Detroit Rock City

I've never talked about sports on this blog, although I've been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. I fell away from pro sports for a few years due to the infusion of political activism into what was supposed to be escapist entertainment.

I follow a few teams, though. For hockey, of course it's the Montreal Canadiens, the greatest franchise in the sport's history. I grew up in Eastern Canada, and for the first decade of my life the Hockey Night in Canada feature was almost always Montreal. I moved to Ontario in the early 1980s, where suddenly I was exposed to the Maple Leafs all the time. And for those who remember, the Leafs in the 1980s absolutely SUCKED. And I couldn't see the team I wanted to watch, which made things even worse.

In baseball, I'm still a die-hard Montreal Expos fan, but they're not in the league anymore. So, it's the Blue Jays. And it's been a frustrating few years of playoff futility after sky-high expectations.

I don't follow basketball or soccer; for the World Cup, obviously I cheer on Canada, and if the Raptors are doing really well I might catch a few highlights, but basketball really isn't my thing.

Then, there's football...

There are two pro leagues for me to follow: The CFL, and the NFL. In the CFL, I'm going to cheer for either the Montreal Alouettes (who just won the Grey Cup!), or the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. If they're playing each other, it's the Alouettes. The first Grey Cup I remember watching starred Montreal and Edmonton, and it was a blowout (41-6, if I recall correctly), but I spent a few years living in Hamilton and got to catch a few games at the old Ivor Wynne Stadium, so the Ticats are a soft-spot for me.

Then there's the NFL. For the longest time, I was a Steelers fan (and I absolutely loved the Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl), but after moving to Wallaceburg to be with my Honeybunny, I got a steady dose of the Detroit Lions on the radio, and I started following them quite a bit. I was there for the 0-16 season and the playoff heartbreaks (and all the ridiculous ref calls that cost the Lions at least a dozen games over the years), and I was intrigued at the hiring of the new regime of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell.

And now, after decades of futility and one playoff win in 65 years, the Lions are one win away from making it to their first-ever Super Bowl. We don't have cable or satellite, so I can't watch the games live (I'm not paying for streaming services either), but I do listen to them on radio broadcasts or through YouTubers streaming the game (shout-out to Mr. Tom Grossi of Packast, who is streaming all the games this year). I listened to the Lions-Bucs game yesterday, and while it wasn't quite the same as listening to a radio broadcast, it was exciting enough, and the highlights afterward were sweet to see.

The Lions are a team that has been snake-bitten for decades, and now they are finally overcoming the stigma of being the 'Same Old Lions' that has plagued them for longer than I've been alive. For perspective, Toronto Maple Leafs fans pining for their twelfth Stanley Cup after 55 years of waiting need to remember that the Lions' last championship was ten years earlier (1957). That city has been waiting a LONG time for this, and it's great to see.

Here's wishing the Lions the best in the NFC Championship game, and hopefully they can stun the San Francisco 49ers and do what Detroit's been dying to see for decades.