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DETROIT (AP) — Eminem stood alongside Professional Soccer Corridor of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson earlier than the Detroit Lions hosted a playoff sport for the primary time in three a long time, absorbing an electrical ambiance at Ford Area.
“The power within the constructing was wonderful,” Johnson mentioned in a phone interview, taking a break from snowboarding in Utah. “You could possibly really feel it. I want we may’ve had that type of expertise.”
He’s not alone.
Detroit was an NFL powerhouse a very long time in the past, successful three league titles from 1952 to 1957 within the pre-Tremendous Bowl period, and the franchise had just one postseason win and that was with Sanders within the backfield 32 years in the past and didn’t have success after the common season with Johnson catching passes from Matthew Stafford.
Till final Sunday’s victory.
The Lions beat the Stafford-led Los Angeles Rams 24-23 in a wild-card sport that whipped the group into a lot of a frenzy that the decibels have been virtually as loud as a jet engine.
Detroit’s celebration may get kicked up a notch.
The Lions are internet hosting Tampa Bay on Sunday, enjoying a second residence playoff sport in a single postseason for the primary time in staff historical past.
Singer Bob Seger, actor Jeff Daniels, actor, author and producer Keegan-Michael Key — all from Michigan — are anticipated to attend the divisional sport together with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and one of many staff’s greatest followers: Eminem.
The rapper has expressed himself and shared his fandom lately on Instagram, saying his New Yr’s decision was for the Lions to win the Tremendous Bowl and asking Stafford for a favor.
“Are you able to simply allow us to have this one?” Eminem requested in a submit final week.
Now, Eminem is playfully asking coach Dan Campbell to place him within the sport.
“I’m going to be there that night time,” Eminem mentioned. “I’ll swimsuit up, and I’ll rating us the successful landing within the third quarter.”
If Detroit, which is favored by virtually a landing by FanDuel Sportsbook, beats the Buccaneers it should transfer a step nearer to doubtlessly reaching the Tremendous Bowl for the primary time.
Whereas there are scores of long-suffering followers within the Motor Metropolis, it has additionally attracted some new ones and engaged with them within the digital age.
Sweta Patel, who was born in India and lives in suburban Detroit, didn’t know what a primary down was a couple of decade in the past. The 41-year-old Patel has developed her information of the sport and affinity for the group because of some interactions on social media and in individual as a season-ticket holder.
When she posted on social media about having knee surgical procedure, Lions gamers wished her a speedy restoration. When Patel shared that she had a miscarriage in 2021, she heard from Campbell himself shortly after he was employed.
“He’s only a man of the individuals,” she mentioned. “His voice was virtually cracking in that video, and it simply actually introduced some consolation to me.”
Mike McCord and hundreds of thousands extra in Michigan have waited a very long time for his or her favourite staff to deliver them pleasure.
The 68-year-old McCord was a toddler when his late father, Darris, a Professional Bowl defensive lineman, helped Detroit beat Cleveland at Briggs Stadium, which was later generally known as Tiger Stadium, for the NFL title in 1957.
McCord started attending video games six-plus a long time in the past and his household has had season-tickets for greater than a half-century, passing the eagerness for the Honolulu Blue and Silver all the way down to his 36-year-old daughter, Riley.
“It’s been a protracted 50 years,” he mentioned. “We’ve been by means of thick and skinny — principally skinny.”
The Lions hit all-time low in 2008, changing into the NFL’s first 0-16 staff, in the course of the worst nine-season stretch within the league since World Warfare II. Throughout a very putrid stretch of futility, soccer historians had to return to the Dayton Triangles in the course of the Nineteen Twenties to discover a staff that misplaced so typically.
When coach Matt Patricia was fired in the course of the 2020 season, Mike McCord was prepared to surrender his tickets on the 40-yard line within the twenty second row behind Detroit’s bench.
McCord’s daughter, hoping to seal the deal to resume the household’s 4 tickets, had a customized espresso cup made with the phrases “One Extra Yr” beneath the staff’s emblem.
“We didn’t know what that subsequent season was going to appear like,” Riley McCord mentioned. “So, I received that cup.”
Crew proprietor Sheila Ford Hamp started to show the staff round three years in the past when she lastly landed a successful mixture within the entrance workplace and on the sideline, hiring common supervisor Brad Holmes and Campbell.
The Lions constructed momentum by closing the final season with eight wins over the past 10 video games and lived as much as unusually excessive expectations in 2023, tying a franchise document with 12 wins within the common season and incomes a division title for the primary time in three a long time.
“Detroit’s an incredible sports activities city,” McCord mentioned. “We’ve seen the Tigers win it. We’ve seen the Pistons win it. We’ve seen the Crimson Wings win it. We’ve seen a number of good issues, however by no means from our Lions.
“We hope that is the yr to lastly relieve that ache, and I believe they may do it. That’s the great factor. We’re nonetheless in it, and we may go all the best way.”
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