Grit City Lions Showed Up & The Grit City Faithful Showed Out!

96, The Lodge, Grand River, Woodward, Jefferson and Michigan Avenue. We covered it all by 11AM on Sunday. Errands had me in and out of the city all morning. From Ferndale to Farmington to Corktown, Downtown around and back, DWD was on the move. 

What was the big occasion? That’s easy, it was the first game of the season for this historic Lions’ football season. It’s hard to believe we’re already less than 24  hours from Game 2 of the Detroit Lions NFL Season!

Big shout out to DWD’s longtime homie, Karl P coming in from the ATL to clown around town in The D on a sick sunny September Sunday. 

It was a beautiful day for football as the Detroit Lions kicked off their 2024-25 season. To say expectations were high, would be an understatement. After knocking on the door of the Super Bowl last season, the Lions—and its fans—are ready to kick that door down this season. And to cap it off, the NFL writers room dialed up a doozy for us to open our season with: a rematch of the first round playoff duel with the Los Angeles Rams, and Detroit’s prodigal son, Matt Stafford. Now fully supplanted by our guy, Jared Goff, it was the kind of matchup any championship team should relish.

Speaking of relish, let’s start with the Game 1 tailgate report. Down With Detroit hit the streets early for Game 1, knowing that the fans were ready to show up and show out. Sure enough, a line of cars had formed by 12:00pm waiting for the Eastern Market lots to open. Across the board, the fans we talked to picked a Lions W. These weren’t tepid answers either. These weren’t the ‘once bitten twice shy’ responses you might expect from a fanbase that’s had its hopes dashed on more than one occasion. The mood was cautiously optimistic - a vibe like 90% sure we’re going to win. Again, it’s The Lions. We’re not ready to go 100% confident just yet.

We found great parking in the lot right in front of The Eastern. Not at all crowded and cheaper than a lot of the other $50+ lots closer to the stadium. We also made a quick pitstop into Zeff’s Coney Island in Eastern Market to get nourished. It was shaping up to be a long day - the kind of day that only a coney dog could power.

Across the street from Zeff’s, Shed 2 was jam-packed with fans - we saw championship belts, giants folding chairs, leisure suits, bling, flip cup, food spreads, RVs, lots of Barry Sanders jerseys, a few Rams fans, and of course, plenty of Honolulu blue and silver. Our mission was to hook fans up with some of our newest designs: the new classic rock-inspired MC/DC Back in Blue tour, and the iconic grit city kitty shirt.

For as busy as Shed 2 was, Shed 6 got even deeper. Massive RV parties packed with food and beverages. I was actually surprised by the number of DJs I saw out there keeping the party lit. Being a DJ myself (shout out Say Hey KP) I admired the focus of these men and women—spinning in the middle of that madness was mad distracting! 

We had to level up on man-on-the-street operation, since every tailgate was bringing the heat. So we transformed into the Lions suit, and hit the tailgates one more time, before hitting Russell St. to cross the freeway. We did make one quick stop into Thomas Magee’s Sporting House Whiskey Bar. Excitement was rising as game time got closer, and it felt like nearly every person in the city was headed to the game.

From Russell we hit a right on Gratiot, cut through on Madison, then hung a right on Brush into the most beautiful sea of Lions fans I’ve ever laid eyes on. The street was jam packed, and even the parking garage above the street had fans hanging over the side taking it all in. Of course Elwood Bar & Grill was jammed, and the patio outside was jumping. Across the street in front of Comerica, the NBC Sunday Night Football crew was set up getting ready to broadcast live. Ypsilanti’s own Tony Dungy stood alongside Rodney Harrison and the crowd went wild when the studio crew threw it to them for the pre-game analysis. The crowd lit it up with a JAR-RED GOFF chant that I’m sure the Rams could hear in their locker room it was so loud.

We photo-bombed as many pictures as we could, and even got a chance to interview the legendary Ambassadog, who was super chill and just taking the whole scene. Then it was time to make our way into the game. Not trying to brag, but I’ve been to some of the newer stadiums out there - Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, Minnesota’s new Vikings stadium, the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn - and I’ve got to say I loved how wide open Ford Field felt. Plenty of room to walk in the concourses, plenty of places to watch the game if you’re getting food or using the bathroom; tons of family-friendly stuff to enjoy inside (The Motor City Drum Line, a live band!). Monster slices of pizza from Little Caesars immediately transported me back to my days growing up in Farmington Hills.

And the crowd was off the charts. This was my first time in Ford Field. Obviously you hear a lot of people talk about how loud it gets in there, but being their in person - there’s no way to explain how loud it gets. You just have to be there to hear it for yourself. The first drive when the Rams had the ball was just absolutely deafening.

I don’t need to recap the game - y’all know we got the dub. What I will say though is the fans, at least in our section, were awesome. Equal mix of families and super fans. We even had some Rams fans in our section - most likely Blake Corrum’s family - and the fans were respectful. It’s encouraging to know that Michiganders, even at our most rowdy, are still good people at heart.

Our day wrapped up the same way it started - with some conies at Lafayette. Then we slept for two days afterward.

To all the fans we met on the street, thank you! To all the fans we’ve yet to meet, keep an eye out for us at future events. This is just the start of something great!