After a season of missing everything, Jerry Evans didn’t want to miss one thing on Saturday. So he woke up at 3 a.m. and got ready to attend Detroit Lions training camp.
It was the first practice open to season-ticket holders this year; it also marked the first time fans in large numbers could watch the Lions in person since a 23-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field on Dec. 29, 2019. That’s a stretch of 580 days.
So Evans, 46, made sure he was the first in line Saturday. Harris Tuttle, 41, of Mendon, picked up Evans at his Vicksburg home and the two friends made the two-hour drive from just south of Kalamazoo. They arrived at team headquarters by 6 a.m., 30 minutes before anyone else. Never mind that the gates didn’t open until 7:30 a.m. Or that practice didn’t start until 8:30 a.m.
Evans wasn’t going to miss a thing.
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“I’m the early person,” he said. “I like to get places early, no matter what it is. If it’s a Tigers game or whatever, I like to get there an hour or so early, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Evans and Tuttle joined a large contingent of fans who showed up for many of the same reasons. They sorely missed seeing the Lions in person after COVID-19 kept fans from attending training camp and home games last season.
With a new regime in place — as well as a new starting quarterback for the first time in 13 years — fans also turned out to see all the newness for themselves and even to reconnect with each other.
Some of the Lions’ more famous fans found each other throughout practice. Gary “Macho Mane” Campioni found Robert “Lion Eyes” Gonzales. Everyone saw the Lions’ most famous fan, Ron “Crackman” Crachiola, famous for his hard hat and bib overalls.
“You know what? It was tough,” Campioni said of missing last season. “I went to one game in Nashville and that was fun. But it was tough. It was tough not being there. You’re glad to watch football, but can we get to a game?”
Before I go any further, let me confess something. Most sportswriters don’t like writing articles about fans. Some downright loathe it because it can be tedious trying to get fans to say something interesting during an impromptu interview. Frankly, it’s also not the kind of hard-nosed, “serious journalism” some reporters think earns them respect.
I know this because I used to be one of these reporters. Writing about fans felt frivolous when I was young. And then I realized something that should have been obvious all along — something made even clearer during the pandemic. Fans are the lifeblood of what we do. They go to the games and read our stories, listen to broadcasts and watch our videos.
I sat in empty stadiums all of last year, and I hated it. The silence made a depressing year even more depressing. I missed fans at every sport I covered. But I especially missed Lions fans, because there’s something special about Sundays in the fall.
“You feel that atmosphere, the energy as soon as you walk in,” Campioni said. “And it’s like game day, it’s the roar, it’s the crowd. It sounds a little cliché-ish ,but that’s what it is. For me it is. Can’t wait to get inside.”
Saturday was the closest we’ve been in a long time to having Lions fans returning to a game. That’s why I enjoyed speaking with fans Saturday, even as a young man called me a “negative Nancy” but was still kind enough to mention he enjoyed my work.
I loved it, just as I loved the raucous cheers that went up from the packed bleachers when T.J. Hockenson caught a touchdown pass. Or when the fans exploded after an interception by rookie cornerback Jerry Jacobs.
Before practice, coach Dan Campbell addressed the fans and promised the team was on a mission to improve. He also requested that fans get loud —something Jeff and Cortney Kidon, longtime season ticket holders from Novi, appreciated as they walked around the field with their young sons Owen, Dax and Trevor.
“We thought Dan Campbell did a nice job with his address to the fans this morning,” Jeff said. “He’s real high energy, said he wants the fans to bring the energy. He said everyone’s counting us out, but we’re going to make it happen.”
After practice, players walked to the sidelines and received a long standing ovation from fans. I’m a little embarrassed to admit I got a little choked up. (No, I’m not crying! You’re crying!)
“It’s just awesome,” receiver Tyrell Williams said. “Normally it’s quiet in between stuff, besides the team getting excited. Just having that energy you just feel them and it’s fun to put on a show for them. It makes you really want to make those plays. It feels like a game almost, a preseason game.”
Actually, it felt even better than that. It felt right. It’s summer and Lions fans were back at training camp filled with hope. What could be more normal than that?
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.