Last night the Detroit Lions won 27 – 26 over the Cincinnati Bengals, and I was there with my family. I got the tickets as a gift for my dad for his 60th birthday.
The trip over to Detroit started out well. We didn’t have any problems with traffic or directions and ended up parking in the Detroit Opera House parking ramp for 20 dollars. That’s actually a good place to park because you can see the sign for the parking ramp from the stadium, and any where closer was 30 - 45 dollars.
We arrived about 2 and a half hours before game time. We needed a place to eat and set off on foot to find somewhere. About 2 blocks away was a Hard Rock Cafe. We got right in and got seated. It was a good dinner, and I even had a Mojito with my burger. I made one crucial mistake though of not looking at how much things were on the menu. Let me tell you, a 15 dollar burger and onion rings is not something I would normally order.
After dinner we headed to Ford Field. Once inside I think everyone was pretty impressed. The stadium is very cool inside, and the view of the field is great from the entry way. We headed over to the gift store so my dad could get a logo golf ball. And who was there, No other than Charlie Sanders, only the greatest tight end in Lions history, and possibly NFL history. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame last week, so I'm guessing that's why he was there signing autographs. We got my sister one from him and he even signed her program when he really wasn't supposed to. He was all class.
After that we headed to our seats. We sat at about the 10 yard line only 5 rows up from the field. It was great. I highly recommend StubHub for your ticket buying activities. After getting a couple of 10 dollar beers, yes you read correctly, it’s 10 dollars a beer for a 24oz Miller Lite in a can. We sat down and soon the game started.
Let me tell you this, Calvin Johnson is for real. The number one draft pick of the Lions this year is expected to do great things, and I hope he can dispel the Lions jinx on draft picks because is talented. The crowd roared as he took the field for the first time. He made two great catches showing off his leaping ability. He’s exciting to watch.
As for the game well until about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter is was a yawner minus one play before the half. JT O’Sullivan hit a wide open Shawn McDonald on a 60 yard bomb to score the Lions first touchdown of the pre-season. The place went wild when he walked across the goal line.
Like I mentioned, the rest of the game was pretty boring, and the Lions looked like a 3-13 team, until the 4th quarter. They were down 26 – 10 and the fans were pouring out of the stands. But they drove down the field and made a field goal, then stopped the Bengals on their next possession and capped another drive with a touchdown to get within 6 points. Then the most exciting play in sports happened, the onside kick. I was pretty surprised that they deiced to make an onside kick in a preseason game where only third stringers were in, but they did and total chaos ensued. The kick hit a Bengal and he dropped it at about the same time that 3 Lions crashed into him and the ball bounced off another 3 Bengals before the Lions recovered it to thunderous ovation from the crowd. It was the loudest of the night and most people had left by then. There was about 2 minutes left at this point and the Lions actually drove half way down the field and scored in about 3 plays and 1 minute of time to take the lead.
My dad looked at me and said “They scored too fast; Cincinnati will drive down the field and kick a field goal to win it.”
He was almost dead on. The Bengals did drive to about the 38 yard line with no timeouts and sent out the field goal unit with 1 second left on the clock. The kick went up, and it was wide right!
Lions win! Lions win!
It was a great game to watch, and a great place to watch it at. The drive home was not nearly as fun. We got a little lost when a sign to N I75 was laughing at us when it led us in a circle because of some street construction, but did make it out of Detroit finally. I didn’t get home until about 2:30 am. And today has been a struggle.
Some fun stats:
- Ford Field Parking: $20 -$ 45
- Hard Rock Café 10oz burger w/ Onion rings: $15.25
- 24oz Miller Lite: $10
- 12oz Water: $4.50
- Popcorn: $4.50
- Nachos: $7.00 (I couldn’t resist)
- Hot Dog: $5.50
- Soda: $5.50
- The Lions official record so far 1 – 0: priceless