GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's officially Championship Weekend in the NFL. The Detroit Lions dream season continues in Santa Clara, where on Sunday, they will take on the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC title and a spot in the Super Bowl.
FOX 17's Max Goldwasser and Thomas Cook made the trip out to Northern California to cover the game, and ran into some fans along the way.
Their interaction with one in particular stood out above the rest.
His name was David Sharp. Sharp was sitting next to his mother at the gate in Chicago OHare International Airport before their connecting flight to Phoenix, which would eventually take them all the way to the Bay. They were both decked out in Lions gear from head to toe.
Goldwasser and Cook couldn't ignore what they saw. Plus, they all had the same itinerary, so the four of them started talking.
Sharp mentioned he was from Toledo, Ohio, which obviously came as a surprise. He had a giant Ohio State logo tattooed on his right forearm.
Other than that, he said, he's all about Michigan sports. He had all the major teams' logos inked on the other parts of that same arm to fill out an impressive sleeve, which included a Honolulu blue Lions logo on his bicep.
Sharp said he's been a die-hard Lions fan since he was born thanks to his dad. His nickname is "Cubby."
That all was impressive, but it was what Sharp said next that really caught their attention.
“I've been to every game this year besides one, so I've made like a mission to go to all the games this year," he said.
"Home and away?" Goldwasser asked.
"Home and away. This is game number 19 for me now," he said, referring to the NFC Championship game. "The only one I missed was Baltimore, and that was because I had a kidney stone and I was in the ER."
If you recall, the was the game where the Lions lost 38 to 6. Maybe it's because they were missing their lucky charm?
Well, they won't be without Sharp in the stands on Sunday, despite the universe trying it's best to prevent that from happening."
"It's been a hell of a morning man," Sharp said at the airport Friday. "Me and my mom, we missed our planes from Detroit. So we had a drive to Chicago, because the planes in Detroit were all full, so we had to drive to Chicago, and now here we are taking a flight from Chicago to Phoenix, and then Phoenix to San Francisco."
That's some dedication, but Sharp was ready to do whatever it took to make it happen.
"I'm 26, so this is my first time ever seeing it," he said. "So, just to be a part of it, you know? Let's just keep it going on.”
