Today at noon, the Detroit Lions will be opening the doors of Ford Field for the first time of their 2009 campaign. This event is hosted by SVS Vision Optical; SVS Vision Optical Centers around the metro-Detroit area have been handing out tickets to the event for free since Wednesday (7/29/09), however all fans, with or without tickets will be admitted (the tickets offer 30% off any single pair of glasses at local SVS Vision Optical Centers).
The event is set to begin this afternoon (8/8/09), at 12:00pm. To begin the event, some Lions team members will take part in an autograph session which also starts at noon, and will sign autographs until approximately 12:45. Selected team members will be taking part in the autograph session and will be located at various parts throughout Ford Field; pictures of the players will be allowed, however, pictures with the players and personalized autographs will not be allowed during today's event, attempting to allow more fans to meet their favorite player.
The Lions are then scheduled to take the field afternoon practice around 1:00pm for their afternoon practice, open to all who attend the event. Today's open practice currently does not have a scheduled ending time. Expect the Lions to practice/showcase the play of some of the new members of the team, as well as some of the more popular players.
As a side-note, ESPN's SportCenter host and news correspondent Chris Mortensen may be another attraction this afternoon. Currently, Mortensen is hosting a show "Mort goes to Camp", which is somewhat of an NFL Training Camp Diary show featuring Mortensen at various NFL training camps, interviewing team personnel and reporting team progress during ESPN's show "NFL Live". For those attending, don't be surprised if you see an ESPN tour bus along with Mortensen and his entourage ESPN personnel and camera's.
Today's events, if anything, should provide some much needed excitement for Lions fans after a long off-season (and an even longer 2008 regular season!). Today's events will also be televised on FOX 2 (or WDIV Detroit) starting at 2:00pm and is scheduled to run for 60 minutes. So if you can't make it to Ford Field, tune it to Fox 2 to catch some of today's events. Also, on Monday afternoon, tune your TV to ESPN's NFL Live (airing at 4:00pm) to get some further info and analysis from both Mortensen and the ESPN panel as they give the team a pre-season grade as well as more insight as to what Lions fans can expect from the new look Lions during the 2009 season.
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