There are few things more American than Thanksgiving Day football, and there are apparently few bands easier to hate than Nickelback. So when those two forces collided, it didn’t take long for there to be some pretty harsh blowback.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Canadian multiplatinum recording artists Nickelback would be playing the halftime show at this year’s Thanksgiving Day NFL game between the visiting Green Bay Packers and the hosting Detroit Lions. According to the Oakland Press, “It’s not known what Nickelback will perform, but the group will be promoting a new album, “Here and Now,” which comes out Nov. 21.”

And things had just started to turn around for the Lions this season…

If you’ve seen discussion of this news on Twitter and Facebook over the last couple days, you probably realize that this isn’t the most popular decision that’s been made in the interest of the NFL.

And now, angry fans have started an online petition at popular site change.org to protest the choice of musical entertainment. The petition asks the Detroit Lions to replace Nickelback as the halftime performance at the all-important Thanksgiving Day game. Here’s the petitioner’s rationale:

This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game. At least the people watching at home can mute their TVs. The Lions ought to think about their fans before choosing such an awful band to play at halftime.

The petition just reached 1,500 signatures and is growing rapidly.

In the “why people are signing” comment area, here are some of the top reasons:

They could not have chosen a worse band? What are you trying to do to your loyal fans?

Nickelback is the worst band ever.

The Lions are having a remarkable season for the first time in… well, quite some time. *Quite some time.* I honestly understand what a pain in the ass it would be to reschedule this appearance, but please, at least 80% of anyone cognizant of Nickelback’s presence during halftime will be utterly disgusted, whether it’s a legitimate feeling or not. Also you could probably get Kid Rock to do it for free.

Twitter is pretty amused by the prospect of Nickelback playing the halftime show:

Will you sign the petition? Let us know in the comments.