Super Bowl weekend is here with the Saints and the Colts about to face off for the championship!  Parties are planned, chip and dip aisles are all but bare, and the beer is chilling.  Merchandising aficionados are in a frenzy as team apparel flies off the racks and into the hands of eager fans.  And the NFL has dispatched a massive cease and desist campaign . . . wait, what?

In the past several weeks, businesses offering Saints merchandise have received ominous missives ordering them to terminate the making and selling of any paraphernalia with the words “who dat” inscribed or depicted.  The NFL is sending these cease and desist letters to merchants of Saints apparel and memorabilia, demanding that any inventory with the words “who dat” be purged as well.  Claiming ownership of the phrase, a phrase that has purportedly been in existence since before the formation of the National Football League, is an interesting move by the NFL.  Especially considering the iconic nature of the phrase and the deep attachment felt by the natives and residents of Louisiana, and of New Orleans in particular.