If Lewis Hadn’t Killed The Passing Game, It Could Have Been Us Winning The Super Bowl And Looking Stupid Chanting Who Dey.

By Timzilla

It was the 2007 season finale against the Dolphins in Miami and I was entering the stadium concourse where a small child approached wearing an orange bandana.  I first saw his gang sign before hearing the chant … huh-de.

Soon after an 80-year-old man passed saying the same, huh-de.  Then a transgendered, cross-dressing transvestite from South Beach nodded and mumbled, huh-de. In all I heard nearly 500 huh-de chants that day.

While I was unsure of this gang lingo directed at me, I was obviously among friends. And I knew some serious hurt must be inflicted upon the Non-Oranges. Sure, I cut open a lot of Miami fans that day—spilled a lot of Dolphin blood. Any regrets? Hell no, they deserved their fates.

But it wasn’t until the drive back to central Florida that I realized  I wasn’t hearing huh-de … they were instead mumbled, garbled  Who Deys from hordes of Bengals fans. Who Deys echoed throughout the stadium of death and carnage that day.

It’s been called the most heated rivalry since democrats first set eyes on Sarah Palin. Two cities. Cincinnati and New Orleans. Two words. Dat and Dey.

For full disclosure, I’ve never been a fan of professional team chants, or pretentious fraternity handshakes. I mean, yeah as a marketer I get the basic idea … branding your favorite team with a single “street jingle” seems cool in theory. But just when I thought we were the only ones, along comes Who Dat.

Who Dat? Huh? Who Dat? What da …. ?

So naturally the war began— what came first, Dat or Dey? Well, there’s been more theories than the Kennedy assassination, with both teams claiming originality. Hell, New Orleanders (or is it New Orleandites?) claim they were saying it before the Pilgrims.

Truth is, I think New Orleans probably said it first, but unassociated with football or the Saints. The Bengals probably used it first in a team vernacular in 1981. I mean, who would seriously say, “Who Dat think gonna beat them Saints” before 2006, back when the team was losing 14 games a year? Be that as it may, the Dat-Dey War raged on. More blood spilled. Families destroyed. So many young male Dat- and Dey-bangers imprisoned.

So Bengals fans, we must be the bigger people and give away the chant to the Saints.

Yeah, I know all the Who Dey’ers will call for my head, and write me nasty emails. But we gotta let go, people. Look, the Saints are the first to win a Super Bowl with the chant, and now we look like Johnny-come-lately ripper off’ers. Right? So let’s allow New Orleans to have it, so they continue to look and sound stupid.

That’s right … I mean, didn’t you see the thousands of live reports from Bourbon Street—real Saints fans brainlessly chanting Who Dat? Did you see and hear how stupid they looked and sounded? Gawd people, if Marvin Lewis hadn’t killed our passing game, that could have been us winning the Super Bowl, and looking stupid nationally chanting Who Dey.

C’mon, let’s learn from New Orleans’ mistake.

I’m proposing we officially bequeath the stupid Who Dat-Dey chant to New Orleans. Poof, gone. No more. Over. Outta here. K’putski. Dead. Finally!

Let’s use this off-season to create a new chant (if we must) that doesn’t make us sound as if we’re coughing up hair balls with marbles in our mouths. We can do it. You can do it! Just send us your suggested chant replacements (send it as a comment; just click this post’s Headline, or the Small Numeral in the blog post dateline).

Let’s end Who Dey and the violence. Hasn’t enough blood been shed?

Tagged as: Bengals, Cincinnati Bengals, Dat Bangers, Dey Bangers, Timzilla, Who Dat, Whoi Dey