DETROIT — No spot in America was louder than downtown Detroit Sunday. Fans leaving Ford Field were ready to celebrate one of the biggest wins in franchise history.
“It’s been so many years of pain and suffering," said one of the dozens of fans who came up to FOX 17 after the game. "Now we’re winners.”
A sea of Honolulu blue filing out onto the streets of the city has not looked this happy since the 1991 season, the last time the Lions earned a trip to the NFC Championship game.
"It's a beautiful moment. You can't put it into words," another lifelong fan told FOX 17.
We asked a season ticket holder if this feeling was worth all the years of turmoil.
"Hell to the yeah, yeah, yeah," she replied.
The party in Detroit started well before the clock hit triple zero.
People were tailgating all across the city from the morning all the way up until the 3 p.m. kickoff.
You can't have a true party without the "Tubgaters."
Yes, the "Tubgaters." They're the same group who calls themselves the "Hailgaters." FOX 17 featured them before Michigan's win over Iowa in the Big 10 Championship game.
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That story showed Chris Hankinson, a Grand Haven native, and his friends from West Michigan driving a bus decked out in maize and blue to Indianapolis. Sunday's "Tubgater" experience was a little different.
Hankinson told FOX 17 they have a group of about 100 people at Detroit's Eastern Market tailgating in hot tubs. It doesn't matter the conditions — rain or shine, snow or scorching hot — it's a tradition they've kept for Lions games since 1992.
Back then, Hankinson said it was only a squad of 10 people — his fraternity brothers from CMU. Clearly, that number has changed, although the Lions' playoff success has not.
Until Sunday.
Next stop, it's Santa Clara for the NFC Championship game against the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers.
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