Getty Barry Sanders during the 2014 NFL Draft.
The Detroit Lions have spent the better part of generations letting their fans down, and for a short time, folks could drink away their sorrows with a new brew designed just for them.
Except for the brand made one big mistake when rolling out their new product. They used former Lions legend Barry Sanders’ likeness on the can as a clear selling point without his consent, something Sanders was justifiably not keen to. The running back noticed the issue and quickly hopped on Twitter to confirm he had nothing to do with the new beer. As he said, he was working on shutting it down quickly.
Some of you may have seen this in the @freep today – I have no affiliation with this company, and they are using my image without any permission. My legal team is working through the process to shut this down ASAP. Apologies to any fans that were duped.
The brew, which was made by Eastern Market Brewing Company, no longer appears on the company’s website so it appears the creators have decided to pull it fast from the market given the possible pending legal issues created by using Sanders without his consent on the can.
Nonetheless, Sanders was clearly not thrilled to be the pitch man for the product on the can without even being asked.
New Beer Recently Debuted
This new Lions themed beer was only recently released. It was called “Same Old Lager.” The old can design prominently featured Sanders on the front making it seem as if he was involved when he clearly was not.
As most serious fans will know, the name for the beer is a play on the classical taunt for Lions fans, which is “Same Old Lions.” The meaning? No matter what the team does or how good they look, they will always disappoint in the end because that is their history.
Now that Sanders has spoken out, it will be interesting to see if the beer ever continues on with a new can in the future, or if this is the end of Same Old Lager before it even got going.
Lions Playoff History
With a Lions legend on the can or not, the overall theme of the beer is Detroit’s checkered football history. The Lions have been bad at winning games in the postseason historically. Strangely enough, however, they don’t have the longest current drought in the league in terms of a playoff win. That belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals, who haven’t won a playoff game since 1990. The Lions last playoff win came in 1991 against the Dallas Cowboys at home.
Longest draught since a team’s last playoff win:
1. Bengals: 1990 Wild Card
2. Lions: 1991 Divisional
3. Browns: 1994 Wild Card
4. Bills: 1995 Wild Card
An opportunity for the Bills to take another step forward today.
Obviously, the Buffalo Bills are one of the next teams on the list, and in terms of this group, they are the squad that looks like they can break through and do the biggest amounts of winning in the future.
The Lions have been one of the more miserable teams historically when it comes to the playoffs. Detroit, as the tweet points out, hasn’t won since 1991. It’s not just 1991, however. Prior to that win, the Lions hadn’t won a playoff game since 1957. They had lost three times combined in the 1970s and 1980s. They’ve had plenty of misfortune in the playoffs as well, losing games in heartbreaking fashion and blowout fashion as well.
Detroit last appeared in the playoffs in 2018, but quickly bowed out, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in close fashion. They haven’t been consistent enough through the years at both making the playoffs and also winning when they do manage to get there.
With Matt Patricia in the fold, the goal was to get to be a team that not only makes the playoffs consistently, but is able to deliver big wins when they get there. It looks as if that hope has hit the skids for another year and Patricia could be in trouble.
In other words, it was the perfect time for the release of a beer like this, if only they hadn’t tried to use Sanders to unwittingly promote their product.
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