[Infowarrior] - More NFL Nuttery

[Richard Forno]

Who Dat Owns 'Who Dat'? Dat's Us, Sez da NFL
  iii League Moves Against Vendors of T-Shirts with New Orleans Chant
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703389004575033504283711006.html

By JENNIFER LEVITZ
For decades, even through a multitude of dismal seasons, New Orleans  
Saints fans have belted out a cheer they say is as much a part of the  
fabric of their city as jambalaya and jazz: "Who Dat Say Dey Gonna  
Beat Dem Saints? Who Dat? Who Dat?"

Now some are asking, "Who dat trying to spoil our fun?" The Saints'  
win last Sunday over the Minnesota Vikings vaulted the team into its  
first Super Bowl, lifting, at least temporarily, the long shadow of  
Hurricane Katrina over the city. But just as New Orleans is revving  
itself into a fever pitch about the Feb. 7 showdown in Miami against  
the Indianapolis Colts, the National Football League is claiming  
ownership of the phrase "Who Dat."

The NFL asserted rights to the phrase earlier this week through the  
Florida Department of State, and it has issued cease-and-desist orders  
against New Orleans vendors who sell Saints memorabilia adorned with  
the wording. It informed vendors that using the phrase is likely to  
"confuse the purchasing public into believing that your items" are  
sponsored by the NFL.

New Orleans locals are outraged and suspicious. The NFL, they contend,  
never cared about the quirky chant when the football team was dubbed  
the 'Aints a few decades ago, or after it was ousted from its home  
stadium in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and finished 3-13.

"The Saints actually win something and go to the Super Bowl, and the  
NFL sees a way they can make a penny," complains Dan Frazier, general  
manager of local sports-talk radio station 690 WIST.

"It's terrible. It's ridiculous," scoffs self-proclaimed Saints "die- 
hard" Ray Dugas, a 46-year-old computer consultant, speaking by phone  
as he nursed a beer Friday at Cooter Brown's Tavern, a New Orleans  
bar. "What are they going to do—charge us if we cheer? Is that the  
next step?"

Saints Coach Sean Payton weighed in at his news conference Friday,  
saying "No one should own 'who dat,' " says team spokesman Greg Bensel.

New Orleans is known for its colorful dialect. You "make groceries,"  
you don't buy them. You don't stop by for a visit, you "pass by."  
Dishes are washed in the "zink." Although its precise origin isn't  
known, it's clear that "who dat" is a part of local lingo that  
predates the rallying cry at Saints games.

St. Augustine High School, an all-boys Catholic school in the city,  
says it started the chant in 1972 at its own football games. "Who dat  
talking about beating them Knights? Nobody! Nobody!" recalls the Rev.  
John Raphael, the school's principal. "It didn't originate with the  
Saints or the NFL," he says.

The saying became the rallying cry for the Saints. In the 1980s, New  
Orleans singer Aaron Neville made a video, singing "who dat" alongside  
team members. The cry has become code for local pride as New Orleans  
unites in an excitement so infectious that many natives who live  
elsewhere plan to converge on New Orleans—not Miami—to watch the game.

"It's just permeated the city completely. People start their calls on  
the radio saying `who dat,' they end their calls on the radio that  
way. You walk down the street and say `Who dat!' and people you don't  
even know say `Who dat' back," says Jacques Berry, the spokesman for  
Louisiana's secretary of state. After the win over the Vikings, he  
says, "everyone loved everyone, and it's still going on."

But now, according to the NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, "If 'who dat'  
is used in a manner to refer to Saints football, then the Saints own  
the rights."

Mr. McCarthy says the enforcement isn't new. For two decades, the NFL  
has been "using and enforcing its rights in the 'who dat' mark to  
refer to Saints football," he says.

Local residents say they've never heard of any problems until now.

On Monday, the NFL registered a trademark for use of the phrase "who  
dat" on apparel with the Florida Department of State, according to  
state records.

Lauren Thom, 29 years old, who makes her living on a tiny New Orleans  
T-shirt shop called Fleurty Girl, is one of a half dozen Louisiana  
vendors who received cease-and-desist orders. She makes shirts with  
local sayings such as: "My-nez. It's not mayonnaise, or mayo, oh no,  
My-Nez is what you put on dat san-wich." Her black-and-gold "Who Dat"  
shirts had been selling like crawfish, she says. She says she is  
complying with the NFL order.

So is Elizabeth Harvey, whose family owns Storyville, a local shop  
that sells similar T-shirts. She says the NFL "asked us to remove  
everything from our Web site Saints related. That definitely hurt us."  
She says she is cooperating. "They are the NFL, and we are a small  
company," she says.

Ms. Harvey says her customers are upset. "I have old ladies calling me  
and telling me that they say 'Who dat at the door?' One woman said her  
dog is named `Who Dat.'"

The cause is drawing bipartisan support from elected officials. On  
Friday, Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, wrote to NFL  
Commissioner Roger Goodell, urging the league to "drop this obnoxious"  
position.

"Who Dat has become part of New Orleans and Louisiana popular  
culture," he wrote. "For the NFL to try to claim exclusive ownership  
of it would be like me registering and trying to claim exclusive  
ownership of the terms 'lagniappe' and `laissez les bons temps rouler!"

"Please either drop your present ridiculous position or sue me," he  
wrote, signing his letter, "Junior Senator of Who Dat Nation."

Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon, who is a candidate for Mr.  
Vitter's Senate seat, collected 1,800 signatures in just over 90  
minutes for a petition he emailed to supporters and posted on Twitter.  
It urged the NFL to back off. "No one owns 'Who Dat' except for 'Who  
Dat Nation," he wrote.

Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz at wsj.coms