in pain.
   In 1998 I was in Baltimore with my beautiful bride as we watched the Ravens beat the Lions. My brand new brother-in-law, an ardent Ravens fan, gave us the tickets as a wedding gift. The Lions lost and Barry Sanders retired. He knew he had to leave to save himself.
   In November 2004 the gallant Marines with whom I served in Iraq were featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Dailey News as being passionate Eagles fan and warriors serving in harm’s way. The articles noted among them was a Detroit Lion fan … uh me. And the articles noted that the Eagles beat the Lions that year 30-13 and I lost a bet on a game. True story.
   In 2008 the Lions made history by becoming the first team since the schedule was expanded to 16 games to finish winless. The first Monday after their opening season loss I wore my Detroit Lions sweatshirt to the gym in Wayne, PA. The other early morning gym rats, all Eagle fans, jeered. Each Monday I wore the sweatshirt as a matter of pride or sickness, depending on your perspective. At the end of the year I burned the sweatshirt hoping an exorcism like approach might work. It did not.
   In 2013 Philadelphia beat Detroit 34-20 in a sudden snowstorm. I was at our son’s peewee football banquet surrounded by ecstatic Eagles fans. We were ahead and we blew the lead. My son could not understand why I was so sad. He is an Eagles fan.
   In 2015 we witnessed “The Miracle in Motown” when on the final play of the game Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers launched a desperate Hail Mary pass to beat the Lions at home on Thanksgiving. My father is a kind and gentle man but do not mention Rogers around my father. There is no silver lining.
   My family and I went to a game and saw the Eagles win in preseason against the Bills. We then cheered them onto to an amazing Super Bowl year! My wife and four children were at the parade downtown. I was returning from the National Prayer Breakfast but listening to the celebration on radio. I prayed the Lions would one day win a Super Bowl.
   This year is sad for the Eagles and the Lions. I won’t even go on about the two games lost on last second field goals. My father is in the hospital away from his loving bride. He is struggling. He will watch the Lions just as he has for more than three quarters of a century. They are only one of four teams never to have been to the Super Bowl. The family joke someone will offer is – “They are a young team.” The inferred meaning is that they have a future. I don’t know. I pray for my father and I root for the Lions but time is running out. Now we have lived in the Philly area for more than 15 years. So, I will be truly pleased for Eagles fans if Philly wins. However, I am wearing my Lions socks on game day still hopeful and calling my Dad after the game so that we Lions fans can celebrate or lament together win or lose.

2. I am the fan wearing the shirt. I am a Detroiter living in DC. When I was younger, I couldn’t afford Red Wings tickets. This game was my first ever Red Wings hockey game and it happened to be in DC and they won!!! When have you ever known a Detroiter to be safe for work? My next bucket list item is to throw the octopus out on the ice and hopefully ride on the Zamboni.

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