12th Man Heads To Court

The Bryan-College Station Eagle ^ | January 31, 2006 | ROBERT CESSNA

[fishtank]

Beat the hell outta Seattle!

This weekend, I'm a Steelers fan!

[SunkenCiv]

There was a story on MSN about a "car crash" involving the Seahawks. Turned out some of them were riding in a van, and one of those parking lot gates came down prematurely and hit the vehicle. Oh, scary. This 12th man stuff was being talked about during their recent playoff game. Sounds like "we need all the help we can get."

I'm not a fan of either team, but now think that the Steelers will win the Super Bowl. I think it might be a pretty good game though. The Steelers have shown a knack for smothering any offense, and are also productive on offense.

[38special]

The original 12th man E. King Gill circa 1920's.

[Trajan88]

Gig 'Em Texas A&M Aggies!

Steel Curtain... beat the hell outta the Seahawks.

TAMU Class of '88

[texianyankee]

Thanks for posting the pic of Gill - class of '78 here!

As a life-long Cowboy fan - I have a harder time rooting for the steelers - basically, I could care less about who wins this super bowl.

[fishtank]

I've been looking for that old B&W picture of E. King Gill......

haven't found it on the net....

[LA Woman3]

Seahawks should throw in the towel

By BUD KENNEDY
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

The entire state of Texas is under attack from the Pacific Northwest, where a trademark flap involving an obscure Seattle football team now has the people of Washington state whipped into a venti-cappuccino-size froth.

As every proud Texan knows, the Texas Aggies were first to promote the fans' role as the football team's "12th Man." A sophomore Aggie reserve squadman was called out of the press box to suit up during a bowl game in Dallas in 1922, and loyal Aggies now stand up every game to be ready to play if necessary.

I have no idea what the Seattle Seahawks fans were doing in 1922. But I know they weren't 12th Men. For one thing, the closest pro football team was in Illinois.

So Texas A&M is suing to stop the Seahawks, a team named for a predatory seafowl, from selling or licensing rally towels, flags and other souvenir kitsch with A&M's trademarked 12th Man.

From the Washington fans' reaction, you'd think A&M had demanded that the Aggies replace Seattle in the Super Bowl. Calling Texas the "Lone Brainstem State," columnist Greg Johns of the Longview, Wash., Daily News wrote jokingly that the Aggies should "back down your lawyers" or Seattle would send Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen "to buy out your little land-grant university and turn it into the southern branch of his Experience Music Project." Hey, Greg -- how would Allen like it if the Aggies copied and sold Windows?

On a TV station's Web site, www.king5.com, at least six Seahawks fans call Texans "morons." Texans are also called "bigots" and "idiots," and several fans suggest that Aggies do more than clone their animals.

Seattle crowds have been described colloquially as the Seahawks' "12th man" since the 1980s days of noisy crowds in the old Kingdome, fans argue. The team even retired a No. 12 football jersey in 1984, honoring fans.
But that jersey had only a number. The Seahawks weren't selling or promoting anything using A&M's full name of the 12th Man.

Sometimes, the team even refers carefully to the tradition of the "12th Seahawk."
This year, though, at least two references on the team's Web site refer to the "12th Man."

For the last 20 years, since the days of then-coach Jackie Sherrill, Aggie fans have shown that they are ready to play by clutching and waving 12th Man towels like sideline players.

This year, the Seahawks fans suddenly have "12" towels. "The outrage is that they not only are using our name, they are starting to use our traditions," said Susan Bailey, an allergist in Fort Worth and a former A&M university regent.
She has a close-up look at the conflict. A stepson, Greg Bailey, graduated from A&M. He now works as a sportscaster at KING-TV in Seattle.
Greg Bailey chose his words carefully. "It's a great compliment to the Aggies that Seattle fans are talking about them and taking up the 12th Man tradition," he said from Chicago, where he was making a connecting flight to Detroit for the Super Bowl.
Very nice.

Now, what about those towels?
Bailey remembered how the Aggies' towel tradition began in 1985. A senior at Lamar High School in Arlington, he was thrilled to go to College Station on Saturdays and watch A&M fans wave 12th Man towels all the way to victory in the Cotton Bowl.

Bailey has worked in Seattle since 2000. He said the Seahawks' "12th Man" tradition didn't seem similar to A&M's until he saw the towels.
"When I looked out at the first playoff game and saw all the towels, I couldn't help but think of that 1985 season," he said. "That's when the recognition set in for me that A&M started this with the 12th Man."
He wants the teams to work out a licensing agreement, he said. Maybe A&M should have complained about the trademark breach sooner. But who knew?

Almost nobody in Texas ever heard of the Seattle Seahawks. Once we finally got our own Starbucks coffee stands, we mostly quit thinking about Seattle.

I hope Bailey has warned folks up there not to mess with the Aggies. If this little dispute isn't settled by week's end, they might decide to invade Detroit and take over the Super Bowl.

I don't think Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones would like sharing halftime with the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. It wouldn't even be close.

[llevrok]

No Seahwak fan gives a rat's behind about a cow school.

Don't flatter yourselves.

[texianyankee]

Great column...thanks for posting it.

[Trajan88]

Re: "No Seahwak fan gives a rat's behind about a cow school."

Hmm... I don't know anything about a "rat's behind" (nor any other beast). You sound like you know from experience.

Anyway, please do NOT enlighten us simple folk from God's country (aka Aggieland), home of the 12th MAN.

TAMU Class of '88

[texianyankee]

Great pic, Trajan...

...by the way, what the hell is a "Seahwak," anyway? LOL!

[LA Woman3]

[texianyankee]

LOL......the "Seahwaks" are up to their beaks in dung for sure, now.

[djf]

Anybody want to guess where the judge in this case went to school?

Since he didn't recuse himself, it doesn't sound like he got a very good education...

[LA Woman3]

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/2243972.html

No 12th Man Hearing in Aggieland

Updated: 12:33 PM Feb 2, 2006
Steve Fullhart

Brazos County has heard from the Seattle Seahawks, and officials at Texas A&M say the professional franchise contacted the school and told them they have requested a hearing on the 12th Man trademark in a federal court in Houston.

The hearing to determine whether a permanent injunction would be issued was scheduled to take place in 85th District Court at 1:30pm Thursday.

Tuesday, a top Texas A&M official put the odds at "50-50" that the Seattle Seahawks would ask for a change of venue in their 12th Man dispute.

A&M says the Seahawks have illegally used their trademarked "12th Man" to refer to Seattle fans. The Seahawks argue that A&M has not been damaged by their actions.

Calls to the Seahawks have not been returned. The majority of the franchise's staff is in Detroit for Sunday's Super Bowl XL, which will feature the Seahawks against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It was last week that the university sought and obtained a temporary restraining order from Judge J. D. Langley.

[texianyankee]

Thanks for the update!
The more I read up on this, the more correct the Aggies are - in my opinion. The Seahawks deserve to lose this case and it's getting to the point where I find myself rooting for the Steelers in the Super Bowl.....

[LA Woman3]

[SunkenCiv]

Well, 27 seconds left, looks like a done deal.

No stake in this game, but I have to say, the officiating was atrocious. At least one Steelers player was pissing and moaning about bad officiating in the Steelers' victory over Indy, but there won't be a peep out of them about what happened today.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1568543/posts?page=22#22

[TADSLOS]

Hey, I was there. End Zone upper deck section 503 red shirt.
A day I'll NEVER forget!

Gig 'Em Ags!
WHOOP!!

Proud Aggie Dad

Country Club F-2 '05