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I guess I can understand somebody rooting for the Saints. I like underdogs too.
I'm not really quite over Warner and Favre not getting their last chances in the zenith of their respective careers. I honestly would have rather seen the Cardinals in there than the Vikings, but the Vikings would have been a good story too.
I was rooting for the Jets and the Vikings because that's who was left. So what happens? Indy and the Saints.
I think a Super Bowl win for the Saints would really give the area a deserved boost. I have no good reason to want to root for Peyton Manning. AFC alliance? Not really. I'm also no Bret Favre worshipper. I'm an Elway fan. But I still don't like the treatment he (Favre) got on that last game.
If New Orleans can find another way to beat the Colts than just trying to take out the qb, I might root for them just a little bit.
LOL! That's the same reason why I would never pull for the Saints. "Who dat" Vaudeville act or not, it sounds asinine and downright stupid.
Go Colts!
Girl every team in the NFL, BASEBALL , BASKETBALL, HOCKEY AND SOCCER all have their sayings and chants ......
This team means so much to this city and the gulf coast region than anyone or anything, why , because they stayed or came back as fast as they could, rolled up their sleeves and helped....
Every Sunday they gave an entire city a couple of major areas and two entire STATES a few hours of escape....
They busted their butts to make sure we all got a break ... And we have never forgotten it ... Please dont judge the team or their fans by a CHANT......
Its just our way down here, please come visit, have fun and maybe you will understand that silly chant........
We love all of you ................ Geaux Saints .......and WHO DAT ....hehee
I forgot to add, to show the SAINTS how much we love them , we are having a heros parade for them on FEBRUARY 9th , win or lose ....
Why? Because they mean that much to us, we are that proud of them, just by making it, by working their butts off ...
Im not sure how many other cities do that, if any .... Thats how all teams should be treated, all people .......... Everyone deserves a parade to celebrate the GOOD ............The loca news stations are expecting two to three thousand along the parade route, each CARNIVAL KREWE , which is what the organizations are called who throw the parades are called. But each KREWE is donating one of their own FLOATS for the SAINTS ....
Thats how much HISTORY this is, to the city, state, region and FANS ....
I thought it was retarded when the Bengals did it and it's just as retarded with the Saints.
Soon, non-words like Dey, Dat and Ginna will be in Webster's Dictionary. :smack:
Who Dat? – Da History
Carolyn Heneghan
You hear it on the street, an impromptu call and response between strangers in black and gold jerseys. You hear it at the water cooler, at the neighborhood bar, on the local news. We all say it, maybe even a few times a day, but more often than not, we have no idea where “Who dat say gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?†actually came from in the first place. And if two words are going to have such a unifying impact on an entire city, an entire “Who dat?†nation, we owe it to ourselves to know why.
The earliest cultural references to the use of “Who dat?†hark from vaudeville acts and minstrel shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the most well-known is the tune, “Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd?†(1898), with lyrics from Paul Laurence Dunbar for the widely successful playlet Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake-Walk, a prominent feature of E.E. Rice’s “Summer Nights†at the Casino Roof Garden in New York City. According to Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff’s Ragged But Right: Black Travelling Shows, Coon Songs and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz (2007), the act was so successful that it remained on the venue’s bill for most of that summer—a landmark in turn-of-the-century black entertainment. The chorus of the tune sings, “Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?/Speak de word agin’ and speak it loud/Blame de lan’ let white folks rule it/I’se a lookin fu’ a pullet,/Who dat say chicken in dis crowd.†Another popular minstrel theme to feature our city’s trademark phrase was “Who’s Dat Knockin’ At De Door?†“I hab just come down on a little bit ob spree,/And I’m berry well acquainted wid de gals I come to see, / I went to de house. But dey was all gone to bed, /And out of the winder a colour’d lady said,/ ‘Who is dat knockin’ at de door?†This context was common of the earliest cultural and social uses of the “Who dat?†tagline. Many acts would feature frightened black actors encountering a ghost, or someone imitating one, to which the actor would reply, “Who dat?†(Eventually ghosts themselves would be referred to as “who datsâ€). In these acts, often a gag skit would arise from one actor saying to another, “Who dat?†to which the other would reply, “Who dat say who dat?†to which the first would reply, “Who dat say who dat when I say who dat?†and so on. It is said that even the Marx Brothers used a “Who dat?†routine. With the 1920s and 30s came an eruption of jazz and swing groups, which were noted for their crowd interactions beyond providing upbeat, danceable music. These interactions generally took the form of call and response, sometimes breaking into scatting and other improvised syllabic vocal interludes. The “Who dat?†chant became a popular fixture at these shows and could be heard tossed between the band and its leader or the band and its audience until the entire hall was filled with “Who dat?â€s, a tradition still upheld in bars, homes and, of course, the Dome to this day. Though I have not yet found an outside source to confirm this, it is widely rumored that in World War II, the “Who dat?†chant became a popular joke among soldiers, specifically US fighter squadron pilots. After long bouts of silence on the radio waves, static and crackles of a microphone prompted a far-off voice to inquire, “Who dat?†A response would soon come from another pilot, “Who dat say who dat?â€, a jovial homage to the old vaudeville and minstrelsy catchphrase. Yet another pilot would reply, “Who dat say who dat say who dat?†and so on until a commanding officer would eventually intervene. The evolution of “Who Dat?†from a tagline culturally immersed in vaudeville, music and comedy to a renowned chant of solidarity among sports fans is heavily debated, but has been referenced as early as the late 1960s. One claim is that Southern University fans in the late 60s or early 70s would be heard cheering, “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Jags?†for Southern University’s Jaguars. Another claim is that it started being used around the same time at St. Augustine High School, from where it spread to other local public schools. And yet another claim has the chant originating at Patterson High School in Patterson, Louisiana, home of Saints Pro-Bowler running back Dalton Hilliard (1986-1993 seasons). Under the leadership of former head coach Jack Andre, Hilliard and the rest of the Patterson football team made it all the way to the state championship against John Curtis in 1979. They were the runner-up in that 28-0 game, but the story goes that Patterson fans brought their “Who dat say gonna beat dem Jacks?†cheer for the Patterson Lumberjacks to the Dome that game. Hilliard become something of a local legend, and the cheer followed him to LSU the next year, and then to the NFL where he spent his entire career with the Saints. This story would have the cheer originating with the Saints in 1986. However, by 1983, during the tenure of coach Bum Philips (1981-1985), the Saints organization, and fans, had already adopted the cheer. The ‘Aints had won five of their first eight games and were off to an unprecedented start that season. When it came time to play an away game against division rivals the Falcons (aka the Dirty Birds), Saints fans traveled to Atlanta and heated the crowd with some of the first official Saints “Who dat?!†chants, as reported by the Associated Press. Around this same time, Cincinnati Bengals fans had started using their “Who Dey†cheer, and so the epic battle of “Who dat came first?†began. In 1981, while following their team’s run for the Super Bowl, Bengals fans would cheer, “Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?†and other fans would reply, “Nobody!†The origin of their cheer is widely disputed as well, including a local car commercial and a local Cincinnati beer Hudepohl, locally referred to as “Hudy,†which was on sale everywhere at Bengals games. All that considered, it’s still pretty safe to say that there’s no way “dey†and “dat,†common and well-known southern slang terms, originated in Cincinnati of all places, whether Bengals fans were reported using the chant before Saints fans or not. In 2006, former Saints quarterback and current WWL sports commentator Bobby Hebert furthered the “Who dat?†legacy after a highly anticipated game between the Saints and the favored Dallas Cowboys. After the Saints easily burned the Cowboys, listeners across the nation, many of whom were still displaced from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and could hear the WWL airwaves far and wide that evening, called in to Hebert’s radio show. Hebert’s response? “Man, there’s a whole Who Dat Nation out there.†Thus, Hebert became the unofficial father of the Who Dat Nation. Since then, the team has become widely popular, its members now often referred to as “who dats†themselves. It is also commonly heard in Saints anthems by local artists, which have abounded after this tremendous season.
And with that, the who dat evolution became the who dat revolution. Throughout this shocking and explosive 2009 season, the chant has become a part of our daily bread, a substitute for greetings on the street, a sure cure for awkward silences and the easiest way to get an entire room of diverse people to all agree on the same thing. People of all ages, genders, colors, and creeds are members of the Who Dat Nation, and our boys have been a powerful uniting force for the local community in this time of economic, political, and social unrest. And we have the “Who dat?†chant, with a history as rich as our own, to help fan the fires within and inspire our Saints to give us the best season in franchise history.
I thought it was retarded when the Bengals did it and it's just as retarded with the Saints.
Soon, non-words like Dey, Dat and Ginna will be in Webster's Dictionary.
MORE HISTORY ON THE SAYING WHO DAT....IN MUSIC...
NEW ORLEANS | Our music, which is woven into every aspect of a New Orleanian's life, forms a link directly to our Saints loyalty. Throughout the Saints' history many songs have been associated with the team. Those anthems kept our hopes and spirit alive. Our infamous "Who dat" chant has a long history as well and will be uniquely ours for many years to come.
Imagine the year is 2019 and we're all 10 years older. New Orleans may still have unsecured levees, we may still be the number one crime city in the nation and we will still have vivid memories of our individual Katrina experience.
But the one thing for sure we will all remember fondly will be the Saints' 2009 season. At this point our team is riding higher than ever with its victory over the St. Louis Rams, and the 9-0 (so far) season is not over yet. Sports Illustrated magazine named the Saints as its pick for the big Super Bowl win, something that has never happened in our beloved team's history.
Many skeptics have written off the Saints over the years. Others have not kept up the faith. But the team is proving that through hard work, dedication, leadership and teamwork they can rise to the very top.
Our New Orleans NFL team can be seen as a metaphor for all that is good in our city and as an example of what can be accomplished with a little faith and insight. Just as the Saints had been written off, so had our city due to our low elevation, our insecure levees, our social and political corruption -- just pick one.
But we swamp rats will survive no matter what rough seasons we must endure. We are a resilient and wonderful city steeped in history, culture, mystery, culinary wonders and now a football team that is on its way to being legendary. I propose Drew Brees run for mayor. After all, why shouldn't we give a real leader a chance for once?
The "Who dat" cheer actually began in vaudeville acts of the late 1800s to early 1900s and was used as a line in negro minstrel shows. In the 1960s the chant gained popularity among fan for their favorite local football teams, from playground leagues on up. In 1983 the Saints adopted the phrase for the team during head coach Bum Phillips' residency. "Who dat" is now used as the main cheer for the team and has spawned countless new team songs.
As is fitting for a world-reknowned jazz city, the first song associated with our team was "When the Saints Go Marching In," an old jazz spiritual standard. I truly believe when anyone from New Orleans hears this song it immediately evokes images of tailgating, second lining and Saints fan fever. Of course there have been countless renditions of this song but, in my humble opinion, the greatest version is the Louis Armstrong interpretation.
Another song that has become part of the Saints culture is the "Who Dat" song recorded by Steve Monistere, a New Orleans musican and producer. Aaron Neville sang the lead and the Saints offensive line yelled the chant. It was Monistere's recording that made the phrase an indigenous part of the New Orleans language. The song gained notoriety during the days of Jim Mora as head coach and Bobby Herbert as quarterback.
The song still brings me back to being about 10 years old watching the games with my stepfather and hearing that "who dat , who dat, who dat say you gonna beat dem Saints!" in the background. Aaron Neville's voice sounds as beautiful as ever in this song as he sings "Oh when the Saints go marching in."
The year 2006 brought many grand returns to our city including the hope for a Super Bowl. That same year the team acquired coach Sean Payton, Drew Brees as quarteback and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. That has been the team's most successful year, until now of course. The Saints' return to the Dome in 2006 was a truly emotional experience after the chaos that took place there during the flooding after Katrina. The Dome needed to be cleansed physically not only because it is home for our team but for the spiritual symbolism it meant to a city trying to pick up the pieces after bitter devastation. The season ended with a record 11-7, and many attribute the championship loss to the unfamiliar wintery conditions in Chicago.
The season brought us another great Saints anthem in "The Saints Are Coming." This song is a cover song originally done by Scottish punk group The Skids, most famous for being the former band of Big Country singer/guitarist Stuart Adamson. U2 and Green day recorded the song to help charitable organization Music Rising, which was created by U2's guitarist Dave "The Edge" Evans to bring back music in schools as well as donate instruments. The song was released during the pregame show of the Saints-Falcons game on September 25, 2006. This was the first game played in the Dome since Hurricane Katrina.
The band for this performance was a 7-piece that included New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band, Troy Andrews (aka Trombone Shorty) and Big Sam. U2's Bono and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day wowed the massive crowd at the Dome as they personalized lyrics as a testament to our trials and victories since August 2005. Bono sang one lyric that still stands out: "Lower 9 will rise again above the waters of Lake Pontchartrain." This tune is played now every game prior to the Saints entering the field.
The latest song to be inspired by our Saints devotion is "Bring 'Em to the Dome" by New Orleans' own Shamarr Allen and hip hop artist Dee-1. Shamarr and Dee-1 had paired up before and decided to unite their different musical styles in a Saints song. This track is huge mixture of various genres incorporating rock, brass band, jazz and hip hop beats into a successful hit. The song includes lyrics such as: "They wanted me to root for their team but I don't do that, Baby I'm a Saints Fan that's why I say Who Dat That's why I say Who Dat"
The track is currently being played on different radio stations in the city in hopes it will be picked up by the Saints organization.
No doubt the New Orleans Saints have inspired a list of other songs too many to name and will continue to make musicians produce track after track of Saints anthems for the duration of our team and our city's history. The greatest of Saints songs has yet to be produced, surely after we win the Super Bowl! Who Dat, Go Saints!
"Without Music, life would be a mistake" -Freidrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
You hear it on the street, an impromptu call and response between strangers in black and gold jerseys. You hear it at the water cooler, at the neighborhood bar, on the local news. We all say it, maybe even a few times a day, but more often than not, we have no idea where “Who dat say gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?” actually came from in the first place. And if two words are going to have such a unifying impact on an entire city, an entire “Who dat?” nation, we owe it to ourselves to know why.
The earliest cultural references to the use of “Who dat?” hark from vaudeville acts and minstrel shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the most well-known is the tune, “Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd?” (1898), with lyrics from Paul Laurence Dunbar for the widely successful playlet Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake-Walk, a prominent feature of E.E. Rice’s “Summer Nights” at the Casino Roof Garden in New York City. According to Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff’s Ragged But Right: Black Travelling Shows, Coon Songs and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz (2007), the act was so successful that it remained on the venue’s bill for most of that summer—a landmark in turn-of-the-century black entertainment. The chorus of the tune sings, “Who dat say chicken in dis crowd?/Speak de word agin’ and speak it loud/Blame de lan’ let white folks rule it/I’se a lookin fu’ a pullet,/Who dat say chicken in dis crowd.” Another popular minstrel theme to feature our city’s trademark phrase was “Who’s Dat Knockin’ At De Door?” “I hab just come down on a little bit ob spree,/And I’m berry well acquainted wid de gals I come to see, / I went to de house. But dey was all gone to bed, /And out of the winder a colour’d lady said,/ ‘Who is dat knockin’ at de door?” This context was common of the earliest cultural and social uses of the “Who dat?” tagline. Many acts would feature frightened black actors encountering a ghost, or someone imitating one, to which the actor would reply, “Who dat?” (Eventually ghosts themselves would be referred to as “who dats”). In these acts, often a gag skit would arise from one actor saying to another, “Who dat?” to which the other would reply, “Who dat say who dat?” to which the first would reply, “Who dat say who dat when I say who dat?” and so on. It is said that even the Marx Brothers used a “Who dat?” routine. With the 1920s and 30s came an eruption of jazz and swing groups, which were noted for their crowd interactions beyond providing upbeat, danceable music. These interactions generally took the form of call and response, sometimes breaking into scatting and other improvised syllabic vocal interludes. The “Who dat?” chant became a popular fixture at these shows and could be heard tossed between the band and its leader or the band and its audience until the entire hall was filled with “Who dat?”s, a tradition still upheld in bars, homes and, of course, the Dome to this day. Though I have not yet found an outside source to confirm this, it is widely rumored that in World War II, the “Who dat?” chant became a popular joke among soldiers, specifically US fighter squadron pilots. After long bouts of silence on the radio waves, static and crackles of a microphone prompted a far-off voice to inquire, “Who dat?” A response would soon come from another pilot, “Who dat say who dat?”, a jovial homage to the old vaudeville and minstrelsy catchphrase. Yet another pilot would reply, “Who dat say who dat say who dat?” and so on until a commanding officer would eventually intervene. The evolution of “Who Dat?” from a tagline culturally immersed in vaudeville, music and comedy to a renowned chant of solidarity among sports fans is heavily debated, but has been referenced as early as the late 1960s. One claim is that Southern University fans in the late 60s or early 70s would be heard cheering, “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Jags?” for Southern University’s Jaguars. Another claim is that it started being used around the same time at St. Augustine High School, from where it spread to other local public schools. And yet another claim has the chant originating at Patterson High School in Patterson, Louisiana, home of Saints Pro-Bowler running back Dalton Hilliard (1986-1993 seasons). Under the leadership of former head coach Jack Andre, Hilliard and the rest of the Patterson football team made it all the way to the state championship against John Curtis in 1979. They were the runner-up in that 28-0 game, but the story goes that Patterson fans brought their “Who dat say gonna beat dem Jacks?” cheer for the Patterson Lumberjacks to the Dome that game. Hilliard become something of a local legend, and the cheer followed him to LSU the next year, and then to the NFL where he spent his entire career with the Saints. This story would have the cheer originating with the Saints in 1986. However, by 1983, during the tenure of coach Bum Philips (1981-1985), the Saints organization, and fans, had already adopted the cheer. The ‘Aints had won five of their first eight games and were off to an unprecedented start that season. When it came time to play an away game against division rivals the Falcons (aka the Dirty Birds), Saints fans traveled to Atlanta and heated the crowd with some of the first official Saints “Who dat?!” chants, as reported by the Associated Press. Around this same time, Cincinnati Bengals fans had started using their “Who Dey” cheer, and so the epic battle of “Who dat came first?” began. In 1981, while following their team’s run for the Super Bowl, Bengals fans would cheer, “Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?” and other fans would reply, “Nobody!” The origin of their cheer is widely disputed as well, including a local car commercial and a local Cincinnati beer Hudepohl, locally referred to as “Hudy,” which was on sale everywhere at Bengals games. All that considered, it’s still pretty safe to say that there’s no way “dey” and “dat,” common and well-known southern slang terms, originated in Cincinnati of all places, whether Bengals fans were reported using the chant before Saints fans or not. In 2006, former Saints quarterback and current WWL sports commentator Bobby Hebert furthered the “Who dat?” legacy after a highly anticipated game between the Saints and the favored Dallas Cowboys. After the Saints easily burned the Cowboys, listeners across the nation, many of whom were still displaced from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and could hear the WWL airwaves far and wide that evening, called in to Hebert’s radio show. Hebert’s response? “Man, there’s a whole Who Dat Nation out there.” Thus, Hebert became the unofficial father of the Who Dat Nation. Since then, the team has become widely popular, its members now often referred to as “who dats” themselves. It is also commonly heard in Saints anthems by local artists, which have abounded after this tremendous season.
And with that, the who dat evolution became the who dat revolution. Throughout this shocking and explosive 2009 season, the chant has become a part of our daily bread, a substitute for greetings on the street, a sure cure for awkward silences and the easiest way to get an entire room of diverse people to all agree on the same thing. People of all ages, genders, colors, and creeds are members of the Who Dat Nation, and our boys have been a powerful uniting force for the local community in this time of economic, political, and social unrest. And we have the “Who dat?” chant, with a history as rich as our own, to help fan the fires within and inspire our Saints to give us the best season in franchise history.
Wasn't sure I really cared who won or not but after being subjected to that unreadable post I must say...
Go Colts!
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SAINTS PARADE FEBRUARY 9th 2010
