Hey, who wants to sit around and talk about 2005?

…if he didn’t suggest that Shea Hillenbrand was an upgrade.

Who dat? is a chant of team support by sports fans, used especially by fans of the New Orleans Saints, an American football team. The entire chant is: “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?”

The chant of “Who Dat?” originated in minstrel shows and vaudeville acts of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was then taken up by jazz and big band performers in the 1920s and 30s. Later, the New Orleans Saints, an NFL team, adopted a chant similar to the saying of the Cincinnati Bengals, “Who Dey?”. One can also say “Who is that”.

The first reference to “Who Dat?” can be found in the 19th Century. A featured song in E.E. Rice’s “Summer Nights” is the song “Who Dat Say Chicken In dis Crowd”, with lyrics by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.1 A common tag line in the days of Negro minstrel shows was: “Who dat?” answered by “Who dat say who dat?” Many different blackfaced gags played off that opening. Vaudeville performer Mantan Moreland was known for the routine.1 Another example is “Swing Wedding,” a 1930s Harman-Ising cartoon musical, which caricatured Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Ethel Waters, and the Mills Brothers as frogs in a swamp performing minstrel show jokes and jazz tunes. The frogs repeatedly used the phrase “who dat?”

In the swing era, “who dat” chants back and forth between the band and the band leader or between the audience and the band were extemporaneous. That is, there was no one specific set of words except for the two magic ones.

“Who Dat?” Lyrics from 1937:

Who dat up there who’s dat down there
Who dat up there who dat well down there
Who’s dat up there, sayin’ who’s dat down there
When I see you up there well who’s dat down there

Who dat inside who’s dat outside
Who’s dat inside who dat well outside
Who’s dat inside, singin’ who’s dat outside
When I see up there well who’s dat out there

Button up your lip there big boy
Stop answerin’ back
Give you a tip there big boy
Announce yourself jack

Who dat up there who’s dat down there
Who dat up there who dat, well down there
Who’s dat up there, singin’ who’s dat down there
When I see you up there you bum
Well who’s dat down there

Who dat

Staged minstrel skits featured frightened African-American characters saying “who dat” when they encountered a ghost, or someone imitating a ghost. Then, the “who dat”-“who dat say who dat” skit would play itself out. This skit was done frequently in short reels from the 1930s – 1950s and in some early TV shows too. Even the Marx Brothers had a “who dat” routine, which they included in their film A Day at the Races.1 Often, a ghost was called a “who dat”. MGM’s now-banned animated character Bosko once had such an encounter in a 1938 toon called “Lil Ol Bosko in Bagdad”.

“Who Dat?” became a familiar joke with soldiers during World War II.

Back in WWII, US fighter squadron pilots would often fly under radio silence. But things get lonely up there in the cockpit, so after a while there’d be a crackle of static as someone keyed his mike. Then a disembodied voice would reply, “Who dat?” An answer would come, “Who dat say who dat?” And another, “Who dat say who dat say who dat?” After a few rounds of this, the squadron commander would grab his microphone and yell, “Cut it out, you guys!” A few moments of silence. Then… “Who dat?”[cite this quote]

[edit] Origins of the “Who Dat?” Chant
“Who Dat” became part of a chant for fans cheering on their favorite team. It has been debated exactly where it started, but some claim it began with Southern University fans either in the late 1960s or early 1970s and went “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Jags” – Southern University being nicknamed the Jaguars.2 Another claim is that around the same time it began at St. Augustine High School, a historically African-American all boys Catholic high school in New Orleans, and then spread to the New Orleans Public Schools. Another claim is that the cheer originated at Patterson High School in Patterson, Louisiana (home of Saints running back Dalton Hilliard).1 In the late 1970s fans at Alcorn State University and Louisiana State University picked up on the cheer.3 By 1983, the New Orleans Saints organization officially adopted it during the tenure of coach Bum Phillips, and Aaron Neville (along with local musicians Sal and Steve Monistere and Carlo Nuccio) recorded a version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” that incorporated the chant (performed by a group of Saints players) that became a major local hit, due in part to the support of sportscaster Ron Swoboda and the fact that Saints fans had been using the chant already.1

After the Saints won the NFC Championship Game on January 24, 2010, against the Minnesota Vikings in the Superdome, fans from all across New Orleans, including fans who were exiting the game, started a Mardi Gras-style “Who Dat” on Bourbon Street with modified lyrics, chanting, “Who Dat, Who Dat, Who Dat in the Super Bowl!” in reference to the Saints advancing to the Super Bowl for the first time ever in their 43-year history.45

[edit] Who Dat Nation
In recent years the phrase “Who Dat Nation” has become a popular term for the community of Saints fans.678 According to Bobby Hebert, formerly a Saints quarterback and currently a sports commentator in New Orleans, the term “Who Dat Nation” originated after a highly anticipated 2006 game between the Saints and the favored Dallas Cowboys, which the Saints lost; after the game, listeners from a wide geographic range called in to Hebert’s radio show on WWL (AM), and Hebert commented, “Man, there’s a whole Who Dat Nation out there.”9

[edit] Ownership Controversy
In January 2010, the NFL sent cease and desist letters to several Louisiana t-shirt shop owners ordering them to cease producing t-shirts bearing the phrase “Who dat”. According to some recipients of these letters, the NFL was claiming to own the trademark to the term “Who dat”, and that the NFL claimed that unlicensed t-shirts bearing the phrase would cause confusion among fans of the Saints about the official status of the merchandise.10 The Monisteres, through their company WhoDat Inc. also released a statement claiming rights to the phrase, which they registered in 1983 after recording the version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” that incorporated the chant.11 The Monistere’s record is listed as inactive, meaning that it was not renewed upon expiration. The Saints organization, through their company The New Orleans Louisiana Saints Limited Partnership, also registered the mark “Who Dat” in 1988 when used in conjunction with “fleur-de-lis design”,12 but later the Saints released their claim of ownership to WhoDat, Inc., asserting that they owned the phrase.13

In response to what many are calling a “frivolous threat” and “bullying” by the NFL to scare merchants into selling only NFL licensed goods, fans across the nation in various blogs and radio call-in shows are calling for a boycott of all NFL officially licensed merchandise until the NFL formally recanted its position on claiming the “Who Dat?” trademark.[citation needed]

The NFL’s action also provoked responses from U.S. Senator David Vitter and Congressman Charlie Melancon of Louisiana, among others. Vitter sent a formal letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell criticizing the NFL’s attempt to claim ownership of the chant, informing Goodell he would be printing t-shirts using the phrase, and daring the NFL to sue him.14 It was later reported that the NFL had responded to Vitter’s letter, stating that it was only seeking to prevent unauthorized uses of “Who Dat?” together with other identifying marks of the Saints.1516

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell called the NFL and had a conversation about the ownership of the “Who Dat” slogan and of the Fleur de Lis. Caldwell said the bottom line from the legal back-and-forth with the league is that the NFL “is conceding it has no exclusive rights to the fleur-de-lis and no exclusive rights to ‘Who Dat’ and offshoots of ‘Who Dat,’ and no exclusive rights to the colors black and gold.”

Innings pitched? Because this is just something the White Sox staff’s do well lately. I don’t expect 875 inning but I do see upwards of 825. After the 05 season the top 4 threw 833 in 06, 814 in 07 and 827 in 08. Last year of course had the C & C connection mucking up things, but the other 3 kept pace.

The 130 ERA+ ? Definitely tall order, but I stand behind my belief on this one. At their ages and at this point of their careers I expect something collectively special.

Dye is no more.

i don’t see the big deal

Other than hardy, their infield defense is a whole lot of average or below too. I would not trade our 25 man roster for theirs.

who may get some time out in the outfield so ji jim thome can dh. He has posted a UZR/150 of -18.7 in his career in the OF.
I’d like to thank you for talking me away from the cliff a bit. The Twins are still good, but I think that in all of our pessimism we have started to overvalue that club, and not realize that they have some major question marks as well.
That being said, I still think that they are the favorites in this division, but I think it can and will be close.

and call them accurate.

must have stuck. I don’t know how that could have happened to my keyboard. No idea at all.