Lions Fans, We Have To Do Better
The Lions have winners on the field, they need to have class in the stands.
This past Sunday the Detroit Lions took on the Minnesota Vikings in one of the biggest regular season games in NFL history. They emerged triumphant by a score of 31-9. Lions fans had the right to be jubilant, excited, joyous and exuberant. However there are accounts coming from Minnesota fans as well the spouses and significant others of Vikings players about Lions fans exuding arrogant, disgusting, rude and appalling behavior towards them. Now I’m not unfamiliar with rowdy fan behavior but this is the first time I've heard about it being talked about in good portion after a game at Ford Field.
Now I wouldn't be writing this article or feeling as strongly as I do if it wasn't for my interactions with Minnesota Vikings fans this past weekend. Starting with my longtime Facebook friends the Dawson's who came up to the Motor City from the home of the Alamo. It was required and desired to meet them and I did the night before the game and a time was had. Couple that with the tailgate which saw me meet the known Lions superfan Ron “Crackman” Crachiola and Vikings superfan Sir Death, his girlfriend among others. I can't say it enough, every single Vikings fans I met was nice, friendly, approachable, kind and respectful.
Me and Vanessa “The Viqueen”
Now when I made my post about the game that was before I saw my friend Vanessa's post about what she experienced at Ford Field. She spoke of Lions fans physically hitting her shoulder pads and even taking her horns. Sir Death posted of a drunk Lions fan nearly pushing his 8 month pregnant girlfriend down the stairs. Vikings LB Blake Cashman’s girlfriend spoke of Lions fans wishing injuries on Vikings players and Vikings OL Dalton Risner’s wife said she was touched and heckled by Lions fans throughout the game.
I am not a naive person by any stretch of the imagination. I'm more than aware that there are loud, boisterous and obnoxious fans everywhere representing every team. The experience of the significant others of Vikings players harkens back to last year's wild card matchup at Ford Field between the Los Angeles Rams where Kelly Stafford, wife of current Rams and former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, spoke of Lions fans harassing her and her daughters. This prompted her to say she wouldn't return to Ford Field although she did when the Lions hosted the Rams on the first Sunday Night Football game of the year.
At the time I didn't believe it just because there had never been such claims about a game at Ford Field. Now a year later and personally hanging out with these people who have been at other stadiums and interacted with other fans I'm inclined to believe them.
Sir Death, Vanessa and me
Now this is where I piss people off. I'm pretty damn confident of the drunk asshats who did this shit at Ford Field Sunday night. Not to play the color line but those within the city limits know good and goddamn well 36th District Court is right down the street as well as the Wayne County Jail. Not to mention those tickets costed an arm, leg and an appendix. A group of Lions is called a pride, it's supposed to be #OnePride. There is no pride on hearing about people coming from the suburbs and exhibiting poor sportsmanship, unkindness and disrespect just because someone is a fan of a different team.
If you call yourself a Lions fan, then show pride but respect. I know we have been ranked among the leagues best for the last couple of seasons but with new found success should be values that should be more instilled and engrained than the bricks in Corktown. This is a team, a city, a community on the rise and with now more national attention than it's had in a long time. The NFL Draft was just here this past spring and there was nothing but rave reviews all over. If you can't handle winning or losing without getting drunk and being a dick to opponents than keep y'all drunk asses home in the ‘burbs.
Again I know it's not going to be sunshine and rainbows but can we act like we've got some damn sense and decency. Detroit is a great city that has a great football team, we need to have the fans to match. Not just in terms of devotion to it's team but the behavior inside and outside the stadium.