 Bridgman, MI—The bandwagon for the Detroit Lions this year has had to add many additional seats. The Lions’ exceptional rise to prominence in the National Football Conference of the National Football League has been well documented.
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Their performance at the last game of the regular season on Jan. 5 was broadcast nationally by NBC Sunday Night Football and received one of the highest ratings ever for a regular season NFL game.
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More than 28 million people across the country tuned in to watch the game, where the Detroit Lions beat their divisional rival Minnesota, to end the season 15-2, the best regular season record the team has ever had, and the best record in their NFC conference this year.
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People across the country are now starting to root for the Lions, which for many decades were one of the armpit teams in the league. Sports journalists now refer to them as "America's Team," a title exclusively held by the Dallas Cowboys for many years.
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I was not able to watch the Jan. 5 game on TV. That's because I received my all-time best Christmas present; a ticket to the game from my niece Lisa and her husband Dave, who have been on the Lion's bandwagon for many years.
Just as important as the ticket itself (which was electronic) was the tutorial on how to bring up the ticket barcode on my phone, so that I could avert the near disaster that occurred at the Thanksgiving game when I couldn't navigate the steps needed to present the barcode ticket at the entrance to Ford Field.
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Before all of the hard work of the past three years, and exceptional leadership in the Detroit Lions organization via Shiela Ford Hemp (owner), Brad Holmes (general manager), and beloved coach turned national celebrity Dan Campbell, there were countless years of drought and futility.
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When I was growing up in Michigan in the late 50s and 60s, the Lions had a great team. I jumped on the Lions’ bandwagon as a child when my father bought our family's first TV to watch Lions games.
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However, starting in the late 70s and for several decades, following the team, staying on the bandwagon and remaining loyal, took faith, hope and maybe even a bit of charity. People were jumping off the bandwagon in droves.
In the 15 years I lived in Maryland and Virginia, I had two friends who were diehard Lions fans who kept their seats on the bandwagon with me:Â Michel Augsburger and Danny Harris. Other than those two, there was no one else in the area whom I could turn to for solace after an all too frequent beating the team would suffer. I remember one time when I put a Lions flag on my car, the not-so-friendly horn honks and obscene gestures I received were too numerous to count.
In the four years I lived on Guam— an island paradise in the Pacific with a population of about 150,000—I didn't find one person holding a Lions bandwagon seat. Many Guamanians were fans of the San Fransico Forty Niners. My friend Dr. Tom Shieh was such an avid Green Bay Packer fan that he would fly to Green Bay at least once a year to see his team play. When the Packers would play my Lions, usually Green Bay would win and Dr. Shieh would inform me of the outcome.
Maine, a fabulous state, was my home for more than 15 years. While living there, I hadn't met anyone who'd been on the Lion's bandwagon until I met Duane and his wife Michell, who were my Uber passengers on Jan. 22, 2017.
It turned out to be one of my best drives ever. I drove Uber for more than a year while based in Portland, ME after returning from Guam.
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I signed on to Uber at about 5 p.m. that rainy January day, lamenting to myself that I'd never had the good fortune to get an assignment to Boston. My first ride request came at 5:32 p.m. from a Duane, to be picked up at the Portland airport baggage claim area. Â
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As I was loading their luggage into my trunk, Duane said, "We're headed down to Boston, do you have a problem with that?" What? Is the Pope Catholic? Is the sky blue? "Of course, I don't have a problem with that!" I replied.
As we settled in for the 100-mile journey, I learned that they were from a suburb of the Detroit area, just about 30 miles from where I grew up.
Duane and Michele owned a construction company, had been visiting their daughter in Waterville, ME, and were returning to Detroit for an important meeting the following morning.
However, their flight fro Portland to Detroit that evening had been canceled. So, they booked a flight from Boston to Detroit early the next morning and needed to get down to the Hilton Hotel by the Boston airport for the night.
As our conversation covered things we had in common as fellow Michiganders, the topic of sports soon popped up. Duane and Michele had been on the Lions’ bandwagon going way back, just like I had, and had never jumped off. We talked about the last championship in 1957. I told them I was a season ticket holder starting in 1975 when the team moved from Tiger Stadium in Detroit to the Pontiac Silverdome. Â
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  I shared with them the story of my climbing a fence to get into Super Bowl XVI in 1982 at the Pontiac Silverdome and learned they attended that game-- with legitimate seats.Â
As we arrived in the Boston area, they invited me to join them for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Boston. After dinner, as I was unloading their luggage at the Hilton, we hugged, and Duane placed a folded bill in my hand, which I placed in my pocket.
When I arrived home, I pulled the bill out of my pocket, expecting to see the picture of Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Jackson. Instead, it was the picture of Ulysses S. Grant.
That was the start of a beautiful friendship, which is even stronger now. I realize how neat it is to have friends who have been on the Lions’ bandwagon with me, since before it was cool.
Theodore Lewis is the former CEO of Guam Memorial Hospital and has a healthcare consulting business in Bridgman, MI. He is collecting stories about lessons learned in life and can be reached at theodorelewis@yahoo.com.
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