A die-hard Lions fan … I have been a Detroit Lions fan since I was 5 years old, which has meant more than three decades of agony. The team has never appeared in a Super Bowl, and two years ago, became the only NFL team to suffer through an embarrassing 0-16 season. Joe Paquette Jr. is a couple of decades older than me, and that means he was about 10 years old when the Lions last won a championship in 1957. Joe undoubtedly knows my agony — and then some, so he decided to do something about it.
… who walked 425 miles … As he told MyFoxDetroit, his weight, blood pressure and cholesterol had been rising recently, so this year he started walking to get in better shape. In March, he decided he would walk to see the Detroit Lions at their practice facility, and on Aug. 8, Joe took off from his home in the upper peninsula town of Munising, Mich. Eighteen days and 425 miles later, a 63-year-old man “with arthritis in both knees” showed up at the practice facility.
… pledging “Sisu” to the team and the Lions faithful. Paquette Jr. has also been wearing a shirt that says “Lions need Sisu.” According to this Lions article, Sisu is a Finnish term that means “strength of will, determination, perseverance and acting rationally in the face of adversity.” When Paquette Jr. arrived and was met by the media, with tears in his eyes, he talked about how he wanted the Lions not just talk about it, but to “have the hunger of Sisu in their eyes, so that when they got on that field, they know what they’re going to do.” All I can say is this: If this doesn’t inspire the Lions, I don’t know what will.
Photo by Tambako the Jaguar via Flickr.