At Pistons’ basketball games, even over the television, you can clearly hear the chant of “Jar-ed GOFF!” At Red Wings’ hockey games in the same Little Caesars Arena, the fans repeat the name of the Lions’ quarterback: “Jar-ed GOFF!! Jar-ed GOFF!!”
When the Tigers open baseball spring training next month — right after the Super Bowl — the fans in Florida may indeed echo the name: “Jar-ed GOFF!!! Jar-ed GOFF!!! Jar-ed GOFF!!!”
And, certainly, when the Lions host the Washington Commanders in the divisional round of the Super Bowl tournament this Saturday at 8 p.m. at Ford Field, the congregation again will intone in unison: “Jar-ed GOFF!!!! Jar-ed GOFF!!!! Jar-ed GOFF!!!! Jar-ed GOFF!!!!” like so many “Amens!” after each verse of a hymn for Detroit sports.
At least they’re not chanting “Bob-by LAYNE!” a name with the same rhythm and cadence. Layne quarterbacked the Lions in their last National Football League championship era of three crowns in the 1950s.
For the record, Layne didn’t play in the last Lions’ title game. He was out with a broken leg and Tobin Rote took his place before the Lions defeated the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, on Dec. 29, 1957, at what was then known as Briggs Stadium before 55,263 customers.
Of course, NBC’s national telecast was blacked out in the home market. That was the penny-wise business logic the NFL employed back when only 12 teams played only 12 games with only one post-season playoff game between the champions of the Western and Eastern Conferences.
The year 1957 — a decade before the Super Bowl — was slightly different. Because the Lions and San Francisco tied at 8-4 for the West title, they played an extra playoff game at Kezar Stadium and the Lions defeated the 49ers, 31-27, in the 13th game of a 14-game season.
This season — should the Lions represent the National Football Conference in the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 9, in New Orleans — it would be the 20th game of their 2024-25 season. Their foes from the American Football Conference may be playing their 21st.
Goff lacks the charismatic, roustabout personality of Layne, who may or may not have cursed the Lions to decades of struggle after they dared to exile him to Pittsburgh in 1958. But it's safe to say Goff’s success with the Lions has inspired a slightly giddy local renaissance in pro sports.
This is as welcome as it is unexpected after a decade of all four franchises wandering in the wilderness. He is one of those special athletes who make teammates look good and help create a whole team that is greater than the sum of its considerable parts.
For example: Give Goff enough time in the pass pocket and he might find his third or fourth receiver choice and complete a pass to him into a narrow window to spring him for a long touchdown run to put on the highlight reel.
A similar character trait is emerging in guard Cade Cunningham of the Pistons, propelling them in half a season from the worst team in the National Basketball Association to an entertaining level of competition and possible postseason action.
Following Saturday night’s 124-114 victory over Toronto at the LCA, they were 20-19 overall, with victories in six of their previous seven games and in nine of their previous 11.
In Cunningham’s fourth season, owner Tom Gores has finally found a front-office executive (Trajan Langdon) and head coach (J.B. Bickerstaff) who know how to mold other personnel around Cunningham’s still-ripening skills. Even his turnovers are interesting, ambitious ideas usually worth a try.
They never discourage his bold shooting, passing, rebounding, and playmaking. By example, Cunningham leads a team that shares the ball and never quits. And it’s hard not to cheer for one of his teammates, Isaiah Stewart II, if only for the nickname “Beef Stew.”
This is as welcome as it is unexpected after a decade of all four franchises wandering in the wilderness.
tweet this
At the start of the month, things seemed bleak when guard Jaden Ivey broke a bone in his left leg after the best start of his three-year career. But the Pistons won that night and have gone 5-1 since. Should their success continue — or increase — in the second half of the season, local hoops boosters could be in for a spring fling in the tournament.
The same might be said for their LCA roommates, the Red Wings, who won their seventh consecutive game Sunday by beating Seattle, 6-2, in a home matinee. Since replacing Derek Lalonde as head coach on the day after Christmas, Todd McLellan had lost only one game; overall, his team is 20-18-4.
The downside? McLellan is the third coach to work in Detroit for general manager Steve Yzerman, who has yet to build a playoff team in more than five seasons of franchise reconstruction. Another failure might make even the Ilitch ownership question the management savvy of a franchise idol.
On defense, the Wings have blooming stars like Mo Seider and Simon Edvinsson. On their forward lines, home-grown talents like Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin blend with odds and ends from other teams. Certainly, it is a pleasure to behold the venerable Patrick Kane during the gradual and graceful decline of his exquisite skills.
But the Wings up front lack what hockey people call “sandpaper,” the quality to irritate and even intimidate opposing teams with hard hits from finished forechecks or with hostile scrums in the corners and in front of the net both before and after official whistles.
Hockey teams built like this rarely go far in the playoffs. Unless they make a trade before the deadline for one or two “sandpaper” guys, the Wings — if they make the tournament — could get swept in the first round.
But wouldn’t it be interesting if both arena teams play deep into Tigers’ season down the street at Comerica Park, where the baseball buffs are still blinking at the 31-11 surge in the final quarter of 2024 that helped vault them into the second round of Major League Baseball’s playoffs.
The downside? Anything less than that this season will be a step backward for a team still filling key positions behind pitcher Tarik Skubal, who won the Cy Young award. Detroit’s signing of second-baseman Gleyber Torres as a free agent means a move of Colt Keith from second to first.
That makes trade bait of incumbent first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who still boasts the potential of a former No. 1 draftee. At age 25, Torkelson is still young and he hit 31 home runs as recently as 2023. He might need a change of scenery through the kind of trade that helps both teams.
And what, if anything, is left for shortstop Javier Baez, coming off a hip surgery? He’s 32 years old, he hit .184 last season and he’s owed $25 million in salary this season with two more years to go after that. Perhaps the Tigers will pay him with money from their new “Home Plate Club.”
The new construction at Comerica has stunned some season-ticket holders with big price hikes. It’s part of the gentrification trend in sports facilities that turns “premium seating” into gated communities that exclude the riff-raff while soaking the rich.
But the swells can afford it, right? Despite tough economic times for some, there’s plenty of money for sports around Detroit. Ford Field tickets will sell for thousands of dollars this week as most of the focus goes to the Lions, whose success may lead to a turnover of management personnel.
Teams in need of fixes are sniffing around Lions’ leaders like front-office adviser Chris Spielman, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
One boss who won’t go is Sheila Ford Hamp, the principal owner and the fourth member of the Ford family to run the team, following her father, her brother, and her mother.
Ford Hamp is the most successful female Motor City sports team owner since Marguerite Norris of the Red Wings in the 1950s, back when football and hockey were big winners around these here parts and Sheila Ford was a little kid.
Perhaps, at their playoff opener in Ford Field, Lions’ fans can add a new name or two to their litany. How about “Shei-la HAMP!” or, better yet, “Shei-la FORD!”
