NORTHVILLE, Mich. – Fahad Yousif is two days away from receiving something called a certificate of completion from the National Football League. It is dated December 12th. It is signed by Ari Novick, Ph.D., a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in Laguna Beach, California. It is numbered “Cert #216932,” meaning that 216,931 others are believed to have received such an honor. . It cost $250 — the amount Yousif paid for a four-hour course that covered about eight or nine chapters on fan behavioral expectations in NFL stadiums.
He holds up his phone to show me.
“I can’t believe it’s come to this,” he says.
This is what happens when it all goes too far. Yousif is the Detroit Lions fan who decided to beep on the Green Bay Packers sideline during the pre-game festivities last weekend at Ford Field. Some choice words (no swearing, he makes clear) were followed by pulling his thumb over his neck and making a cutting motion. That turned out to be a terrible, terrible idea. Because for some, most notably Packers coach Matt LaFleur, what started as a vocal fan talking trash had devolved into a raving lunatic making a threat. LaFleur fired back at Yousif. Yousif smiled wildly and shouted back at LaFleur. Security intervened.
Yousif was on the field as an extra of his ticket package. He was allowed to choose one additional bonus for the 2024 season, choosing to be one of those fans who pulls a giant American flag taut over the field during the national anthem before the game. Instead, security escorted him off the field before the national anthem ever started.
The dust cloud went viral. Yousif, after returning to his seat, was ejected from Ford Field before halftime. LaFleur then addressed the incident at the post-game press conference, saying there should have been better oversight of Detroit’s pregame activities. On Wednesday, the Lions revoked Yousif’s season tickets. Then he was banned from attending NFL games. Every day new waves of colleagues and old friends texted, “Did I see you on TV?” and media requests. Yousif seized every opportunity to admit he was wrong and apologize. Everyone, including Yousif, more or less agreed that he went too far.
By the end of the week, the Lions and the league provided a path forward. The stadium ban would be lifted, Yousif was told, if he completed the code of conduct course and wrote a formal apology.
Now, here we are. It’s Saturday afternoon, almost a week removed from the incident, and almost 24 hours before the Lions host the Buffalo Bills in the NFL’s big game this weekend. Yousif accepted an invitation to meet at a Starbucks in Metro Detroit.
Maybe this could be about living in the blast radius of a viral moment.
Or it could be about almost missing what could be the best season in Lions history.
Or about repentance.
Or second chances.
But then Yousif is asked about what he almost lost.
“Oh man, everything,” he says. “This is who I am, and you know, I almost lost that. I don’t reject the criticism I’ve received. None of it. I agree with most of it.
“I was blessed with the honor of carrying the flag of a country I love. I crossed the line and it shouldn’t have happened. I understand where people are coming from. I can’t believe this happened.”
Yousif is a lot of things. He is a product of Metro Detroit’s vast Chaldean community: a first-generation American, born to a father from Iraq and a mother from Kuwait. He is an older sibling of two brothers. He is a graduate of Wayne State University. He is a sales associate for a Midwestern automotive tool company. He is a man to woman Gabby.
What he identifies with most, however, is as a Lions fan.
Yousif grew up speaking only Arabic at home. He did everything he could to fit in at school and felt most comfortable talking about football. He says that when he was growing up in the Farmington Hills public schools, he introduced himself by saying, “Hi, I’m Fahad. I’m a big Lions fan.”
Yousif ignored the pleas of his father, Saad, to play football. Instead, he lined up at defensive end and linebacker through middle school and into high school. He scored tickets to his first game at Ford Field in 2013. He and an older cousin started attending four or five games a year.
“It was so natural,” Yousif says. “It was like, this is where we come from, this is what we’re advocating for. Support the Lions no matter what.”
Yousif continued to learn and understand the game better, but, like so many others, he fell into the same trap that generations of Lions fans have faced. He believed.
“Oh, the Matt Patricia era, man,” he says now, laughing, “I totally bought the hype.”
But like all those generations of Lions fans, something came from that belief. Shared experience. Yousif convinced his father to advocate for the Lions. He sold the dream. “This is the year.” Soon Yousif stopped attending matches, choosing to watch them at his father’s house. Two chairs. Big screen TV. Fixed appointment.
“Every year he became more and more interested in it,” Yousif says. “He finally got it, and it kind of changed our whole relationship.” Those years weren’t very good for the Lions, but you know, they were good for us.
The Dan Campbell era in Detroit began in 2021 with franchise trading star quarterback Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff. Yousif called his father as soon as the news broke. It was mid-March. Saad, at 65, was recently retired and ready to embark on his next ride as a Lions fan.
Six weeks later, Yousif was told that his father was feeling ill. He entered the hospital. He was put on a ventilator.
“It happened so quickly,” Yousif says. “He was dead within ten days.”
Yousif made no mention of this during his numerous media appearances this week. Viral moments don’t take time. That, and his story is no excuse for what happened last week.
“It still shouldn’t have happened,” he says. “I was also a huge pro wrestling fan growing up and I think I have some of that in my personality. I root for the heel.”
You can bet that personality is big. Yousif is by far the loudest person in the coffee shop. He talks like he’s drinking jet fuel. One customer closed his laptop and moved to another table. But Yousif doesn’t seem to be able to do anything about it. He seems to operate only with excitement and emotion and in equal proportions.
Until he talks about the past Lions seasons. After his father’s death, Yousif wasn’t sure if he could still watch the Lions. Every match involved a loss, regardless of the outcome. As he says this, he is caught and stands there for a moment, jaw clenched and cheeks quivering.
The 2021 season came and went. He watched the games at home in 2022 with an empty chair for his father. Before 2023, he decided to take the big step. Season tickets. Lower bowl. Section 141, 33 rows up.
He saw his team go 12-5 and win the NFC North last season.
“I know it sounds crazy – it really does – but it felt like Dad was saying: Yo, it’s okay, I got you,” he says. ‘I’ve been telling people over the years that he’s in control of everything here. I found a lot of comfort in that. I think he heard me say I didn’t want to watch the Lions anymore. He wanted to make it easier.”
Now Yousif is making the case for football’s unlikeliest juggernaut. The Lions are 12-1 and currently favored to do this – something so unthinkable we don’t even want to say it.
Neither he nor anyone else can fully understand what is going on. Yousif says he admits his mistake and accepts the punishment, but also believes LaFleur overreacted and perhaps it never had to escalate to this point. He hopes for another Lions-Packers matchup in the playoffs.
He plans to be there. Just as he plans to be in the stands for Lions-Bills. A huge group of longtime season ticket holders who operate a tailgate from Eastern Market invited him to Sunday’s tailgate. There may be a ticket available for him.
Although his season tickets are gone, seemingly forever, Yousif can still join his team.
So he will become a fan.
He doesn’t know how to be anything else.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletics; photos: Nic Antaya/Getty Images; Thanks to Fahed Yousif)