NORTHVILLE, Mich. — Fahad Yousif is two days removed from receiving something called a Certificate of Completion from the National Football League. It is dated Dec. 12. It is signed by Ari Novick, Ph.D., a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Laguna Beach, Calif. It is numbered “Cert #216932,” meaning 216,931 others presumably have received such an honor. It cost $250 — the fee Yousif paid for a four-hour course covering about eight or nine chapters of fan behavior expectations in NFL stadiums.
He holds up his phone to show me.
“I can’t believe it came to this,” he says.
This is what happens when it all goes too far. Yousif is the Detroit Lions fan who decided to chirp at the Green Bay Packers sideline during pregame festivities at Ford Field last weekend. Some choice words (no swearing, he makes clear) were followed by drawing his thumb across his neck, making a slashing motion. That, it turns out, was a terrible, terrible idea. Because to some, notably Packers coach Matt LaFleur, what started as some mouthy fan talking trash had crossed over to a raving madman making a threat. LaFleur fired back at Yousif. Yousif, smiling wildly, yelled back at LaFleur. Security got involved.
Yousif was on the field as a perk of his ticket package. Allowed to choose one add-on bonus for the 2024 season, he opted to be one of those fans who pull a giant American flag taut across the field during the pregame national anthem. Instead, security escorted him off the field before the anthem ever began.
The dust-up went viral. Yousif, after returning to his seat, was ejected from Ford Field before halftime. Then LaFleur spoke about the incident in the postgame news conference, saying Detroit’s pregame activities should’ve been policed better. On Wednesday, the Lions revoked Yousif’s season tickets. Then he was banned from attending NFL games. Every day brought new waves of coworkers and old friends texting, “Did I see you on TV?” and media requests. Yousif took each opportunity to acknowledge he was in the wrong and apologize. Everyone, including Yousif, more or less agreed that he went too far out there.
Near the end of the week, the Lions and the league offered a path forward. The stadium ban would be lifted, Yousif was told, if he completed the code of conduct class and wrote a formal apology.
Now, here we are. It’s Saturday afternoon, nearly a week removed from the incident, and nearly 24 hours until the Lions host the Buffalo Bills in the NFL’s marquee game this weekend. Yousif accepted an invitation to meet at a Starbucks in Metro Detroit.
Maybe this could be about life in the blast radius of a viral moment.
Or it could be about nearly missing out on what might end up as the greatest season in Lions history.
Or about contrition.
Or second chances.
But then Yousif is asked about what he nearly lost.
“Oh, man, everything,” he says. “This is who I am, and, you know, I almost lost that. I don’t dismiss any of the criticism I’ve gotten. None of it. I agree with most of it.
“I was blessed with an honor to hold the flag of a country I love. I crossed the line and it shouldn’t have happened. I get where people are coming from. I can’t believe this happened.”
Yousif is a lot of things. He’s 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’s an older sibling to two brothers. He’s a Wayne State University graduate. He’s a sales associate for a Midwest automotive tools company. He’s a husband to wife Gabby.
What he most identifies as, though, is as a Lions fan.
Yousif grew up speaking only Arabic at home. He tried everything to fit in at school and came to feel most comfortable talking about football. He says that, growing up attending Farmington Hills public schools, he’d introduce himself by saying, “Hi, I’m Fahad. I’m a big Lions fan.”
Yousif ignored pleas from his father, Saad, to play soccer. He instead 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 began attending four or five games a year.
“It was so natural,” Yousif says. “It was like, this is where we’re from, this is who we root for. Root for the Lions, no matter what.”
Yousif grew to learn and understand the game more and more, but, like so many others, fell into the same trap that’s befallen generations of Lions fans. He believed.
“Oh, the Matt Patricia era, bro,” he says now, fighting through a laugh, “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 start rooting for the Lions. He sold the dream. “This is the year.” Soon, Yousif stopped attending games, choosing instead to watch them at his dad’s house. Two chairs. Big-screen TV. Standing appointment.
“Every year, he got more and more into it,” Yousif says. “He finally got it, and it kinda 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 the franchise trading star quarterback Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff. Yousif called his father the minute the news broke. It was mid-March. Saad, at 65, was newly retired and ready to get aboard his next ride as a Lions fan.
Six weeks later, Yousif got word that his father was feeling sick. He entered the hospital. He was placed on a ventilator.
“It was so quick,“ Yousif says. “Within 10 days, he was dead.”
Yousif hasn’t mentioned any of this through his numerous media appearances this week. Viral moments don’t afford time. That, and his story doesn’t excuse what happened last week.
“It still shouldn’t have happened,” he says. “I was also a big pro wrestling fan growing up and I think I’ve got some of that in my personality. I root for the heel.”
That personality, you can be certain, is big. Yousif is the loudest person in the coffee shop by a wide margin. He speaks like he’s drinking jet fuel. One customer has closed his laptop and moved to a far table. But Yousif can’t really seem to help it. He seems to only operate with excitement and emotion and in equal proportions.
Until he talks about these last few Lions seasons. After his father’s death, Yousif wasn’t sure he could watch the Lions anymore. Every game was tied to loss, no matter the outcome. Saying this, he gets caught, and pauses, jaw clenched, cheeks trembling.
The 2021 season came and went. He watched games in 2022 at home with an empty seat for his dad. Before 2023, he decided to make the big move. Season tickets. Lower bowl. Section 141, 33 rows up.
He watched his team go 12-5 and win the NFC North last season.
“I know it sounds crazy — really, I do — but it’s felt like Dad being like, yo, it’s OK, I got you,” he says. “I’ve been telling people these last few years that he’s got his hands all over this. 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 rooting for football’s unlikeliest juggernaut. The Lions are 12-1 and current favorites to do it — something so unthinkable that we won’t even say it.
Neither he nor anyone else can quite wrap their heads around what is all playing out. Yousif says he admits his mistake, and accepts the punishment, but also believes LaFleur overreacted and perhaps this all never needed to escalate so much. He’s hoping for another Lions-Packers matchup in the playoffs.
He plans to be there for it. Just as he plans to be in the stands for Lions-Bills. A massive group of longtime season ticket holders who operate a tailgate out of Eastern Market invited him to Sunday’s tailgate. There might be an available ticket for him.
While his season tickets are gone, apparently forever, Yousif can still go see his team.
So he’ll go be a fan.
He doesn’t know how to be anything else.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: Nic Antaya / Getty Images; Courtesy of Fahed Yousif)
