DETROIT -- The city has its problems, the economy is still mostly in the dumps, but the spirit of Detroit is alive and well.
Although the Minnesota Vikings chartered four flights for their fans, the crowd of 45,910 at Ford Field Monday night consisted mostly of Michiganders.
Among those finding seats in the lower bowl in the corner of the end zone were Scott Beckley, his wife Michelle, brother Jeff, sister-in-law Shannon, son Andrew and nephews Justin, Jordan and Devon. They came all the way from Flint -- twice.
"My brother and I got up very, very early this morning and drove down here in the freezing, frigid weather, icy roads, and waited in line and happened to be lucky enough to be one of the ones," Beckley said. "We drove down here, waited outside, got our tickets, walked back to the car, drove back to Flint, picked up the kids and the wives."
Beckley shares season tickets with a friend, but their seats aren't as good as the ones they got Monday. The game was a special treat for Andrew, 9, who happens to be a Vikings fan.
"We had just talked last week about getting tickets for next year and driving to Minnesota so he could watch the Vikings play, other than coming here and seeing them," Beckley said. "We were going to do that, we were just talking about that last week and then the thing with the Dome happened. The irony of it, we had to come down here."
Andrew, who was wearing his dad's Cory Schlesinger jersey (he outgrew his own), said he was a Brett Favre fan. Andrew knew that Favre probably wouldn't start.
"I'll still be happy because there's other guys that I like -- Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen, Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin," he said.
Bob Riddle and son Jacob, 9, of Southgate are Lions fans, as demonstrated by Riddle's Lions cap and Matthew Stafford jersey. They found seats in the end zone. Their tickets were courtesy of a cousin who stood in line Monday morning in the cold.
"It was an opportunity for me to take him to the game and it was free, so I thought, 'Why not?'" Riddle said. "I think it's fantastic. It's a great for the sports fans here, it's great for the economy, it's great for everyone. There's no downside."
There was a slight downside for Jacob, who was hoping to see Favre play, "Because I want to see him get crushed."
However, his dad offered him a consolation that he never could at Lions games.
"I told him there were going to be cheerleaders," Riddle said.
The Vikings brought their mascot, Viktor, and their cheerleaders, who performed after the first quarter and several times after that.
The team also sounded its traditional Gjallarhorn.
Brian Miles of Flat Rock was near the front row of the end zone wearing a Favre Vikings jersey, even though he claimed to be a Lions fan who comes to a couple of games a year.
"I like Favre," Miles said. "I actually collect jerseys, so I've got almost every jersey. I just don't have a Giants one. I broke out the Favre because I had it."
While Miles was at work, his friend came down to wait in line for tickets. Miles said he liked the fact that the Lions opened their home to the Vikings -- and to the local fans.
"I think it's pretty cool that they had it," Miles said. "It gave a lot of people a chance that might not get to see an NFL game to come down, get in line, get free tickets and experience an NFL game."
That was exactly what Lions owner William Clay Ford, Sr. wanted.
"When I told Mr. Ford that there was a chance to do this, his directive was to see if we could do it in a way that would allow a lot of our fans to come back, or fans who otherwise maybe couldn't see an NFL game to come down and experience one," Lions president Tom Lewand said. "And it was very important for him to give back to the community if we were going to do this.
"So I credit him for that, but I also give a lot of thanks to the NFL for supporting it. Commissioner (Roger) Goodell was great about wanting to involve the fans. This was a decision we tried to make for NFL fans."
Lewand said the staff met Sunday 45 minutes after the Lions beat the Packers, 7-3, to figure out how they were going to pull off another game. Lewand said dozens of people in all different departments worked through the night to make it happen.
"There were numerous challenges," Lewand acknowledged. "Housekeeping did an unbelievable job. You guys were here early, you couldn't have told that we played a game yesterday. It was spotless.
"The turnaround, they were printing the tickets, getting set up to distribute those this morning. It goes on and on and on. The challenge that was met by our staff was simply unbelievable."
It was also unbelievable the way the fans came out early Monday morning to get the free tickets, which Lewand said were being printed all night long. The Lions distributed 30,000 tickets in under an hour. In all, 45,910 were in attendance Monday night, which included some youth football organizations the Lions were able to contact Monday.
"I was really pleased," Lewand said of the response. "It was exciting. It's just a great testament to our fans. They love football.
"It's a testament to the NFL. Again, I applaud Mr. Ford and the Ford family for pushing to make this a free thing."
Doors opened just before 5:30 p.m. and fans hurried to find the best seats. There were plenty of police officers and security personnel to ensure things did not get out of control, but fans filed in without any trouble.
The Vikings also brought their public address announcer, who made sure to thank the Lions and the city of Detroit several times, beginning at 11:53 of the first quarter.
The Vikings logo was at midfield and in both end zones because they were the official home team. They also piped in some music by Prince, a Minnesota native.
But there were nods to the Motor City, too, including playing Kid Rock's "Born Free" during halftime. Lions fans also started a "Let's go, Lions" cheer during the second quarter.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, they didn't seem to benefit from the "home field" advantage, losing 21-3 to the playoff-hopeful Giants (9-4).
Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, were "embarrassed" and "disgusted" by their performance, but praised that of the Lions' staff.
"The Lions did an incredible job organizing all this at the last minute," Shiancoe said. "Hats off to the ownership and the people that organized that during this whole ordeal."
Said Allen: "I thought everything about Detroit was lovely. I thought the crowd was welcoming, the stadium was nice.
"I didn't expect them to paint our logos on the field. I thought it was as much like a home atmosphere as we could get with the circumstances. Unfortunately, it didn't work out well."
The Giants, who were sent to Kansas City because of the storms in Minnesota before making it to Detroit, also had only good things to say about the city and its fans.
"It was great," defensive tackle Barry Coffield, an Ohio native, said. "I thought it was a good crowd. A lot of people were here, and it was a good football environment.
"It was one of those games you had to win, though. I speak fondly of the situation now, but if we would have left with a loss, I probably would have hated this whole trip. But after getting a win, it was a good bonding experience."
Some Giants even felt like they bonded with the Detroit fans.
"I think we won the fans over," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "I thought I heard some ... could you all tell if they were saying, 'Let's go Giants' or 'Let's go Lions?'"
Tuck didn't even mind when he was told they were saying, 'Let's go, Lions.'
"It was fun," Tuck said. "The crowd was loud. For a defense, we don't care if they are booing us or cheering us. You just like to hear noise.
"Take your hat off to Detroit, the whole organization getting this stadium ready for us to play. The city came out in full force, and the weather isn't the best out there.
"It felt like a real football game. I thought coming in, it would feel like a practice or a preseason game or something like that. It really felt like the energy was there, and we were able to thrive off it."
Dec. 13, 2010
