DETROIT — I’ve seen more 100,000 fans pack into college towns and been in a stadium where the press box shakes when fans begin to chant.
But I’ve been warned that Ford Field on a Detroit Lions gameday is something else.
“You’re going to love it. It’s going to be loud,” Tiffany James from Westfield said. “Hope you’ve got some ear plugs, because there’s going to be screaming.”
Thanks to my colleagues at MLive, I did indeed grab a set of ear plugs before arriving for my first regular-season game Sunday. I got my feet wet during the Lions’ two preseason matchups, so I at least know how to get in the building and where I’m supposed to go before and after games.
But the true Lions gameday atmosphere — particularly one against an NFC North foe in the Chicago Bears — is something I’ve been anticipating since moving to Michigan a few months ago.
I’m from Texas where football is king and they say everything’s bigger. But Lions fans have provided a quick crash course in Detroit football.
“Some great energy. You’re going to hear the crowd helping,” Rico Mauricio from Lincoln Park said. “It’s going to get real, real noisy. It’s going to be fun.”
Walking around the stadium hours before kickoff, the energy was already palpable.
Fans are discussing who is going to score the first touchdown and tailgaters are playing catch, making one-handed grabs and yelling “TeSlaa!” (It didn’t take long for rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa’s name to become slang for making a big play in Detroit.)
Talking to fans, it’s clear that what guys like TeSlaa and returning stars like Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown, who have built the Lions into a back-to-back division champion, all share something in common with their fans.
“We have heart,” Andrew Yates of Novi said. “I watched a video online from a couple of years ago where they introduced the Lions, and there was fans clapping and applauding, as opposed to last year, everyone’s on their feet, they’re cheering, they’re excited, they’re roaring. The shift in the Lions fandom has just exploded and I love it.”
A winning culture under coach Dan Campbell has become beloved by fans.
James has been a supporter since she was a kid during the days of Barry Sanders and she never forgot the excitement and energy that came with a player like the Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Crowds still showed up for down years, but now that the Lions are playing high-level football, some fans are reliving the glory of when they fell in love with the team.
“We’ve been waiting for something like this for so long,” Mauricio said. “We’ve had great seasons before, way before, but now to get it again, it’s been long waited.”
I wasn’t the only one out and about around the stadium, eager for my first taste of Ford Field.
Angelica, 38, from Lansing has lived in Michigan for eight years, but never made it to a Lions game. She rarely watches football and didn’t tell any of her friends that regularly cheer for the Lions she was heading to the game after making a spur-of-the-moment decision to get tickets Saturday night.
What finally made her take that leap was winning her recent fight with cancer. Angelica figured it was time to check a Lions game off the list.
“I’ve just never been, so I’m doing everything I want to do,” she said.
All Angelica is hoping for is a fun time, a loud atmosphere and of course a Lions win. Based on what I’ve learned from Lions fans today, it should be quite an experience.
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