Sunday open thread: Who’s a Lions player you loved for no reason?

Sometimes an NFL player earns your admiration through his play. Sometimes he earns it through his actions and words off the field. Sometimes you connect with a player for no real reason.

Today, let’s focus on that final one. Every year, it seems some Detroit Lions player earns a following from fans for seemingly no legitimate reason. It’s hard to explain why, but certain players just have a gravitational force that draws in fans. Perhaps Neil DeGrasse Tyson has some sort of physics-related explanation for it, but exploring that would just suck all of the fun out of it. Of course, Tyson has made a career of out doing that, but I digress.

So instead, let’s just discuss players that we loved for no real reason. Hat tip to Cat Scratch Reader for the idea:

Today’s Question of the Day is:

Who is a Lions player that you loved for no particular reason?

My answer: Brett Perriman.

Don’t get me wrong, Perriman was a very, very good player. In his final two years in Detroit, he put together back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. In 1995, he caught 108 passes for 1,488 yards and nine touchdowns. Calvin Johnson only eclipsed that number of yards in a season three times.

But Perriman wasn’t the main attraction in Detroit. That spotlight, rightfully, belonged to Herman Moore. Moore sold the jerseys. Moore was the more consistent contributor. Moore was the one who spent his entire career in Detroit and continues to actively support the franchise well after his playing career.

However, it was Perriman who earned my full fandom as a child. Maybe it was his underdog status. Maybe it was how he earned his yardage with speed and elusiveness rather than height and dominance. Maybe it was how his last name reminded me of periwinkle. Either way, I irrationally loved the guy and rooted for him harder than any other Lions player on the field not named Barry.

Your turn.