Football!!! I was pumped for this past weekend as an annual football trip with my brother had a fortuitous selection. The Detroit Lions have always had a fantastic fan base…just look at how full their stadium was during the many lean years. Now, with the team looking decent and having upset the Super Bowl champs in Week 1, Motown is lit about their Lions. We bought tickets shortly after the schedule came out for $85 and by the time we neared game time, the cheapest seat was going for $165. Before we got to the main event, there was a tasty appetizer as we needed some MACtion on Saturday at Toledo.
We arrived in the Glass City about three hours before game time (an odd 1:30 PM start). Not enough time to do much in the city, so we checked out one of the MetroParks as it provided a nice view of downtown from across the Maumee River. Then, we grabbed an early lunch at famed Tony Packo’s. I thought it was just a hot dog place, but the restaurant is much more. Good stuff and it filled me up for a long afternoon of football. I also made sure to bring home some of their famous meat sauce. Before heading to campus, I realized that our ticket didn’t yet come through, even though I bought it weeks ago. This was the first time I experienced this with TickPick and their customer service was atrocious. A 40-minute phone call filled with silence and multiple occasions of me asking “Are you still there” finally ended with a replacement ticket. Errrr…
I tried to block all that out when I got to the University of Toledo and it is a simple arrival with free parking right by the main campus. It is an eye-pleasing walk around as the buildings in Centennial Mall are made of beautiful limestone. The football stadium is on-campus as well and it is a historical building too, dating back to 1937. Original blockhouses are retained in the corners and the natural bowl setting is pretty good for football. What I didn’t like was the wacky set-up on the Visitors side as three large light fixtures are placed between the lower and upper deck. Not ideal. Otherwise, this was my 4th stadium seen in the MAC and the experience and atmosphere was better than the others (Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Akron).
As for the game, it was wacky and long (3 hours and 47 minutes is ridiculous and college football needs to fix this like baseball did). The much derided Special Teams coach for Toledo decided to fan the fire even more by starting the game with an onside kick. That failed and Western Michigan marched down the field to go up 7-0. Toledo then looked like they would take control as they had two touchdowns towards the end of the quarter. They also had people staring at my brother and I, who won a big bet on Toledo -6.5 in the First Quarter as they scored on a 34 yard pass with 4 seconds left in the quarter. It then became apparent that the 25 MPH wind was going to be a factor in this game as WMU scored 17 straight in the next quarter with the breeze at their back. Things looked even more bleak for the home side as their leader, QB Dequan Finn was carted off the field injured early in the 3rd quarter. However, backup Tony Gleason went 6 for 10 and RB Peny Boone dominated with 211 rushing yards as the Rockets took advantage of turnovers. After the Broncos took the lead early in the 4th Quarter thanks in large part to a flea flicker play, Toledo jumped ahead for good with 11 minutes left in the game. The defense bent, but didn’t break as they won 49-31. It was a sloppy game overall as there were 4 interceptions, 7 fumbles and 17 penalties. The refs also had their issues as long huddles and slow reviews brought the game to a crawl later in the second half.
Afterwards, we enjoyed Lebanese food by having a dinner at The Beirut and then finished the night at Hollywood Casino for gambling and a decent slate of college games (including Ohio State – Notre Dame). The next morning, it was on to Detroit and we got an early start for the 55 minute drive. When I was last here in the summer, I didn’t get a chance to explore downtown and this time around, I took advantage of a beautiful morning. My scouting for parking brought me to the Port Atwater Parking Garage, close to the Riverfront. This was just $15 for the day and it was an 18-minute walk to Ford Field. Even better, there was no traffic when getting out of the garage after the game and it only took a few minutes to get back on I-375. When you have a 5+ hour drive to follow, these things matter. Back to the morning, Detroit has impressive skyscrapers, monuments and urban parks and it was worth the time to see them. Yeah, the city still has issues, but preconceived notions of Detroit are likely wrong and you’ll be quite surprised when walking much of downtown. After a satisfying breakfast with plenty of other Lions fans at the Dime Store, we made our way to Ford Field. A couple hours before gametime and it was jammed as many were at Pride Plaza, ready to enter right when gates opened at 11 AM. Watching a football game indoors is unique and I got to say, it was great to not worry about temperature, precipitation or even the sun in your eyes. What I loved about Ford Field was how they stacked all of the suites on one side of the stadium. This enable the upper deck on the other side to not be as far away from the field. However, here, it seemed that the rows went outwards much farther than other stadiums with not as sharp an incline. Outside of that, I really liked the place.
It is loud in here! When I say loud, I really mean deafening. Only one other sporting experience did I feel this level of ear-numbing noise and that was at the Nassau Coliseum for a playoff game. The Lions are so well supported in the state and this is one of the few places that still draws a decent crowd even when the team is bad. Now that they have hopes of being better than mediocre, fans are jacked up and from the get-go, it was rocking in here. The defense constantly had their hands waving to get the crowd louder and it became next level on third downs as the decibel level reached 115. Fans were rewarded with a great performance on that side of the ball as they only gave up six points and it was a fairly easy win for the Lions over Atlanta, 20-6.
Click the following for detailed reviews of the Glass Bowl and Ford Field
Stadium and Arena Visits 
