Kyle Field, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Qwest Field, Home of the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle, Washington.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
12 Jurors For the 12th Man?
Texas A&M University and the Super Bowl-bound Seattle Seahawks are embroiled in a fight over the use of the 12th Man slogan, reports the Houston Chronicle. A&M, which trademarked the phrase in 1990, aggressively protects its exclusive right …
Am I the only Aggie who thinks this post is funny, or just the first to comment?
Just the first to comment, Steve. I’ve had more than a few emails today from my Aggie friends commenting on the brilliance of the complaint’s brevity. ;^)
We Aggies need to get past the louts in Seattle ñ the pretenders come, and the pretenders go. All the Ags need to do is continually remind the world that weíve had the 12th Man since the 1922 Dixie Classic, and the whole thing should be done with.
What no one remembers is that the US Military Academy (of all people) also tried stealing the 12th Man concept back in the late 70ís-early 80ís. They even issued white t-shirt type jerseys to the cadets, bearing the famous numeral in question, to wear during the Army/Navy game. As I remember, there was some name-calling and grumbling in College Station, and, sooner rather than later, the West Pointers lost interest in the whole idea. In other words, the problem was left alone, to die its own inevitable death, without the involvement of lawyers. Sorry, Tom ;^).
If push comes to shove, maybe the Aggies and Seahawks can work out some sort of sharing deal. For example, the Ags get trademark rights for college use; the Seahawks get them for professional football purposes. In a similar case, I remember that an east-west geographical split arrangement was worked out between the teasips and the University of Tennessee, concerning use of the “UT” logo (in addition, each could only be insufferably arrogant on its side of the Mississippi).
Among Texas schools, I’m a Red Raiders fan by dint my family’s West Texas roots. I’m grew up in Texas, but lived and went to school on the East Coast before coming back. As such, I can assure you that either (1) UT and UT reached no agreement as to where each school’s supporters (“alumni” doesn’t make much sense for at least one of the two schools) could be insufferably arrogant; or (2) that agreement only covered California or some other place I’ve never been.