This should probably come as no surprise. After all, what multi-billion dollar empire likes to let anyone potentially infringe upon its earnings even if they would be taking only a minuscule portion of the over all haul?
Earlier this week ESPN actually printed something negative about its big client, the NFL (shocker, right?). Earlier this year an Indiana man by the name of Roy Fox thought to himself,:
"Self--what do you say we trademark the name 'Harbowl' and 'Harbaugh Bowl' just in case the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens actually meet in the Super Bowl? Hey--they got close this past season!"
So he got the ball rolling spending around $1000 to do so. I have to admit, the idea is genius if you have the kind of cash to invest in the chance that this could happen. Both are young enough to be in coaching for years to come so if it didn't happen now it would not be a total loss. However, every year it did not happen I would be so mad...
Anyway...so Roy got the process going to trademark 'Harbowl' and 'Harbaugh Bowl.' Sure enough once the NFL caught wind of it they moved to shut him down. Prior to the start of this season they got in touch with Roy. Rather than try to hold the NFL up all he asked for were Colts seasons tickets and an autographed picture of Roger Goodell.
Yeah, I don't get the photo request either.
With as little as he asked for it would seem like a no-brainer for the NFL just to say okay. Instead they stone-wall him. They don't even counter with a smaller offer or even agree to the only person who will ever want an autographed pic of Roger Goodell.
Instead they count on the might that is the all-powerful NFL and say no. When it got to a point that the NFL threatened to go after him and have him cover the league's legal bill he backed off.
This is absurd. Someone beat the NFL to the punch on a catchy phrase--one they don't appear to be using in merchandise of any kind yet--and they bully him into submission. The league tried to claim that the phrases were too close to 'Super Bowl.'
Let's sound it out: super-bowl; harbaugh bowl. Hmm..they sound so much alike. Even though it is the most watched program in the world every year and has been around for 47 years now folks might forget the real name--or confuse 'Harbaugh' with 'Super.'
The Harbaugh family probably digs the comparison, but as the ESPN Monday Nite guys would say--come on man!
Apparently the NFL is okay with looking like greedy, overbearing billionaire bullies. They can't look like a bunch of playboy thugs that like to use their fame to get the girls and drugs while they beat up on their wives and hide their boyfriends like in the short-lived ESPN series Playmakers...
But they can look like bullies.
Hopefully Jim Irsay will catch wind of this and at least get the guy tickets to some preseason games next season. If Goodell doesn't send this guy a picture he's an idiot. He will never find anyone requesting a picture of him ever again.
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