Our hearts were pounding like never before, as Matt Prater lined up for that do-or-die kick at Wembley Stadium with time running out in the Lions Week 8 matchup against the Falcons. It felt like nothing else mattered in the world. All the happiness and sadness in the world was going to be determined by whether this 30 year old man, the third kicker the Lions had signed this year, would manage to successfully kick the football through the bright yellow goalposts. This is the story of how my dad and I, 8 years after making Aliyah to Israel, found ourselves at Wembley Stadium along with 85,000 others, awaiting the fate of that game deciding field goal that Prater was about to kick.
About a year ago, I was at a movie with some friends and chanichim, when I received a notification on my phone which said “Lions will play game in London in 2014.” I immediately texted this to my dad, and wrote “How is this for a father son bonding trip?” A few months later, he called me into his room and delivered the happy news that he had bought tickets for the game as a graduation present. I was absolutely ecstatic, having never been to an NFL game before, and was looking forward to the game from that point on. Even as the Tigers season rolled along, I was secretly counting down the days until Week 8 of the NFL season. A few months later, my dad told me we would be leaving for London the Wednesday before the game, and returning to Israel the following Tuesday. We would be staying at my Aunt Raachel and Uncle Spencer’s house the whole time, and have the chance to spend time with my 1 year old cousin Shoshana.
The Lions are historically the worst team in any pro sport. They have one playoff win in 56 years. They went 0-16 in 2008. They always find a way to lose. But Lions fans are resilient. No matter how ugly, we’ll always be back. We are loyal to the team. We all fell in love with them, and it’s a binding relationship until the day we die. No one hops off the bandwagon, as ugly as it sometimes seems. They sell out almost every single game. The Lions fan base is among the most passionate fan bases in America. One Detroit, One Pride.
Going into this game, the Lions were 5-2, and had the tiebreaker over Green Bay for first place in the NFC North. Field goal kicking, however, had been an issue for them, as they were already up to their third kicker of the year. They had just pulled off a miracle comeback against the Saints the week before, so they boarded the flight to London while happy and confident. The Falcons roster is packed with superstar players, such as Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Steven Jackson, and Julio Jones, but for some reason they hadn’t been able to put it together this year. My dad and I liked our chances of seeing the 5-2 Lions beat the 2-5 Falcons, but with the Lions, you just never know.
Finally, the day had come. We had my new cousin Yiftach’s Brit in the morning in Raanana, and then headed back to Modiin so I could start packing. I finished packing, and had a fun little good-bye session with some friends before my flight. I told them I wanted to have a fun time with my dad, watch the lions win an exciting game, and meet a few players (as unlikely as that was). At some point I realized my earphones were broken, so I went to the Newmarks where Shifra gave me her earphones for the week. Once I had them, I drove my mom’s friend back to Kiryat Sefer, and came home to get our luggage. Mommy, Ephraim and Nava came to drop us off at the airport which was nice. I looked at my dad and smiled. “We’re going to London to watch the Lions,” I said. Now that it was finally here, it seemed hard to believe that we were actually doing it. We made it through security pretty quickly, and had about an hour before the flight. We had Burger Ranch, but I forgot to tell them I wanted my schnitzel without anything else on it. I ate it anyway, because I figured if I was going to eat fish and chips this week, I should be able to have a few vegetables and dressing on a schnitzel. I did, however, remove the tomatoes, because I’ve tried them a lot of times and know that I don’t appreciate eating them. On the plane, we watched The Blind Side and Frozen, two of my favorite movies. At passport control we were asked why we came to London. It turned into a little “discussion” about which “Football” is better. We finally reached the Lewis’ house at about 1:30 England time (3:30 Israel time).
The next day, we woke up excited for our day in England. The plan was to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter studio tour, and then go out for dinner and the Wicked play. We were entertained by Shoshana for about a half hour in the morning. The tour was unbelievably cool. It was amazing seeing how they did the special effects, and acting. We found it really cool how many little details go into every little thing. It was very really special seeing all of the props that we recognized from the movies. We acted out some scenes from the sets that we were at. All in all, it was a captivating 5 hours that we spent there, and I will never be able to watch the Harry Potter movies in the same way as before. Let’s face it; it was the closest I’ll ever get to actually living in the Harry Potter world.
From there we went back to Hendon for a little break, and then we took a train to the City. We had a good time trying to figure out the trains, switching lines without actually knowing what we were doing. We figured it out at some point, got out at Baker Street and walked to Reuben’s. I remembered their delicious chicken soup with knaidlach and noodles, so I was excited about that. We decided to walk to the theater, which took about 45 minutes. Once we caught our breath, we were ready for Wicked. We had no idea what it was until we saw something about Munchkin Land, and then figured it was about the Wizard of Oz. It was a backstory about the Wicked Witch of the West, and it taught me a lot about perspective. Without knowing all the sides of the story, you can easily misinterpret what really took place. You could have thought that she was born evil, and never found out that it wasn’t really her fault. I took that to my daily life, don’t judge unless you know both sides, and to try to find more about each person that I know. There is so much that we never bother to check about someone we think we know well, so we should try to spend more personal time with the people we care about. Besides for all these important lessons, we had a great time at the show. The actors were wonderful, and my dad even knew one of the songs from Glee. We figured out how to get back to the house, and went to sleep satisfied after an excellent first day in London.
On Friday, we woke up a bit later than scheduled. I checked Twitter and saw that Tom Leyden, a Detroit sports TV host, posted that he was setting up for the show in Trafalgar Square that day. We headed down there wearing Lions Jerseys, but found a fence that blocked us from coming in. I sent him this tweet “@TomLeyden hey tom, my dad and I are big lions fans and we're in Trafalgar Square, can we come in and meet you?” While we were waiting we headed into the National Art Gallery Museum, which was pretty cool. I feel like we underappreciated the artwork, but at least we enjoyed taking a glance at the paintings.
When we walked out of there, we saw Tom waving us over to the fence to meet him. We told him that we flew in for the game from Israel, and we would love to come in to watch the show. He told us he would love to bring us in, but apparently there were 100 people with guest passes to get into the interview. He was going to interview my two favorite players, Ndamukong Suh and Calvin Johnson, so you can imagine how much I wanted to get in and meet them. He said he would love to bring us in, but the British security people wouldn’t allow it because it’s a work zone. He added, however, that if there was any way possible to bring us in, he would do his best.
We went on a train to grab a bite to eat quickly, and we were back about 40 minutes later. We met some other Lions fans outside who also wanted to get in, but they gave up after about an hour of waiting in the drizzling rain. We saw a group with blue bracelets which apparently were the passes to get in. I started asking people who were walking in if they had any extra passes. I didn’t give up, I heard a bunch of no’s but I was just waiting for the yes.
Finally, after about 2 hours, a lady came to the fence with a few extra bracelets. I told her that we were huge fans, we flew all the way from Israel and we really wanted to get in to the interview. She said they are all counted for, but if she had any extra she would love to give them to us. About 20 minutes later, she comes to the fence with two bracelets, one for us each. I couldn’t thank her enough, and my dad and I looked at each other in complete shock. Here we were, at Trafalgar square in London, about to meet my favorite football players of all time.
The players arrived shortly after we got in. I high fived Coach Caldwell and Calvin, and then went to stand next to Ndamukong. He is a TANK in real life. I was in the clouds. These people that I watch every week on TV from my home in Israel were right in front of my eyes. THE REAL CALVIN AND SUH! It felt like a dream. I got in a picture with Suh and had a short conversation with him about how big of a fan I am, and that I flew in from Israel for the game. He said that was really cool. Then I went to Calvin. He’s more of a quiet guy, so I just asked him how his ankle was feeling. He said it was doing much better, and that he hoped to play that week. I just said “feel better”, and then we took a selfie.
The whole experience at Trafalgar Square was the coolest sports event I’ve ever attended. The interviews were really interesting too! We took pictures with Roary the mascot. After the interview, Calvin, Suh, and Coach Caldwell stood for pictures with everyone that was at the interview. I went by myself first, and then got back in line with my dad. Before we got in line I noticed my dad talking to a woman that looked closer to my age than his. He had recognized her from NFL Now, and we had a great conversation with her. Everyone thought it was so cool that we flew in from Israel for the game, and she was so happy for us that we managed to get ourselves into the interview. My dad also met one of his childhood heroes, Bubba Baker. Coach Caldwell jokingly said “Oh, you’re back again?” I couldn’t believe he remembered me, what a bro. I high fived him, Calvin, but I had to fist bump Suh.
We left there feeling like we were in the clouds. I could not believe that we had actually met these guys and somehow made our way into the interview. That bracelet will not be coming off. We got to Hendon about an hour before Shabbat, where we saw Spencer for the first time. I remember staring at myself in the mirror with my mouth wide open, wondering how the heck that just happened. I looked at the pictures about 20 times to make sure they were real. Then I showered, got dressed for Shabbat, and walked to Shul with Spencer and my dad. Davening was supposed to be Carlebach, but wasn’t. Dinner was really delicious, and we went to sleep around 9. The 12 hours was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.
Shul the next day was one of my worst Jewish experiences in terms of length and comfort, but I tried my hardest to daven well, because I felt that I owed it to God for what he did for us the previous day. Lunch was as delicious as we’d gotten used to at the Lewis House. We napped pretty much the whole afternoon, and then played with Shoshana towards the end of Shabbos.
On Saturday night we took it easy, ordering pizza and watching X Factor UK. Lauren sang Let It Go which made me happy. My dad and I both had trouble sleeping the entire night because we were too excited for the next day. At about 6:15 AM, I gave up trying to sleep. It was 8:15 in Israel, so I was able to talk to some of my friends while waiting to leave. I davened, ate, and then it was finally time to go. I was wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and my dad’s Barry Sanders jersey, while he wore a sweatshirt, my Suh jersey, and jeans. We got on the train, which was full of NFL jerseys, and waited to arrive at the stadium station.
We got to Wembley at 9 AM, but the game wasn’t supposed to start until 1:30. The walk-up to the stadium was full of big Lions and Falcons pictures all over the walls. Outside the stadium, the NFL had many activities for fans. There were holes that you had to kick or throw a football into, and there were food stands. There was a big TV screen where you could watch the pregame show in the US. There was a pregame stage with appearances by Warrick Dunn, Marshall Faulk, Bubba Baker, and other former NFL stars.
It was so cool seeing all of the different fans, from America and Europe, all in their NFL gear, mostly of teams who weren’t even playing. There was a Madden stand where my dad and I played against each other. I don’t feel that it’s so necessary to give too many details about our game. We also saw the Vince Lombardi Trophy from up close.
My dad recognized Bubba Baker sitting in a building lobby, and said we should go talk to him. He was just sitting there with his wife and one more person. We walked in, and I asked him, “How has the NFL changed since you were playing”. He said mainly that the players now are better athletes, but players back then were tougher. It’s become a passing league, resulting in the league becoming so protective of quarterbacks. We talked a little more football, and then he asked us where we were from. He was so impressed that we flew in from Israel. It turns out he loves Israel, and had just visited there a few years before. He took off his wedding ring, and told me to put it on. It said “Ani Ledodi Vedodi Li” in Hebrew. He told us about the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem. We probably were hanging out with the 3 time All-Star and 1978 Defensive Rookie of the Year for about 25 minutes. He wanted to take a picture with us, but he made me take off my Barry Sanders jersey and put on his Baker #60. He said to send it to him on twitter, and he gave me his cell phone number so I could update him on what’s happening in Israel. We were in shock that this former NFL Star would spend so much time with two fans.
We met Rodney Peete and Warrick Dunn too. I took a picture with Freddy the Falcon and Roary together. There were some awesome lions and falcons costumes too. I bought a nice Lions hat. After that, we were ready to head into the stadium, even an hour and a half before game time. We got to watch the players warm up and practice, and walked around the stadium. It was jam packed with 85,000 fans. Little Mix played a little show before the National Anthems. Each seat got a bag in red, white, or blue to hold up for the anthems. The stadium formed a British flag, an American flag, and two NFL logos. Finally, the game was about to start.
The game got off to a dismal start for Lions fans, with the Falcons leading 21-0 at halftime. Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush and the three top Tight Ends were inactive for the Lions. Nick Fairley got hurt badly and had to be helped off the field. The only Lions highlight had been Jeremy Ross jumping over a Falcons defender. Rasheen Mathis had a 103 pick six which got overturned because of pass interference. Matt Ryan was absolutely carving up the Lions defense. My Dad said that he’d seen this before. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of us. At that point, I told my dad, “Either this is going to completely suck, or we will never forget this game. They are set up perfectly for the stunning comeback.”
There must have been something at halftime in the Lions’ locker room, because they came out looking like a completely different team for the second half. Matt Prater hit a field goal, and on the next possession Matt Stafford threw a 59 yard touchdown to Golden Tate on 3rd and 25. We went absolutely wild, jumping and screaming. But we knew we still needed 11 more points. The next drive we saw Suh absolutely manhandle Ryan, only to be cancelled out by a stupid penalty in the secondary. Everything is for the best, though, because on the next play Matt Ryan threw the worst pass I may have ever seen, right to Vaughn, who returned it into the Red Zone (and then did a nice little tushie dance). They got a field goal out of it, and then their defense made a big stop. On the ensuing drive, Stafford found Riddick for a touchdown to make it 21-19. They missed the two point conversion, on what should have been a defensive penalty.
The Falcons had a two point lead, the ball, and 4 minutes to kill. With three minutes left, on third down Douglas made a spectacular catch to renew the set of downs. At the two minute warning, Julio Jones got a first down. With only one time out left for Detroit, they were to the point where a first down would have ended the game. Atlanta ran for 2 yards on first down. On second down the lions made a nice stop on a Steven Jackson run up the middle, and benefitted from an Atlanta holding penalty which stopped the clock. The next play they threw incomplete, which stopped the clock again, effectively giving the Lions the ball back with 1:38 to go instead of about a minute. On first down, Stafford found Golden Tate for a big 30 yard pass. Two plays later, Theo Riddick made a ridiculous one-handed 20 yard reception. Two plays later, a nice first down catch for Ross.
At this point we were going crazy. We were so excited, but knew that it could all be lost in one second. One bad pass, one big drop and it would all go for naught. The entire crown had gotten to its feet. The wild comeback storybook ending was all set up. Atlanta made another dumb penalty, defensive holding, which again stopped the clock and got them 5 yards closer. Stafford let the clock run down to four seconds, and then spiked the ball to stop the clock. I could not believe this was happening. We were so close to victory, and we were going to rely on a Lions field goal to soar through the goalposts. I could hear my heart pounding. I was so nervous, yet excited. I tried to visualize how it would be both ways, whether he hit it or missed. The noise in the stadium was deafening. We saw as Prater lined up, brought his foot back, and swung it forward. We saw the ball going towards the posts, rising ever so slowly in our minds. We saw it start to spin towards the right. We saw it continue to veer off towards the right until…it went wide to the right. Shock. Disbelief. Devastation. We couldn’t believe that they had come so close, inches away, only to have the kick go right. The Falcons started celebrating on the field, as our shock mingled with anger and disappointment. The stadium went crazy, as it was officially Atlanta’s home game. We heard whistles, and the refs got together. “Delay of game-Offense. 5 yard penalty.” We had another chance! Our own incompetence gave us another chance at the game winning kick. One part of me was thrilled at the chance for another kick, and another part of me felt that it was cruel to make it seem like we still had a chance when he would inevitably miss this one too. “Oh my God,” was all I was able to say and repeat many times. We saw Prater line up again, swing his foot back again, and watched his foot touch the ball. We saw the ball rise up, to the left this time. We watched in awe as it sailed through the goal posts. 22-21. They had done it. I was beyond ecstatic, yelling and jumping up and down while hugging my dad. I just could not believe what I had witnessed. The Lions literally snatched victory from the hands of defeat, in absolute stunning fashion. The Lions rushed the field and started celebrating. I didn’t even know what to do with myself. We started hugging and high-fiving all the Lions fans that we saw. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the football portion of our trip.
That night we had dinner with the Lewis in-laws, and then headed out to London. We walked around, and then started getting on random busses. When there was something cool we wanted to see, we got off and looked. I was happy that we got a chance to see Downtown London together, and we had a great time that night.
The next day, we spent time with Raachel, Spencer and Shoshana at Covent Gardens. The street performers were very entertaining, and we had a good time there. My dad and I continued our tour of London, and got back to Hendon right on time for dinner. We were served fish and chips. I have serious issues when it comes to fish, but I figured if this was a growing up trip, I should at least try it. I tried it, and it didn’t kill me. Let’s just say I had a lot more chips than fish.
On Tuesday, we took a flight home to Israel. We watched Friday Night Lights and Life of Pi. It had been an absolutely perfect week in London. I had a great time with Raachel, Spencer and Shoshana. I got to meet my favorite football players, Calvin Johnson and Ndamukong Suh. I got to witness a remarkable Lions comeback. I hung out with Bubba Baker, and Warrick Dunn. I got to watch an interview in Trafalgar Square, and tour all around London. But the best part of the entire trip was being with my dad for a week that I will never ever forget, and I cannot thank him enough for this wonderful experience we got to share together.
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