Winning ain’t easy: Letting go of a losing identity as a Detroit Lions fan

My father tried to protect me from it.

I always resented the discouragement, the perpetual pessimism.

“Forget it,” he’d grumble. “They’re not worth it.”

It felt so disloyal. He was such a spoilsport. Such a Grinch, ruining Christmas every Sunday.

But he was trying to keep me from getting too emotionally invested in a Detroit Lions team that just wasn’t fully equipped to win.

And he was right. Almost every time. For decades.

Until now.

Now, I’m having to rewire my brain to actually expect wins. To expect exciting Sundays — how about the Lions’ thrilling season opener , an overtime win against Matt Stafford’s Los Angeles Rams — and spirited Mondays.

It’s a whole new world I’m still getting to know.

It’s nice. But it’s foreign. A strange, colorful land full of mystery and wonder.

Only now, I feel like my heart could give out right before every kickoff.

Suddenly, the stakes are high. Disaster could strike at any time, as it always has, only this time, it’ll actually matter. We’ve now got something to lose. A sense of pride that’s backed by excellence, rather than pure resilience and underdog status, is at stake.

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Losing had become part of my identity.

Rooting stubbornly and wholeheartedly for a team that you knew would reliably let you down was part of who I was. It was a form of youthful rebellion, against my father, against fate, against the laws of physics and the cruel nature of competition.

If I rooted hard enough and stayed loyal long enough, it would surely contribute to a cosmic energy that could bring the world to its knees, bowing down before this long-suffering fanbase.

Or at least, it would make winning that much sweeter if the time ever came.

And I was right.

The time has come. The payoff appears to be upon us, and the sweet taste of a Lions win to kick off a bona fide Super Bowl campaign is brand new sensation that no other fanbase could quite understand.

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The Lions have broken the curse.

There’s something to be said for expecting the worst and appreciating good fortune when it comes.

Now that we’re expecting the best, and the prospect of regression seems unbearable, how do we cope with this strange new form of heightened anxiety?

Do we simply let go of the past, and learn how to cheer on a winning football team?

I don’t think so.

All those years of suffering — culminating in the ultimate humiliation of a winless season at the height of the Great Recession in 2008, when Detroit needed a win of any kind more than ever — those years can’t be forgotten.

All that frustration, dejection, disappointment and fury has carried over into this winning era, converted into a new form of energy that has Lions fans breaking decibel records at Ford Field and flooding opponent stadiums with Honolulu Blue.

A past like ours is maybe an asset, as much as it’s a burden.

Embracing it, leveraging it and even celebrating it may be the way to cope with the strange, trembling unease of taking on a new, winning identity.

It’s finally our turn to win.

It’ll take some getting used to. But I’m starting to believe emotional investment is no longer a hazard.

Khalil AlHajal is deputy editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: kalhajal@freepress.com. S ubmit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters and we may publish it online and in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Winning ain’t easy: Letting go of a losing identity as a Detroit Lions fan