What’s Changed Since Last Time the Lions Hosted a Playoff Game?

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For the first time since the 1993 season, the Detroit Lions are hosting an NFL playoff game. (The Lions host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, January 14 at Ford Field; kickoff is at 8pm.)

Lots of things have changed since last time the Lions hosted a playoff game. Let's take a look.

Getting Tickets to the Lions Home Playoff Game in 1994

The last time the Detroit Lions hosted an NFL playoff game was January 8, 1994. If you wanted to go, you had to jump through some serious hoops to get tickets - after all, this was pre-internet. Google hadn't been invented yet, and the world wide web was just getting started.

The game was held at the then-home of the Lions, the Pontiac Silverdome. Sure, you could visit its box office when tickets went on-sale; but that wasn't terribly convenient. How about calling the box office? You'd need to call "information" (who remembers 555-1212?) first to get the number. Oh, and remember that Pontiac isn't within the 313 area code anymore - as of December 1993, it's now part of the 810 (only to change to 248 years later, but we digress).

We weren't looking on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for tickets either - because again, these things weren't invented yet. We had to turn to the classified section of our local newspaper to see whether anyone had any tickets to sell!

Getting to the Detroit Lions' Last Home Playoff Game

Let's say you got your tickets. Unless you already knew how to get to the Silverdome, you had to figure it out without the help of GPS. That meant asking someone for directions, or using a paper map.

No chance you were driving an electric car or hybrid to the game - those weren't around yet. We were spending about $1.11 a gallon for gas, which seemed high at the time.

Cranking up your favorite music in the car on the way to the game? You were either listening to the radio, a cassette player, or maybe - if you had a newer car - a CD player. MP3 players weren't a thing yet.

Watching the Last Lions Home Playoff Game on TV

Would you believe no one has ever watched a live Detroit Lions home playoff game on a flat screen TV? Those didn't come along until 1997.

Some of us had text pagers back in 1994, but they were rare. Cell phones looked like this.

We weren't live tweeting during the game or posting selfies either. Those weren't even words.

SEE ALSO: A Fun Fact About the Detroit Lions and Michigan You Never Realized

So much has changed since the last time the Detroit Lions hosted a playoff game. Here's hoping we don't have to wait so long between home playoff games ever again!