It’s been a long lasting rivalry in the NFC North between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers. Needless to say, the two fan bases don’t care for one another very much.
And one particular fan is taking that to the next level. A Packers fan living in Grand Rapids by the name of Jeff Kresnak who owns a business called Superior Asphalt has taken his dislike of the Lions to the airwaves on WFBX-FM (101.3), the Lions Grand Rapids affiliate.
“Greetings to West Michigan, this is Jeff Kresnak, the president of Superior Asphalt,” one such commercial spot reads. “I’m deeply sorry to inform you the Detroit Lions will have another disastrous season.
“It took the Detroit Lions 12 seasons to realize Matthew Stafford was overpaid and could not get them to the top. We at Superior Asphalt have been on top for 38 years in a row. We’re the champions of the asphalt industry.”
He’s even begun a Facebook page to boycott the Lions.
However, an email trail has shown that the Lions would like the advertisements to not use their name owing to copyright issues.
According to Lions director of broadcasting Carl Moll:
“There is no issue with using just ‘Detroit’ or some other generic reference to work around the trademark issue, but they must avoid use of the trademarked name ‘Lions'”.
Don’t expect Kresnak to change anything, however, according to UM law professor Jessica Litman.
“They’re being trademark bullies,” Litman said “and would lose the suit if they filed one. They may hope that their threat intimidates WBFX or Kresnak into pulling the ads.”
In the meantime, Kresnak would actually like to see the team improve their fortunes.
“I would love, deep down, to see the organization well-run,” he said. “I would love to see the team get to the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl.”
– – Quotes via The Detroit News Link – –
