Have you ever noticed that a lot of the things we as Yoopers do are because of how we were brought up?
Think of it this way–you’re either ketchup or gravy, because that’s how your parents did it. The same goes for whether you hunt & fish or bike & ski, or whether you take M-28 or US-2 to head downstate.
Those family traditions also extend to something that was very important to people the past few weekends– whether you’re a Packers fan, or a Lions fan.
In the UP, you’re one or the other. For instance, my brother and I were raised Lions fans, and his seven-year-old son is now prone to making statements like, “The Packers suck.” And I’m sure that if seven-year-old Abel has a kid one day, that child will be, like previous generations, a Lions fan.
Because that may be the one UP family tradition that you can’t break.
I’m actually agnostic on the issue these days.
I mean, it’s easy to be a Yooper Packers fan– the team’s on TV every week, and for thirty years they’ve been really good.
But to be raised a Lions fan up here? You may go weeks without seeing them on TV. And the team has been so bad for so long that several generations of Yoopers have been able to learn first hand what the word “masochist” means.
The Packers have won four Super Bowls. The Lions’ last championship was 1957, which is, like, forever ago. To put it in perspective, only 14 percent of current Yoopers were even alive the last time Detroit won it all. If that championship were a person, it would be retired, on Social Security, and living in Florida.
If the team beats San Francisco next week and makes it to the Super Bowl I have a feeling that the entire state will explode from decades of pent up frustration, with multiple generations of fans weeping in their Stroh’s and wishing that their grandparents had lived to see the miracle.
Such is the power of a tradition passed down in UP families. And if that tradition raised you a Lions fan, keep your fingers crossed.
You could soon be boldly going where no one has gone… at least since 1957.
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of “Life in the 906.”
