The 12th man (TM)
Texas A&M, after asking the Seattle Seahawks to cease and desist their use of the phrase “12th man” in marketing of the team, has requested a restraining order. Apparently the 12th man thing is big in Aggieland, having been a central part of their football tradition since the 1920s. They even have something called the 12th Man Foundation. I’m not sure what this Foundation does … perhaps they’re charged with raising money to support lawsuits?
This move has caused much scorn to be heaped on Texas A&M, including some delicious snark on Salon.com (note: registration or ad-watching required!) and an outraged column in today’s Seattle Times.
What do you think about all this?
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If Texas A&M claims they hold the patent on the “12th man” then they should sue every high school and college football team that has a rowdy crowd cheering them on. The fans are truly the 12th man as it makes the diffrence when your down by a touchdown in the 4th quarter and the fans are backing you up to win the game.
I think we should make the best of “the 12th man” phrase while we still have it. Texas should be proud at us for making it famous..
If you had any respect for the law then you would understand that this is an infringement on a copyright. The 12th Man is a tradition that has been a huge part of the largest public land grant university in the country(Texas A&M) for almost a century and holds a much deaper meaning than the more than 80,000 fans at football games. It is not about being a fairweather fan only when you are winning but when you are down too (which goes against what Mr. Kelley said in the Seattle newspaper by bringing up A&M’s losses etc.) Hasselback even said he “didn’t get it” at Seattle until you started winning. You should experience Kyle Field, you have absolutely no idea what pure human noise is until you have. I suggest you educate yourself in the law and put yourself in someone else’s shoes. For your information, my father was the president of the 12th Man Foundation, which raises money for scholarships for student atheletes, not lawsuits…in fact he is part of many political organizations to prevent lawsuit abuse so I doubt he would be supporting this is if it was.
It’s good to hear from an A&M fan, Amy.
One of the interesting aspects of this issue, well-demonstrated by your comment, is the confusion or conflation of the emotional (’12th man’ as a rallying cry, a way of recognizing the importance of the fans, etc.) and the commercial (’12th man’ as a marketing slogan).
Would A&M really argue that the former sense ‘belongs’ to them alone? That’s hard to swallow. What this is really about is the trademark of a slogan used for commercial purposes. It’s about money. Some might see that as the *real* devaluation of the 12th man tradition …
Texas A&M’s 12th man is based on a specific event. To many players on the team were injured and they needed a replacement. It just so happened that one of the people in the stand was a former football player. They pulled there 12th man from the stands and continued the game. Seattle’s 12th man has nothing to do with this and Texas A&M did not get any good publicity off there football season so why not try to ruin someone elses season. Way to Aggies Seattle lost, Get over youselves.