Away Game Report

Ben, my Giants friend, completed the football exacta this weekend, hitting his alma mater’s showdown with Ohio State in Ann Arbor on Saturday, and then going to Detroit for the Giants-Lions game on Sunday.

 

Here’s his take of Ford Field and the Detroit Lions faithful.

 

The NFL Away Game Report – Giants at Lions, 10/18/2007

 

PARKING:

I drove to the Detroit in the morning.  Am I a loser for going to a football game alone?  No more than I am loser for going to a movie alone.  Or the Van Halen concert alone.  Or a Rush concert alone (btw – they played Fly by Night over the PA, nice!).

 

As I was graduating from Ann Arbor, Detroit was legalizing gambling.  I had not been back in almost 10 years to Detroit.  Getting off the freeway, I parked at the new Greektown Casino parking deck.  I figured a casino parking lot would be free (and I was correct).  The lots closest to the stadium cost between $25 and $45.  But is free parking in a casino lot actually free?  Or is there a hidden cost?

 

We know that NFL games attract a certain caliber of person.  Imagine if to get your team's football game, you (or your also gambling-addicted brother) had to walk through two casino floors.  It was a wild scene of gamblers wearing Honolulu blue and silver.  In the 15 minutes I was there -- two and a half hours to game time -- the blackjack minimum went from $5 to $15 dollars to suck the fans dry.  The twenty bucks you save on parking is indubitably going onto a table or into a machine.

 

Because it is right downtown, there is no room for lots of parking spaces.  Some vacant lots at ground level,  but mostly parking decks.  Many, including myself, believe that the best place in the whole world is tailgating at the parking lot outside Giants Stadium (although not for the next few years).  But Detroit does not seem great for hanging around outside.

 

NEIGHBORHOOD:

The look of Detroit has been described as something akin to Dresden, Germany -- circa 1945.  It is not pretty – decrepit, empty buildings and other forms of blight.  But it has its moments.  Outside the Greektown Casino is obviously Greektown.  Pretty cool little neighborhood.  I bought a paper to read about the UM/OSU disaster and ate a leg of lamb for 13 bucks.  Good deal.  Then only a 10 min walk to the stadium.

 

FACILITIES:

Ford Field is obviously indoors – I am not a fan of the concept.  I liked the stadium.  It was bright, shiny, and new.  There are windows to let in sunlight, which is a big deal.  I remember the Silverdome, which was a disaster.  Ford Field is less than 2/3rds the size of the Silverdome.  The best part for Detroit is that there were no empty seats.  Meaning that Lions fans who can't make the game can actually see the game.  Because in my four years in Michigan, I could count on one hand the number of Lions home games on TV.  Most were blacked out due to games not being sold out.  As NFC East fans of teams with stadiums sold out every week, we have never been in this predicament.  But let me tell you, it is one depressing mess on Sunday without the home team on. 

 

(I remember that my Lions fan friend moved to Portland, Oregon after college and got more Lions games than he would have seen in Detroit.  Why exactly?  Because Portland always got the Lions game because the Lions were Joey [Harrington]’s Team.  Classic.)

 

Food options seemed plentiful.  Johnsonville Brats everywhere, Greektown gyros looked good, and obviously plenty of beer.

 

FANS:

The press made this game out to be their biggest since the playoff game in DC in 1999.  But even with that motivation, the fans were not nearly loud enough.  I really think that the lack of weather, the lack of cold to encourage body movement, hinders any home field advantage.  Add in the fact that the fans don't truly believe that their team might be good – which they are not – and you have trouble.

 

I feel like most college-educated fans in Michigan focus more on football Saturdays, making the Lions a distant second.  Maybe I am used to the blue-blooded bourgeois Giants fans, but I thought that the average Lions fan I interacted with was inordinately dumb.  Or maybe it was just the guy behind me, who actually was not only dumb, but apparently Canadian (living in Windsor).

 

Aside from the fight a few rows back, harassment of opposing team fans in Detroit was minimal.  Fans were not particularly knowledgeable, but were also not too crass or outlandish (a la

Philadelphia or Jets).  Steady flow of fans leaving with 10 minutes to go and the Lions down 16-3.  Too much time left to be leaving the game when 17-16 is such a plausible scenario.  And sure enough, a two minute drive and a TD by the Lions brought them right back in it.  Then Kitna throws a pick with just over two minutes to go.  Fans exit.  WHY?  You have three timeouts and a two-minute warning.  Sure enough, the Lions get the back with a minute and a half.  But the fans who left must have known the Lions better than I did.  Because sure enough, another pick by the Giants sealed the deal.

 

OVERALL:

It is hard to overstate how bad the Lions are historically.   It was a hysterical kick in the pants to Lions fans when in 1996 the Jacksonville Jaguars won two playoff games in their second season of existence.  After all, this is a team with one playoff win in the past fifty years!!! 

 

Despite that history, the Lions have sold out every game since they moved into the new building.  The beautiful facility was a huge upgrade from the Silverdome, and a heck of a lot more convenient.  No traffic in or out for me.

 

It had been ten years since the Giants played at the Lions.  I hope it is not another ten years before I get to go back and watch the Giants in the D.  Maybe next time someone will be willing to go with me.