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DETROIT — The roar was primal. It was visceral. It was generational. It felt like it couldn’t get louder, and then it did. It felt like it couldn’t last, and then it never waned. It rattled the beams of Ford Field and poured out television sets across the country.
It was loud, of course. Sixty-six thousand-plus screaming Detroit Lions fans inside a roofed stadium downtown. That doesn’t count the millions more in crowded bars or living room watch parties or just alone, pacing in nervous panic, at least until head coach Dan Campbell called for victory formation, the scoreboard secure at Lions 24, Rams 23.
But this was about more than traditional crowd noise — whether designed to distract or celebrate — because this was more than just a NFL wild-card game. It was the roar that some waited 32 seasons to deliver as sure many others had lost hope that it would ever arrive.
It came from the depths of so many lost seasons and so many lost chances; lost chances at what they were now, at last, experiencing. So often across the decades it didn’t even feel like Detroit had an NFL team, at least not in anything but a supporting role.
They hadn’t hosted, let alone won, a playoff game since the 1991 season. Prior to that, no postseason victories since 1957. Instead, they had winless campaigns and Millen Man Marches and ridiculous moments, like the time a player who got cut and stole the luggage of his replacement, or the time an assistant coach was arrested for being drunk and naked in the Wendy’s drive-thru, or the time …
That was the Lions, a punchless recurring punch line, a constant reminder of failure in a city that desperately wants to be seen for what is becoming, not what it once was.
All the while they had to watch other fans in other communities, even expansion franchises and bandwagon supporters, enjoy the thrill of professional football.
These magical January nights, these playoff runs, have a way of galvanizing communities. They transcend city and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/32-years-of-frustration-for-lions-fans-ended-with-one-deafening-celebration-in-detroit-070216255.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-01-15 07:02:16
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