2022 Detroit Lions awards: Pride of Detroit Moment of the Year (2024)

This wasn’t only a special year for the Detroit Lions—a critical stepping stone of the franchise. This was also a record-breaking year for Pride of Detroit. We absolutely obliterated records when it comes to pageviews, podcast downloads, social media interactions, and all while making sure we aren’t ever diluting or sacrificing quality of content.

So for our penultimate 2022 Pride of Detroit award, we’re going to look a little inward. A wise man once said the football isn’t going to spike itself. So here are our nominations for Pride of Detroit Moment of the Year.

Catch up on our previous awards here:

• Breakout Player of the Year
• Special Teams Player of the Year
• Rookie of the Year
• Coach of the Year
• Game of the Year
• Offensive Player of the Year
• Defensive Player of the Year
• Play of the Year

John Whiticar

Pride of Detroit’s growth

We usually keep analytics close to the chest, but I feel like I need to share this with you readers. This past year, Pride of Detroit has grown into one of SB Nation’s most-viewed sites. Not most-viewed in the NFC North, not most-viewed in the NFL. One of the most-viewed websites on this entire platform. Pride of Detroit is lapping many NFL sites in page views. Pride of Detroit is getting more views than some playoff teams’ sites—on days where they played a playoff game. The Lions haven’t been to the playoffs in years and are just a season removed from one of the worst records in the league, yet the community continues to grow. I have to extend my thank you to every person that clicks on an article of ours. Being a Lions fan and writer is not always easy, but the ridiculous support we have received makes it worthwhile.

Hamza Baccouche

Hamza predicts Jameson Williams trade an hour before it happens

When Hamza joined the pre-draft twitch stream and said that ”I would definitely trade up for Jameson Williams” and then Brad Holmes traded up for Jameson Williams. Honorable mention to Hamza getting to go to Lambeau field to cover the Lions-Packers season finale (thanks Jeremy <3).

Ryan Mathews

Raising a bunch of money for Alzheimer’s Association and Crisis Text Line for Movember

Our community rocks and they deserve all the praise for making their charitable contributions this Movember. This was definitely better than the worst Pride of Detroit Moment of the Year: Me not getting a chance to write about a single Lions victory for our “Song of the Game” series.

Morgan Cannon

ESPN Mina Kimes spontaneously joins Lions vs. Packers post-game show

Having everyone’s favorite Seattle sports fan, Mina Kimes, join the Twitch stream after the Lions beat the Packers in Week 18. Just a really cool moment for POD, and Mina was just as cool as you would think she’d be.

Erik Schlitt

Weekly mailbag podcasts with Jeremy

I’m going to be a bit selfish in my answer. For roughly five years or so, Jeremy and I have been trying to find a way to do a podcast together—yes, even before I worked at POD—but it never came about for a variety of reasons. Finally, this year we were able to find an idea that we believed would work and created the Mid-Week Mailbag for the POD feed.

I enjoy my conversations with Jeremy and feel like we bring the best out in one another. Neither of us are scared to share our opinions, our debates are healthy and respectful, and there is a real easiness to the flow of the podcast. Adding in the Twitch audience brings another fun element into the show and allows us to keep topics fresh and interesting.

I look forward to being able to continue these podcasts/streams throughout the offseason, as they truly are a lot of fun.

Mike Payton

Overall 2022 season

Mina Kimes joining the staff on Twitch moments after the Lions beat the Packers has to be up there, but I think I need to just go with this entire season. We came together and put up the best year in POD history. We raised a lot of money for great causes and we put out a ton of really good content. I’m really proud to be a part of this staff.

Jeremy Reisman

ESPN Mina Kimes spontaneously joins Lions vs. Packers post-game show

I almost completely missed this tweet. If it weren’t for a couple of observant people watching our live stream, I probably would have missed it. But without even being asked, Kimes was so excited for Lions fans (and, of course, her Seahawks making the playoffs) that she wanted to be part of our post-game celebration.

I wasn’t even sure she was being serious but didn’t want to miss the opportunity if she was. So I DM’d her a link to our Zoom figuring she would miss it or ignore it. After all, it was pushing midnight at this point. Almost immediately she joined in for a good 10-minute chat.

I don’t watch a lot of TV personalities anymore, as it’s just not my cup of tea when it comes to sports analysis. Too much focus on debate and conflict, and not enough actual critical thinking. However, Kimes is someone I have grown to respect a ton in this business, because she brings it when it comes to analysis and does it while remaining entertaining, funny and positive. She keeps things fun—which is why I’m sure she wanted to join us in the first place.

I’ve gotten to do a ton of fun things in this profession. I’ve spoken to people I would have only dreamed to talk to as a kid. This is honestly right up there with some of the coolest moments I’ve had in this profession.

(Also, podcasting with Erik is fun, too.)

Rather than do a poll for this award, I’d love to hear some of your favorite site moments, whether it’s a specific post or podcast, something we tweeted out or a fun discussion you all had in the comment section.