I had the good fortune to attend the Lions-Cowboys game yesterday at Ford Field. While I don't live in Michigan, a friend of mine and I made the 2.5 hour drive and enjoyed the game. I have liked the Cowboys since I was little, but I had no real rooting interest.

It was a fairly pedestrian game until the start of the 4th quarter. Dallas was winning, but it was more the result of poor Detroit play and benefiting from 4 Lions turnovers. Then the game just exploded. Calvin Johnson put on one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen. At first I thought it was a misprint, but the stat line read 12 catches for 329 yards receiving.

As a disinterested observer, Lions fans are much like my hometown Browns fans. They seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the Lions to implode. Over the years, the Lions have given their fans many instances to feel this way. But yesterday, the game wasn't decided until the last tick on the clock. The Cowboys went up by 10 with a little less than 7:00 minutes to play. I would say that 1/3 of the stadium emptied at that point. But the Lions came back on the next drive to cut the lead to 3 again. With about 1:30 to play, Detroit failed to convert on 4th down and we left our seats to head to the car. We had a long walk within the stadium and heard some cheers, so we poked our heads in to see what was happening. The place erupted as if the Lions had just won the Super Bowl.

It was pure luck, but this was the first NFL game that I have attended in over 10 years. But we happened to pick one of the most exciting finishes in recent memory.