DELTON, Mich. — The winters in Michigan are long, built for people who believe that summer— and the sun— will return.
For decades in Detroit, snow fell on a city whose football team couldn't win a playoff game, but long-suffering fans held fast.
On the eve of the NFC Championship Game, where the Detroit Lions— yes, you read that correctly— will play the San Francisco 49ers, seeing is believing. It's believing twice, actually, as the NFL's hottest team is fresh off two home playoff victories at Ford Field, the stadium's first.
Standing among the 66,000 in attendance during those weekends, Blue Face— a Detroit Lions superfan— roared.
“Get up! Get up!" The season ticket holder screamed from Section 139, Row 11. The home crowd— which peaked at 133.6 decibels— forced the Los Angeles Rams to burn timeouts, decisions that proved costly as the the clock counted down in Wild Card mathcup.
"Honestly, man, it's an honor," Blue Face, who's real name is Joe Martinez, said. "We all just go bananas for those guys."
In 2017, Martinez and his family moved from Chicago to Delton, Michigan. From afar and as a Bears fan, he had seen the many tragedies of the Detroit Lions.
"The 0-16 season, the hiring and firing, Dan Orlovsky, I'd seen a lot of that stuff," Martinez said. "I felt bad for those guys."
But suffering aside, the team's blue-collar, "rough and tough" character was a perfect fit for the roof inspector.
"I see the pride of Michiganders, what it's like to be a Michiganger" Martinez said. "I'm not moving. Hell, I've been telling my wife we should move closer to Detroit."
When Dan Campbell opened his tenure with the team with a fiery and now-famous press conference (kneecaps, anyone?), Martinez bought season tickets.
"That's the guy. I'm in love. I'm sold," Martinez said about Campbell's introduction to Detroit.
During this season's home opener, when safety C. J. Gardner-Johnson told fans to don blue ski masks, Blue Face was born.
"It's September, it's hot, we're inside," Martinez said. "I didn't necessarily want to wear a ski mask. I thought to myself, 'What could I do to be that fan?'"
Now, Blue Face—with chains, a Detroit Lions onesie, dyed-blue hair, and of course, blue face paint— is a fixture at Lions home games, as reliable as a third-and-long conversion from Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"The City of Detroit. The people in that building. It almost feels like a family of 66,000 people every single game," Martinez said. "Detroit vs. Everybody. I believe that."
While Blue Face won't be flying to San Francisco, he thinks his team will get the job done. That's how fans like him— Michiganders— operate. They believe.
“It's the state," Martinez said. "It's being prideful in where you're from.”
