Tom Szocinski has seen quite a color change at the sports pub he owns in Rapid River, Michigan, but it has nothing to do with new paint or other decorations inside.
The owner of the Rapid River Pub, which is located in the Upper Peninsula roughly 30 minutes northeast of Escanaba, Szocinski knows his establishment lies in the heart of Green Bay Packers territory despite it technically being in Michigan.
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It’s pretty well known that the UP is a haven for Packers fans given it’s much closer to Green Bay than Detroit (although ironically there seem to be more Tigers fans than Brewers fans in the UP), and it also has been that way because the Packers have historically been a more successful franchise.
But lately, patrons coming into the bar donned in green and gold have been replaced by customers decked out in blue and silver.
Yep, believe it or not, Detroit Lions fever has spread to Packers country.
Taking it a step further, Szocinski said he has one customer who is always dressed in Packers gear when he comes in. However, this Sunday for the NFC championship game, he said that customer will be wearing Lions apparel.
“They’re still cheeseheads, but they’re appreciating that it’s not SOL (same old Lions),” said Szocinski, who, for the record, grew up in Walled Lake and is a Lions fan.
Szocinski said at the beginning of the year in September when customers would come in to watch games, he estimated it would be a “70/30″ majority of Packers fans and that you were an anomaly if you came in cheering for the Lions.
Slowly as the season went along, more Lions fans started to take over, although there were whispers of “SOL” when the bar hosted a Thanksgiving meal for the community and the Packers throttled the Lions at Ford Field.
However, that is not been the case lately with the Lions winning their first division title in 30 years and two playoff games for the first time since 1957.
“As the month of December progressed, we started to see more blue and silver and more acceptance to people cheering on the Lions,” Szocinski said.
The same has been true at Pine Mountain Ski & Golf Resort in Iron Mountain, which houses the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame at Famers, a restaurant on its property.
“We do have a majority of Packers fans in the area, but there are a lot of faithful Honolulu blue and silver fans around here,” said Adam Stewart, director of food and beverage at the resort. “We had a good size of them here (last) weekend watching the game.”
There almost was an unprecedented situation for this year’s NFC championship game for sports bars all across the UP. Had the Packers held on to beat the San Francisco 49ers, it would’ve been the first time the Packers and Lions had ever played where the winner went to the Super Bowl.
Szocinski said his restaurant planned to divide his bar into Packers and Lions fans and have various food discounts or giveaways, but it wasn’t quite meant to be.
“We were ready,” Szocinski said.
Still, the bar should once again be packed on Sunday, although this time it will be dominated by people wearing blue and silver instead of green and gold.
“It was easy for the Packers fans to rip on the Lions, but now that’s not the case,” Szocinski said.