Detroit The Most Starved Sports City?
Sports can be a magical thing. The emotional value of your passion and faith in a professional or college sports team being rewarded by their success is a feeling like no other. Entire cities rejoice when their city’s team wins. Through all the ups and downs of sports, sadly we as fans of Detroit and its Sports teams haven’t had much to celebrate over the last 20 years. We are starved as a fanbase.
We Just Want To Celebrate
When these incredible victories happen people often don’t know how they’re supposed to respond. Some fans start fires, others parade around shirtless drunk out of their minds, others like myself start screaming and flexing and get emotional all in the same breath.
Detroit is Starving for Success
It’s incredibly hard to stay passionate and have a strong belief in your team year in and year out with nothing to show for it. The city of Detroit technically has had zero championships to celebrate since the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers. Yes, the Pistons won a championship back in 2004, but at that time the Pistons were located in Auburn Hills, which looking back on was always a bit of an odd choice.
Interestingly enough the Pistons have never won a championship while playing in Detroit. The Bad Boys took home back-to-back trophies in 1989 and 1990 while playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills and the “going to work Pistons did it again in 2004 at the Palace. What the city is missing is another hometown championship.
The Red Wings
Of course, the Detroit Red Wings have had their fair share of winning this century. But in reality, the team hasn’t really been relevant in well over a decade. The Red Wings were always in my opinion what Detroit Sports fans settled for. No disrespect to the NHL or the Wings, but they’re simply more football fans than hockey. Especially in the city of Detroit, and it shows. We really care about football, and always have.
Last Football Season Was Magical for Detroit
This is why last season was so damn magical for the Lions. The team hadn’t done anything significant since 1991 when they were yet again one game away from clinching their first ever Super Bowl berth. The City of Detroit was unlike any other last season with passion that went into the playoffs. This is why sports matter.
While the city of Minnesota may be one of Detroit’s biggest rivals in championship droughts, throughout all of their major men’s professional teams, the last time they won was in the early 1990s with the Twins. The Tigers are an embarrassment, the Pistons are barely a professional sports team, and the Red Wings are at least on the cusp of being relevant again. But all of Detroit’s eggs are in one basket this season.
The people of Detroit are all in on the Lions. Head coach Dan Campbell is leading the charge for something even he doesn’t fully understand the magnitude of. If they can pull off a Super Bowl berth this year, this town will go crazy. If the Lions win the Super Bowl, the state might have to shut down for a month.
5 Of The Greatest Hockey Movies Of All-Time
