Episode
Daily DLP: Talking With Honolulu Blues Author Joel Walkowski - Detroit Lions Podcast
- Podcast
- The Detroit Lions Podcast
- Published
- Jul 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2216
- Processing state
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Summary
Honolulu Blues: How a Losing Football Team Created a Winning Man The Detroit Lions Podcast hit pause on the recent noise and leaned into what makes Detroit different. Jeff Risdon sat down with author and lifelong Lions fan Joel Walkowski to unpack Joel's upcoming book, Honolulu Blues: How a Losing Football Team Created a Winning Man. The book is a Lions history that doubles as a memoir about fathers, fandom, and getting sober. The book lands on July 14 and mixes hard truth with humor. It is rooted in Sundays, shared rooms, and the way a football team can hold a family together. Walkowski grew up with the Lions as common ground with his father, who had special needs. Barry Sanders became a compass. Games turned into lessons on humility and resilience. He remembers the Utley game. He remembers Reggie Brown. He remembers a Pro Bowl guard killed by a truck while doing yard work. Even in those darkest moments, Barry made the game joyful. Later, during his own fight for sobriety, Matthew Stafford’s toughness lit a path forward. The book tour runs through Detroit Book Fest, bookstore stops on the 24th, 25th, and 29th, a statewide library swing from September 17 to October 4, and a Detroit sports roast on October 4. Glory, Pain, and Change in Detroit Wachowski traces how 1950s Detroit helped shape the modern NFL. The Lions ran early two-minute drills. They played under the lights. The city and the franchise moved in sync. Then came decades where everything that could go wrong did. After Barry’s rookie year came Andre Ware. A splash move for Pat Swilling cost draft picks that became stars elsewhere. The tragedies around the offensive line were real and human. Ownership loomed over it all. William Clay Ford’s long tenure fostered inertia. Russ Thomas became a symbol of staying t…