Before the ball left the foot of Saints kicker Garrett Hartley this past Sunday, noone much cared about who was selling black & gold apparel and what the phrase said. But suddenly after the prayers of many a New Orleanian were answered the NFL was ready and waiting to cash in on all of the hooplah of the Saints victory. If they are not careful, pretty soon NFL will stand for Not Fun League instead of National Football League.
NFL spokesman Dan Masonson “Any unauthorized use of the Saints colors and other [marks] designed to create the illusion of an affiliation with the Saints is equally a violation of the Saints trademark rights because it allows a third party to ‘free ride’ by profiting from confusion of the team’s fans, who want to show support for the Saints.”
This has outraged many a Saints fan, but more importantly this announcement has outraged local New Orleanian merchants. I personally feel this decision is bullshit. The NFL could have cared less before the Saints were super bowl bound, but now that they have the chance to cash in on Saints merchandise, they suddenly want to get involved. What is even better is that they are going after the reknowned ‘WhoDat’ saying, which was invented by the South and has nothing to do with the NFL. Just look at Facebook for example, where there have been WhoDat groups popping up ten fold since this announcement. I’ve even seen friends putting WhoDat as their middle name trying to egg on others to follow suit.
Maybe the NFL doesn’t realize who they are dealing with? For 43 years the citizens of New Orleans have been waiting for this moment to shine in the super bowl. Not too much is going to derail that, not the Colts trying their subterfuge methodolgy by working out x-Saints cornerbacks, not lawsuits on southern sayings, nothing. They need to just sit back and let everyone enjoy what they have waited for.
Now the vatican has followed suit and plans to sue the Arizona ‘Cardinals’, and the Eagle Nature Foundation has left some voicemails for Donovan McNabb in Philidelphia. Seriously people? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about??
I say keep selling your t-shirts, your mugs, your bumper stickers, because we all know the Who Dat Nation is strong and up for the fight! Go ahead and search the NFL store and let me know when you come up with a search result on WhoDat…