Sports
‘I can’t believe it came to this’: His Lions fandom is his identity. He almost lost it
NORTHVILLE, Mich. — Fahad Yousif is two days removed from receiving something called a Certificate of Completion from the National Football League. It is dated Dec. 12. It is signed by Ari Novick, Ph.D., a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Laguna Beach, Calif. It is numbered “Cert #216932,” meaning 216,931 others presumably have received such an honor. It cost $250 — the fee Yousif paid for a four-hour course covering about eight or nine chapters of fan behavior expectations in NFL stadiums.
He holds up his phone to show me.
“I can’t believe it came to this,” he says.
This is what happens when it all goes too far. Yousif is the Detroit Lions fan who decided to chirp at the Green Bay Packers sideline during pregame festivities at Ford Field last weekend. Some choice words (no swearing, he makes clear) were followed by drawing his thumb across his neck, making a slashing motion. That, it turns out, was a terrible, terrible idea. Because to some, notably Packers coach Matt LaFleur, what started as some mouthy fan talking trash had crossed over to a raving madman making a threat. LaFleur fired back at Yousif. Yousif, smiling wildly, yelled back at LaFleur. Security got involved.
Yousif was on the field as a perk of his ticket package. Allowed to choose one add-on bonus for the 2024 season, he opted to be one of those fans who pull a giant American flag taut across the field during the pregame national anthem. Instead, security escorted him off the field before the anthem ever began.
The dust-up went viral. Yousif, after returning to his seat, was ejected from Ford Field before halftime. Then LaFleur spoke about the incident in the postgame news conference, saying Detroit’s pregame activities should’ve been policed better. On Wednesday, the Lions revoked Yousif’s season tickets. Then he was banned from attending NFL games. Every day brought new waves of coworkers and old friends texting, “Did I see you on TV?” and media requests. Yousif took each opportunity to acknowledge he was in the wrong and apologize. Everyone, including Yousif, more or less agreed that he went too far out there.
Near the end of the week, the Lions and the league offered a path forward. The stadium ban would be lifted, Yousif was told, if he completed the code of conduct class and wrote a formal apology.
Now, here we are. It’s Saturday afternoon, nearly a week removed from the incident, and nearly 24 hours until the Lions host the Buffalo Bills in the NFL’s marquee game this weekend. Yousif accepted an invitation to meet at a Starbucks in Metro Detroit.
Maybe this could be about life in the blast radius of a viral moment.
Or it could be about nearly missing out on what might end up as the greatest season in Lions history.
Or about contrition.
Or second chances.
But then Yousif is asked about what he nearly lost.
“Oh, man, everything,” he says. “This is who I am, and, you know, I almost lost that. I don’t dismiss any of the criticism I’ve gotten. None of it. I agree with most of it.
“I was blessed with an honor to hold the flag of a country I love. I crossed the line and it shouldn’t have happened. I get where people are coming from. I can’t believe this happened.”
Yousif is a lot of things. He’s a product of Metro Detroit’s vast Chaldean community — a first-generation American born to a father from Iraq and a mother from Kuwait. He’s an older sibling to two brothers. He’s a Wayne State University graduate. He’s a sales associate for a Midwest automotive tools company. He’s a husband to wife Gabby.
What he most identifies as, though, is as a Lions fan.
Yousif grew up speaking only Arabic at home. He tried everything to fit in at school and came to feel most comfortable talking about football. He says that, growing up attending Farmington Hills public schools, he’d introduce himself by saying, “Hi, I’m Fahad. I’m a big Lions fan.”
Yousif ignored pleas from his father, Saad, to play soccer. He instead lined up at defensive end and linebacker through middle school and into high school. He scored tickets to his first game at Ford Field in 2013. He and an older cousin began attending four or five games a year.
“It was so natural,” Yousif says. “It was like, this is where we’re from, this is who we root for. Root for the Lions, no matter what.”
Yousif grew to learn and understand the game more and more, but, like so many others, fell into the same trap that’s befallen generations of Lions fans. He believed.
“Oh, the Matt Patricia era, bro,” he says now, fighting through a laugh, “I totally bought the hype.”
But like all those generations of Lions fans, something came from that belief. Shared experience. Yousif convinced his father to start rooting for the Lions. He sold the dream. “This is the year.” Soon, Yousif stopped attending games, choosing instead to watch them at his dad’s house. Two chairs. Big-screen TV. Standing appointment.
“Every year, he got more and more into it,” Yousif says. “He finally got it, and it kinda changed our whole relationship. Those years weren’t very good for the Lions, but, you know, they were good for us.”
The Dan Campbell era in Detroit began in 2021 with the franchise trading star quarterback Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff. Yousif called his father the minute the news broke. It was mid-March. Saad, at 65, was newly retired and ready to get aboard his next ride as a Lions fan.
Six weeks later, Yousif got word that his father was feeling sick. He entered the hospital. He was placed on a ventilator.
“It was so quick,“ Yousif says. “Within 10 days, he was dead.”
Yousif hasn’t mentioned any of this through his numerous media appearances this week. Viral moments don’t afford time. That, and his story doesn’t excuse what happened last week.
“It still shouldn’t have happened,” he says. “I was also a big pro wrestling fan growing up and I think I’ve got some of that in my personality. I root for the heel.”
That personality, you can be certain, is big. Yousif is the loudest person in the coffee shop by a wide margin. He speaks like he’s drinking jet fuel. One customer has closed his laptop and moved to a far table. But Yousif can’t really seem to help it. He seems to only operate with excitement and emotion and in equal proportions.
Until he talks about these last few Lions seasons. After his father’s death, Yousif wasn’t sure he could watch the Lions anymore. Every game was tied to loss, no matter the outcome. Saying this, he gets caught, and pauses, jaw clenched, cheeks trembling.
The 2021 season came and went. He watched games in 2022 at home with an empty seat for his dad. Before 2023, he decided to make the big move. Season tickets. Lower bowl. Section 141, 33 rows up.
He watched his team go 12-5 and win the NFC North last season.
“I know it sounds crazy — really, I do — but it’s felt like Dad being like, yo, it’s OK, I got you,” he says. “I’ve been telling people these last few years that he’s got his hands all over this. I found a lot of comfort in that. I think he heard me say I didn’t want to watch the Lions anymore. He wanted to make it easier.”
Now Yousif is rooting for football’s unlikeliest juggernaut. The Lions are 12-1 and current favorites to do it — something so unthinkable that we won’t even say it.
Neither he nor anyone else can quite wrap their heads around what is all playing out. Yousif says he admits his mistake, and accepts the punishment, but also believes LaFleur overreacted and perhaps this all never needed to escalate so much. He’s hoping for another Lions-Packers matchup in the playoffs.
He plans to be there for it. Just as he plans to be in the stands for Lions-Bills. A massive group of longtime season ticket holders who operate a tailgate out of Eastern Market invited him to Sunday’s tailgate. There might be an available ticket for him.
While his season tickets are gone, apparently forever, Yousif can still go see his team.
So he’ll go be a fan.
He doesn’t know how to be anything else.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: Nic Antaya / Getty Images; Courtesy of Fahed Yousif)
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Despite dropping their regular-season finale to in-state rival Texas, the Texas A&M Aggies qualified for the College Football Playoff and earned the right to host a first-round game at Kyle Field.
Nick Saban, who won seven national championships during his storied coaching career, experienced his fair share of hostile environments on road trips.
But the former Alabama coach and current ESPN college football analyst floated a surprising theory about how Texas A&M turns up the volume to try to keep opposing teams off balance.
A view of the midfield logo before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the LSU Tigers at Kyle Field on Oct. 26, 2024 in College Station, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
While Saban did describe Kyle Field as one of the sport’s “noisiest” atmospheres, he also claimed the stadium’s operators have leaned on artificial crowd noise to pump up the volume during games.
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“I did more complaining to the SEC office—it was more than complaining that I don’t really want to say on this show—about this is the noisiest place. Plus, they pipe in noise… You can’t hear yourself think when you’re playing out there,” he told Pat McAfee on Thursday afternoon.
Adding crowd noise during games does not explicitly violate NCAA rules. However, the policy does mandate a certain level of consistency.
A general view of Kyle Field before the start of the game between Texas A&M Aggies and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Kyle Field on Oct. 12, 2019 in College Station, Texas. (John Glaser/USA TODAY Sports)
According to the governing body’s rulebook: “Artificial crowd noise, by conference policy or mutual consent of the institutions, is allowed. The noise level must be consistent throughout the game for both teams. However, all current rules remain in effect dealing with bands, music and other sounds. When the snap is imminent, the band/music must stop playing. As with all administrative rules, the referee may stop the game and direct game management to adjust.”
General view of fans watch the play in the first half between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Ball State Cardinals at Kyle Field on Sept. 12, 2015 in College Station, Texas. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Regardless of the possible presence of artificial noise, the Miami Hurricanes will likely face a raucous crowd when Saturday’s first-round CFP game kicks off at 12 p.m. ET.
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Denzel Perryman quickly listed name after name as he dove deep into his mental roster of the 2015 Chargers.
Manti Teʻo, Melvin Ingram, Kavell Conner and Donald Butler took Perryman under their wing, the Chargers linebacker said. The 11-year veteran said he relied on older teammates when he entered the NFL as they helped him adjust to the schedule and regimen of professional football.
“When I was a young guy,” Perryman said, “my head was all over the place — just trying to get the gist of the NFL. They taught me how to be where my mind is.”
With the Chargers (10-4) entering the final stretch of the season and on the cusp of clinching a playoff berth heading into Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys (6-7-1), veterans have played an important role in the team winning six of its last seven games.
A win over the Cowboys coupled with either a loss or tie by the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon or an Indianapolis Colts loss or tie on Monday night would secure a playoff berth for the Chargers.
Perryman, who recorded a season-best nine tackles in the Chargers’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs last week, credits Philip Rivers and the rest of the Chargers’ veterans for showing him “how to be a pro” a decade ago. Now he’s passing along those lessons to younger players in a transfer of generational knowledge across the Chargers’ locker room.
“When I came in as a young guy, I thought this happens every year,” safety Derwin James Jr. said of winning, starting his career on a 12-4 Chargers team in 2018. “Remember the standard. Remember, whatever we’re doing now, to uphold the standard, so that way, when guys change, coaches change, anything changes, the standard remains.”
Running off the field at Arrowhead Stadium, third-year safety Daiyan Henley charged at a celebrating Tony Jefferson, a veteran mentor at his position who was waiting for teammates after being ejected for an illegal hit on Chiefs wide receiver Tyquan Thornton.
After the game Jefferson and Henley hopped around like schoolchildren on the playground. That’s the atmosphere the veterans want to create, Jefferson said, one in which younger players in the secondary can turn to him.
“That’s what we’re here for,” Jefferson said. “For them to watch us and follow, follow our lead, and see how we do our thing.”
It’s not just the veteran stars that are making a difference. Marcus Williams, a 29-year-old safety with 109 games of NFL experience, replaced Jefferson against the Chiefs after being elevated from the practice squad. The 2017 second-round pick played almost every snap in Jefferson’s place, collecting four tackles.
“That just starts with the culture coach [Jim] Harbaugh creates,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “It’s really a 70-man roster.”
Harbaugh highlighted defensive lineman/fullback Scott Matlock’s blocking technique — a ba-boop, ba-boop, as Harbaugh put it and mimed with his arms — on designed runs as an example of a veteran bolstering an offensive line trying to overcome the absence of Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater.
Harbaugh said his father, Jack, taught Matlock the ba-boop, ba-boop blocking technique during an August practice.
“He’s severely underrated as an athlete,” quarterback Justin Herbert said of the 6-foot-4, 296-pound Matlock, who also catches passes in the flat as a fullback.
With three games left in the regular season, Jefferson said the focus is on replicating the postseason-like efforts they gave in consecutive wins over the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
“It was good that they were able to get a taste of that,” Jefferson said of his younger teammates playing against last season’s Super Bowl teams, “because these games down the stretch are really what’s to come in the playoffs.”
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Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua’s tumultuous Thursday began with an apology and ended with more controversial remarks.
In between, he had a career-best performance.
After catching 12 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Nacua once again expressed his frustration with how NFL referees handled the game.
Nacua previously suggested game officials shared similarities to attorneys. The remarks came after the third-year wideout claimed some referees throw flags during games to ramp up their camera time.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua warms up before a game against the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
After the Seahawks 38-37 win propelled Seattle to the top spot in the NFC standings, Nacua took a veiled shot at the game’s officials.
“Can you say i was wrong. Appreciate you stripes for your contribution. Lol,” he wrote on X.
The Pro Bowler added that his statement on X was made in “a moment of frustration after a tough, intense game like that.”
RAMS STAR PUKA NACUA ACCUSES REFS OF MAKING UP CALLS TO GET ON TV: ‘THE WORST’
“It was just a lack of awareness and just some frustration,” Nacua said. “I know there were moments where I feel like, ‘Man, you watch the other games and you think of the calls that some guys get and you wish you could get some of those.’ But that’s just how football has played, and I’ll do my job in order to work my technique to make sure that there’s not an issue with the call.”
But, this time, Nacua’s criticism resulted in a hefty fine. The league issued a $25,000 penalty, according to NFL Network.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (12) runs with the ball during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Nacua had expressed aggravation on social media just days after the 24-year-old asserted during a livestream appearance with internet personalities Adin Ross and N3on that “the refs are the worst.”
“Some of the rules aren’t … these guys want to be … these guys are lawyers. They want to be on TV too,” Nacua said, per ESPN. “You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on “Sunday Night Football.” That wasn’t P.I., but I called it.’”
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (12) scores a touchdown during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
On Thursday, reporters asked Nacua if he wanted to clarify his stance on the suggestion referees actively seek being in front of cameras during games.
“No, I don’t,” he replied.
Also on Thursday, Nacua apologized for performing a gesture that plays upon antisemitic tropes.
“I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people,” the receiver said in an Instagram post. “I deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions as I do not stand for any form of racism, bigotry or hate of another group of people.”
Rams coach Sean McVay dismissed the idea that all the off-field chatter surrounding Nacua was a distraction leading up to Los Angeles’ clash with its NFC West division rival.
“It wasn’t a distraction at all,” McVay said. “Did you think his play showed he was distracted? I didn’t think so either. He went off today.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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