The Detroit Tigers have finished their season, but now there’s something else to be excited about in Detroit: the Lions.
Last season, the Lions were okay. I cheered for the Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl because the Lions beat them in the regular season. Therefore, I could go around saying, “Well the Lions beat the Super Bowl Champions…” They ended the season with a few wins, maybe as a foreshadowing into what the 2011 season could be like.
Then there was the lockout. Football fans were worried. I was worried. Would the sport that goes hand-to-hand with fall not be played this year? My worries were put to rest once the preseason began.
The Lions came out and won all four of their preseasons game. Could the regular season start out the same way?
Lions fans tuned into the first game of the season and watched as Matthew Stafford threw 305 yards to lead the team to a victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The next week, the opponent was different, but the outcome was the same. The Lions creamed the Kansas City Chiefs. The following week, Jason Hanson kicked the winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Minnesota Vikings. The week after that, it was a come from behind victory over Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. The Lions were 4-0.
For the first time in a decade, the Lions would be featured on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. for Monday Night Football (MNF). It’s the same Lions team that last appeared in the playoffs in 1999. It’s the same Lions team that just three years ago went 0-16.
The players have changed over the years, but they all represent the same team: the Detroit Lions. It’s not about the name on the back of the jersey and how each player performs individually. It’s about the team whose color each player wears on a daily basis.
And on that Monday night in October, all of the players proved why the Lions should make an appearance on MNF more often. The Lions defeated their division opponent, the Chicago Bears.
By this point, the Lions have started the 2011 with a 5-0 record. The last time the Lions had a 5-0 record, Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of the United States.
The San Francisco 49ers brought the Lions their first loss of the season, but that doesn’t change what the first five victories have given the city of Detroit.
Things are changing in Detroit. Sports teams are being successful. I’m glad I can be proud of the teams that I support. The Lions aren’t a laughingstock anymore.
The sports teams I’ve cheered for all of my life have given me, as a fan, more than victories. They’ve given me hope. I believe they’ve given the city of Detroit hope when it appeared that all was lost.
The roar of the crowd at Ford Field on that Monday night could be the perfect representation of this renewed sense of hope. It stopped becoming about cheering for the players and the team, but for the city as well.
We may not be back on top, but if the way the sports team have been representing our city is any proof to what can happen, we are well on our way.
[WRITER’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE OCTOBER 2011 EDITION OF “THE PULSE”]