Crying Lions Fan Tells Emotional Story Behind Those Tears After Sunday's Win Over Rams

Crying Lions Fan Arron Wikaryasz has become a local celebrity in Detroit this week after his tears were shown on televisions around the world Sunday as his team was about to win a playoff game for the first time in over three decades.

Wikaryasz, a 35-year-old ironworker, explained to Detroit TV station WXYZ that those tears were for his father, Joe Wikaryasz, a diehard Lions fan who was also an ironworker before dying in a 2003 car crash. He was 35 at the time of his death.

Joe and Arron never got to experience a father-son playoff win with the Lions. That pain and emotion poured out as NBC's camera panned to Arron Wikaryasz as the door closed on the Rams.

"There are people who say, ‘I can’t believe this guy is crying over a football game,’ and that’s true. It’s funny to cry over a football game, but it was more than that," the viral hero said this week. "My dad had season tickets in '99," Wikaryasz added. "Two tickets, that’s it, me and him, every home game."

This story gets even more emotional. Arron's father, who was also an ironworker, helped build Ford Field.

"We buried him in his Detroit Lions letter jacket, that's how much he loved them," the son, who was 14 at the time of the crash, said of his father's Lions fandom.

Lions fan Joe Wikaryasz died in a car crash in 2003. Sunday, his son's tears of joy and sorrow captivated viewers during the Lions' victory over the Rams. / Fox 2 Detroit

That's it, America. If your team is out of the playoffs, who can you possibly root against this father-son story? Disney can't come up with storylines like this.

"This is the year, Arron, we finally got one," Arron Wikaryasz believes his father would've said after Sunday's game.

The story gets even better.

Not only did the Lions get that first win in 30-plus years at home and in front of fans who've suffered so much pain, now the football gods have decided it's Detroit's time to host another home playoff game. That has never happened in team history.

And Arron will be there this Sunday afternoon.

WXYZ reported Thursday morning that Crying Lions Fan has secured tickets.

"I can't wait to see you guys on Sunday," he told the TV station.