Detroit, MI
Detroit Lions fan goes viral with victory tears. ‘That one was for my dad’
DETROIT — As the clock ticked down on the Detroit Lions’ first playoff win in three decades, the scene at Ford Field had to be hard to put into words for the 66,000-plus in attendance.
At least one story could be told in tears.
That was 35-year-old Arron Wikaryasz with the outpouring of emotion, captured by NBC’s broadcast in the closing minutes of the 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams. It was a special moment for so many, and one the Grand Rapids native wishes he could’ve shared with his father.
“He was a diehard Lions fan, so when they got in victory formation there, man, it just came full circle to me,” Wikaryasz told MLive.
“It was more than a game. I knew how happy my dad would’ve been to see them win, so I was glad I was there. I was 14 when he passed away, so I don’t know my dad as a man really. So it’s hard to connect sometimes, but when I’m at the Lions game, I’m 12, 13 years old again and I can feel that.”
As a kid, Arron and his father Joseph attended games at the Pontiac Silverdome, as the elder Wikaryasz was a season-ticket holder. Both were in attendance to watch the Lions defeat the Dallas Cowboys in 2002, the final game in that stadium.
Joseph Wikaryasz was a 20-year union ironworker from Local 25 in Detroit, which helped build Ford Field. They broke ground on the Lions’ new home in November 1999. By the time the team moved downtown, the family no longer could afford season tickets. Tragically, Joseph died in a motor vehicle accident one day after leaving work.
“So I think a lot of my emotion was, I know how long it’s been since we won, and I know a lot of loyal Lions fans aren’t here with us today. And that one was for my dad, man. That one was for my dad,” Wikaryasz said.
Since his father’s passing, Wikaryasz has made it his mission to attend at least one game per season. Sunday’s playoff game wasn’t part of the plan, though.
Wikaryasz’s brother, Robby Meadows, surprised him with playoff tickets after the two already had attended Detroit Pistons and Red Wings games that weekend. (“Like a trifecta,” Wikaryasz said.)
At the game, he also was able to link up with his mother and stepfather, and the whole crew had the chance to meet former Lions kicker Jason Hanson.
“The energy there was unreal,” Wikaryasz said. “I think Dan Campbell said it best in his post-interview speech. He said if you were here tonight, you’ll remember this the rest of your life. And that’s it, man. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life as a fan.”
Since Sunday’s win, Wikaryasz has been busy with media requests. One TV reporter suggested his expression of joy over the Lions’ win embodied the city of Detroit.
“I go, ‘hold on, hold on. I don’t know if I embody Detroit.’” Wikaryasz said. “That’s a big city with a lot of beautiful people in it, but I definitely encapsulated a lot of people that have had loved ones passed away that were Lions fans. So I mean, there’s a lot of people that were happy that night.”
The Lions will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Detroit Tigers blow lead, lose to Kansas City Royals on walk-off hit.
The Tigers lost, 4-3, to the Royals on Kyle Isbel’s walk-off single in the ninth inning.
Kansas City, Mo. — The losing streak is now five games. The road record is now an MLB-worst 6-16.
The Kansas City Royals prolonged the Tigers’ misery Saturday night with a relatively breezy 5-1 win at Kauffman Stadium.
Oh, and the Tigers might’ve lost another player in the process.
Right fielder Kerry Carpenter left the game in the third inning. He banged his left shoulder running into the side wall chasing Bobby Witt Jr.’s first-inning, two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Witt, a right-handed hitter, sliced a drive inside the bag at first. Carpenter chased it toward the side wall, but the ball caromed past him. Witt never stopped running.
Carpenter stayed in the game and even rolled an infield single in the second inning. But he was replaced by Wenceel Perez when the Royals came to bat in the third inning.
BOX SCORE: Royals 5, Tigers 1
He was being evaluated during the game.
The two-run homer by Witt ended up being more than the Tigers’ sputtering offense could overcome. But, for good measure, Michael Massey added a three-run home run off Ty Madden in the fourth inning.
Madden ended up being one of the few bright spots in the game for the Tigers. He pitched six innings and allowed just one other hit. He set down the last 11 hitters he faced.
He entered in the third inning after opener Burch Smith and lefty Tyler Holton worked one time through the Royals’ batting order.
Holton made a nifty escape in the first inning. With runners at second and third and one out, and two runs already in, Jac Caglianone hit a hard ground ball to second baseman Zach McKinstry, who was playing in on the grass.
McKinstry got the out at first. The runner at second, Carter Jensen, mistakenly broke for third where Vinnie Pasquantino was holding.
Spencer Torkelson threw to shortstop Kevin McGonigle who threw to catcher Jake Rogers once Pasquantino broke for home — your basic 4-3-6-2 double-play.
Not much else went the Tigers’ way.
Royals right-hander Michael Wacha snuffed out the few scoring opportunities the Tigers mustered.
He worked around an error and a McKinstry stolen base in the third innings. He got Jake Rogers to pop to shallow right field with runners at first and third and one out and then got Matt Vierling to ground out with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Wacha allowed two hits in seven innings. The Tigers put 18 balls in play against him with a soft average exit velocity of 84.4 mph.
The Tigers broke through in the eighth against lefty reliever Matt Strahm. And it was left-handed hitters who did the dirty work. Riley Greene, who extended his career-high on-base streak to 20 games, doubled home McGonigle.
This season is a long way from over but Tigers, 18-22, are in serious need a course correction.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
4Warn Weather – SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy skies. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. A few storms could be strong with gusty winds and hail. High: 71.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy skies, becoming partly cloudy skies late. Low: 45.
SUNDAY (MOTHER’S DAY): Mix of sunshine and clouds, cooler temperatures. High: 61.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy skies. Another chilly night. Low: 41.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny skies, remaining chilly. High: 58.
After a beautiful end to the week on Friday with sunshine and a little cloud cover, with warmer temperatures moving into the region as well, some of us are waking up to some patchy dense fog on Saturday morning. Some places south of M-59 are seeing reduced visibilities down to around a mile. If you do run into some patchy dense fog, be sure to use your low beams.
That warming trend continues into the start of the weekend on Saturday, but it also brings a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Another cold front will work through the region by Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evening and that will bring our thunderstorm chance. High temperature is warming into low 70s by Saturday afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the region under a Marginal Risk (1 out of 5) on our severe weather scale for the start of the weekend. Gusty winds and hail are the primary threats as we work through the start of the weekend, but this will not be a widespread threat for severe thunderstorms.
Behind that cold front for the end of the weekend on Sunday, we will keep a mixture of sunshine and clouds into the forecast. High temperatures running about 10 to 15° cooler to end the weekend. Expect high to warm into the upper 50s to lower 60s by Sunday afternoon.
Drier weather sticks around for the start of next week, before another chance of rain moves into the region by the time we get to Tuesday. The cooler-than-average temperatures will continue into the start of next week as well. Expect high temperatures to remain in the 50s for Monday and Tuesday.
Temperature start to warm up by the middle of next week, and Drier weather moves back in by Wednesday behind another cold front moving into the region. Expect high temperatures into the lower 60s on Wednesday to warm into the upper 60s by the time we get to Thursday. Above average temperatures move back into the region as we look ahead into the end of the week, expect high temperatures back into the lower 70s by the time we get to Friday.
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