A legal battle is brewing over the use of the number eight in marketing materials, with Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and NFL Hall of Famer Troy Aikman now in dispute before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Jackson, a two-time NFL MVP, uses the number in a great deal of his promotional activities, with his “Era 8” brand proving very successful. Aikman, for his part, uses the term EIGHT on clothing and a beer brand and has done so since 2022.
27-year-old Jackson had his best season to date last time around, racking up a career-high 3,678 passing yards in the regular season, helping the Ravens to the AFC Championship Game, their first in over a decade, which they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Baltimore fans who feel their star QB can take things up a notch in the coming season might want to back their team with a bet, in which case this selection of DraftKings promos will come in very handy indeed.
Over the course of his decorated NFL career, Troy Aikman won three Super Bowls for the Dallas Cowboys and is seemingly unphased by the legal wranglings, taking to his social media channels to playfully comment.
“Hey Lamar,”
“looks like a worthy conversation over a couple cold EIGHT beers! Maybe Steve Young can arbitrate??” Aikman posted.
For the uninitiated, the reference to Steve Young, the three-time Super Bowl Champion, works twofold, firstly because he too wore the number eight and also has a law degree.
On the playing side, Lamar Jackson is currently laying low through illness, missing out on a couple of days at the Baltimore Ravens training camp thus far. Coach John Harbaugh has nonetheless seen the positive side of his star player’s absence, praising his backup Josh Johnson.
“It’s definitely good to have Josh,”
“He’s an old head around here, so he’s a good leader for us. He teaches us a lot when it comes to the game of football, and he definitely leads us in the right direction. So it’s good to have him out there.” Harbaugh commented.
Harbaugh has also been heaping praise on Jackson in recent interviews and clearly sees him as a player who can drive the Ravens to bigger and better things,
“The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh opined.
The coming season will be Jackson’s seventh at the M&T Bank Stadium franchise, and he has driven the team to the postseason in five of the previous six, so there is definitely a sense that the Ravens are edging closer and closer to their ultimate goal, namely a third Super Bowl success.
The 2024 NFL season sees the Baltimore Ravens open against the Kansas City Chiefs in a repeat of last season’s AFC Conference Championship game on September 5th at the Arrowhead and offers Harbaugh and Jackson a chance to see just how they might fare in the campaign.
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