NFL Week 8 -- Primetime blues

[jr/shotglass]

Titans did Oilers throwbacks yesterday, something announced months ago. I'm sure they plan on making a tidy profit on merchandise sales and felt UH's version would cut into that market. (And yes, there are Houstonians who remain loyal to the Titans, even after all this time.)

Now, that makes some sense. Good background.

 

[Junkie]

Great. Now do the same to the Titans for the ones they wore yesterday.

Dear University of Houston (and all other schools):
Thank you for continuing to provide our league with a farm system at no cost to us. Now please refrain from wearing colors that look kinda sorta like our teams.
Sincerely,
The NFL

 

[outofplace]

Do people really buy any of the special jerseys? The only time I've ever seen any Jets or Giants camo, pink or throwback gear is at Marshall's or TJ Maxx

I've seen Steelers fans in those stupid bumblebee throwbacks, but not many and I certainly don't want one.

 

[DanOregon]

Do people really buy any of the special jerseys? The only time I've ever seen any Jets or Giants camo, pink or throwback gear is at Marshall's or TJ Maxx

I saw a guy wearing one of those All-Star Game jerseys from Seattle - an absolute travesty. They really need to go back to teams just wearing their home or road (or even alternates) at the MidSummer Classic.

 

[Songbird]

Pittsburgh's bumblebees are fantastic.

 

[I Should Coco]

Are the Seahawks good again?

Their defense appears to be — at least against struggling offenses like the Giants, Cardinals and Browns (they also did pretty well against the Bengals in a close road loss). And Seattle just picked up NYG defensive tackle Leonard Williams today for some draft picks.

Geno Smith and the offense have struggled at times, especially with several O-line injuries. We'll see how Seattle does against SF on Thanksgiving night.

 

[goalmouth]

How come after field goals and extra points, kickers and holders don't run to the end zone to perform a pre-rehearsed dance?

Just such a huge, huge missing element of the game.

 

[tapintoamerica]

When Rodgers tore his Achilles there was a bunch of whining about the dangers of artificial turf. Now that Cousins did the same thing on the grass at Lambeau, maybe we won't hear quite as much about it.
Achilles injuries are weird. It doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing. When they go, they go, and there's not much rhyme or reason to it.

It's probably the worst (reasonably) common injury in football, and it often occurs without contact from another player. One of the great ironies in the game.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I'll defer to someone with more specific knowledge, but the general provision with trademarks is that if you don't defend them, you lose them. That fact is rarely reported when some big company sends a cease and desist to some infringing mom and pop. It always makes a great story that the big bad multinational is pushing around the little guy, but they really don't have a choice. Use it or lose it.

Correct. You are legally required to protect them. It's a term and condition of getting one in the first place.
I think the operative phrase in these things is "confusingly similar."

 

[Starman]

The University of Houston, I suspect, held a trademark to the name "Houston," at least in athletic terms, well before Bud Adams arrived in 1960 with the AFL franchise which is now the Tennessee Titans. Maybe the university should sue the Titans for infringement on the name "Houston."

At some point there should be a specific provision of copyright law that any professional sports franchise which plays in a facility constructed in any part at public expense, must unconditionally forfeit any copyright claim to any nicknames, logos, colors or trademarks, if they move the franchise out of the metropolitan area.

You wanna sell "Brooklyn Dodgers" jerseys? Maybe you should have kept the team in Brooklyn.

 

[swingline]

You get public money for your stadium or arena, open your forking books. Obviously, I would never vote to give any sports team public money. If you can't make it with your obscene profits, too forking bad. You get to go out of business like my bar and grill I opened with my lotto winnings.

Note: I have not won a lotto or opened a bar and grill.

 

[Starman]

That's a windmill I've been tilting for 50 years -- to make public financing of sports stadiums flat out illegal -- but not only is that horse out of the barn, the barn done burned to the ground.

But I think a "Sports Heritage Protection Act" as I outline above, in which professional sports franchises which play in facilities financed IN ANY PART by public money, forfeit all copyright ownership of nicknames, colors, logos, trademarks, etc etc., if they move the franchise to another location, could gain some bipartisan support.

The only possible argument against such a bill would be "you are being mean to billionaires."