Daniel B.
Yelp
When I review sports teams on Yelp, I typically rate based on team performance. For example, win-loss record and number of championships won. However, for teams that I'm actually a fan of, it's hard not to show bias. The Detroit Lions are one of those teams. Well, I guess maybe not so much the Lions, but one of their - and, more widely, the NFL's - greatest players of all time, wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Calvin played college football at the same time that I was an undergrad at Georgia Tech. He's my favorite football player, past or present. One of my fantasy football teams has been named after his nickname, Megatron, for over a decade now.
Calvin played for Detroit from 2007 through 2015. He was loyal. His entire nine-season career in the NFL was with the Lions. During those nine years, he was a six-time Pro Bowler, twice the NFL receiving yards leader (2011, 2012), the NFL receptions leader in 2012, and the NFL receiving touchdowns co-leader in 2008. He holds the league records in most receiving yards in a season (1,964) and most consecutive 100-yard receiving games (8). Calvin was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February 2021 when he was only 35 years old.
In the year immediately following his retirement from pro football (2016), Calvin finished in 3rd place, behind winner Laurie Hernandez (Olympic gymnast) and runner-up James Hinchcliffe (race car driver), on the 23rd season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
As a Georgia Tech fan, something I found funny about Calvin's time with the Lions is former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford was the starting QB in Detroit from 2009 through 2015. Stafford was the guy throwing Calvin touchdown passes for the majority of Calvin's pro career. Rivals Tech and UGA could finally unite on something football-related.
Calvin and Stafford were only able to lead Detroit to the playoffs twice, in 2011 and 2014. Stafford threw two TD passes to Calvin in the 2011 Wild Card game on the road against the New Orleans Saints. Unfortunately, both games ended in losses. To date, neither player has won an NFL playoff game.
The Lions were a fixture in the playoffs in the 90s with six appearances. However, aside from that stretch, since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (which largely produced the league as we know it today), Lions playoff appearances have been few and far between. The Lions did win the NFL championship in 1935 and three times in the 50s: 1952, 1953, 1957. For reference, the first Super Bowl was played in 1967.
The team has played in the 65,000-seat Ford Field since 2002. The glory days of the 90s were played in the larger, 80,000+ seat Pontiac Silverdome. Like the old Silverdome, Ford Field is also a domed stadium. A couple events the Silverdome was known for are the 1982 Super Bowl (XVI) and WrestleMania III in 1987. The latter is famous for one of the greatest pro wrestling matches ever. No, not the main event that pitted Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, but the WWF Intercontinental Championship match between Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Look it up!