21 the one, 2024, 7:15 a.m. ET
After so many difficult years, Detroit arrives as a favorite for its Divisional Round matchup against the Buccaneers
Eminem stood alongside two Hall of Famers, Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, before the Detroit Lions hosted a postseason game for the first time in three decades, taking in an electric atmosphere at Ford Field.
“The energy in the room was amazing,” Johnson said in a phone interview while taking a break from snowboarding in Utah. “You could feel it. I wish we had had an experience like that.”
He’s not the only one who sees it that way.
Eminem was with Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson before the Wild Card Round matchup. Leigh Bacho/Getty Images
Detroit was once a powerhouse in the NFL, winning three championships from 1952 to 1957 in the pre-Super Bowl era, but the franchise had only one postseason victory since then.
Until his most recent victory, last Sunday.
The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams, led by Matt Stafford, 24-23 in a Wild Card Round game that unleashed a frenzy among the fans to the point that the decibels were as loud as those of a jet engine.
Subscribe to Star+!
Enjoy all ESPN content and much more through Star+. Subscribe NOW.
This Sunday the Lions host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They will play their second home postseason game in a playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Singer Bob Seger, actor Jeff Daniels, writer, producer and actor Keegan-Michael Key — all from Michigan — are expected to attend the Divisional Round game along with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and one of the team’s biggest fans: Eminem.
The rapper has been vocal and shared his fervor on Instagram, saying his New Year’s wish would be for the Lions to win the Super Bowl and asking Stafford for a favor.
“Can you let us win this one [partido]” Eminem asked the former Lions player in a post last week.
Now, Eminem jokingly asks head coach Dan Campbell to put him “to play.”
While there are many long-suffering fans in the Motor City, the team has also attracted some new ones and hooked them into the digital age.
Sweta Patel, born in India and living in suburban Detroit, didn’t know what a first try was a decade ago. The 41-year-old Patel has improved her knowledge of the game and her affinity for the organization through some interactions on social media and in person as a subscriber.
Editorial Selections
When he posted on social media that he would undergo knee surgery, Lions players wished him a speedy recovery. When Patel shared that he had a miscarriage in 2021, he received a few words from Campbell himself after being hired.
“He’s the people’s man,” Patel said. “His voice was cracking in that video, and that comforted me a little bit.”
Mike McCord and millions of others in Michigan have long hoped their favorite team will bring them joy.
McCord, 68, was a toddler when his late father, Darris, a Pro Bowl defensive lineman, helped Detroit beat Cleveland at Briggs Stadium, later renamed Tigers Stadium, for the NFL championship. in 1957.
More than six decades ago, McCord began attending the matches, and her family has been subscribers for more than half a century, passing on that passion for Honolulu blue and silver to her 36-year-old daughter Riley.
The Lions hit rock bottom in 2008, becoming the first team in NFL history to go 0-16 during the league’s worst nine-season stretch since World War II.
“Detroit is a great sports city,” McCord said. “We’ve seen the Tigers win. We’ve seen the Pistons win. We’ve gotten to see the Red Wings win. We’ve seen good things, but never our Lions.”
The Lions began to create expectations by ending last season with eight wins in their last 10 games. They generated unusually high expectations in 2023, tying a franchise record with 12 regular-season wins and winning a division title for the first time in three decades.
2024-01-21 12:15:00
#Lions #give #fans #reason #excited
