Detroit Lions might be America’s team after ‘Hard Knocks’

Fox 2’s Kellie Rowe joins CultureShift to talk about how the Hard Knocks docuseries is changing the reputation of Detroit’s NFL team

Kellie Rowe (right) in conversation with CultureShift's Ryan Patrick Hooper in the WDET studio. Dave Kim, WDET

They had a losing record last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. They made the longest playoff drought in the NFL and they have never won the Super Bowl. But the Detroit Lions are the most buzzed-about team in the country right now.

They are the stars of HBO’s docuseries, Hard Knocks, a massive show with a national audience. They follow one team as they get ready for the season, and this year, that team is the Lions. It gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look that’s hard to come by in the very controlled narrative of the NFL. The intrigue is drawing attention to the team not only locally but around the country.

To start dissecting this recent national fame that the Detroit Lions have, CultureShift spoke with Kellie Rowe, a reporter with Fox 2 who also writes about the Lions for Pride of Detroit and is a fan of the Lions herself.

“We continue to hop on the bandwagon every year, especially during training camp right after the draft, we’re all really high on them. And then preseason starts and then the season starts and it tends to dip from there. But this year, it seems different.” — Kellie Rowe, Fox 2 Detroit


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Photo Credit: Dave Kim, WDET

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Author

  • Ryan Patrick Hooper
    Ryan Patrick Hooper is the award-winning host and producer of CultureShift on 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit’s NPR station. Hooper has covered stories for the New York Times, NPR, Detroit Free Press, Hour Detroit, SPIN and Paste magazine.