Usually I would just roll my eyes when I see something like this. But this season, I almost feel bad for the aggies. I mean after a season like this, where they have to watch the longhorns win a national championship and have a horrible team, they should be given this if for nothing other than pity.
No. You don't understand IP law at all. I don't understand it that well either, but I know that this statement is dubious.
UT friend just sent me this: http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Texas_a&m_university 12th Man This is their favorite tradition, and they've even named their alumni foundation the 12th man foundation. It is based on the myth that back in the day when the Aggies had a good football team, all the football players were too exhausted to play because they had been out the night before banging hot coeds. Because of this, a 12th man named Gill (I s**t you not, Gill) came out of the stands, singlehandedly b****slapped the other team, like Vince Young would do, then after the game banged 3 hot coeds at once. This is known to actually not have happened, since A&M has never fielded a good football team and there are no hot coeds within 45 minutes of College Station. The 12th man takes pride in remaining standing the entire game. Well, at least the students side does. The other side likes to gloat about standing the entire game while sitting on their asses the entire time yelling at anyone who stands up in front of them or has the gall to wear a hat. They like to organize special occasions sometimes, such as "maroon out", in which every member of the 12th man wears maroon. This practice stems from an old pagan belief that a lot of people wearing the exact same thing can intimidate or scare others. Coincidentally, this practice is quite common with most cults. The maroon out however, doesn't appear to be effective seeing as half the stadium is typically filled up with fans of the opposing team. A&M fans are currently at war with the Seattle Seahawks over Seattle's use of the 12th Man as their own. This is because a team winning games with a 12th Man is in direct conflict with Aggie traditions.
The 12th Man The song "The 12th Man" was written in 1941, and it has been one of A&M's strongest traditions going. During the 70s and 80s, pro teams started using the term 6th man and 12th man. Realizing that if every single team out there used the term "the 12th man" it would water the term and meaning down, A&M copywrited it in 1989. Unlike Pat Riley, they are not interested in making money off of the term, they are interested in keeping it from turning into a generic sports term. Most pro teams have understood and stopped using the term, but Seattle seems unwilling to do so. I don't know the law, if they can prove they used it before A&M copywrited it, then they would seem to have a case. In any case it seems it is too late, since the term is probably now considered generic by most football fans.
IC, A&M is the 4th biggest school in the nation, with a lot of money and a lot of traditions. Just like you have the anti-UT crowd, you're going to get the anti-A&M crowd. By the way, you have to like the "poor Aggies" term:
My understanding of trademarks is to protect deliberate or misleading use of terms that would be of detriment to the original tradmarker. Since the Seahawks are a pro-team and their colors is green and grey while A & M is a college team is maroon I don't think there will be any confusion between the two. Its not like people will buy Seahawks 12th man gear thinking its A & M's 12th man.
From personal experience, people in Texas make fun of A&M. People outside of Texas don't have an opinion of A&M one way or another. They've heard of the school but they don't know any of their traditions - other than maybe the bonfire - and only because of the tragedy. I live in the Northeast and travel throughout NY, PA, Massachusetts and CT. When I tell people I went to Texas, they all say "Hookem". Texas is a school with a national identity, A&M is not - at least where I live.
Just to be fair, before we went to the Final Four (with TJ) and the Rose Bowl vs Michigan, when I told someone I went to UT most thought I was talking about the one in TN, not TX.
Seriously, aggy needs to quit the legal crap about the 12th Man is and actually start showing up for games. I was at the game this year at College Station and thousands of A&M student tickets went unsold and were scooped up by Texas fans. Judging by all the orange in the stadium, the 12th Man is losing momentum fast.
Of course the United States Patent and Trademark Office disagrees with you. This is evidenced by the fact that they issued a trademark. Since the trademark was issued, the university has not only the right, but the duty to the Board of Regents to enforce it.
Of course that probably coincided with Tennessee's football program the past 2 decades while Texas has struggled. People know Texas. It's not just football (although the 3rd winningest program is pretty significant). If you were to ask anyone to name 1 university in the state of Texas, the majority of them will probably say UT. Texas has a national reputation. Hookem is ubiquitous. Very few people outside of Texas knows about the "12th Man" which is also probably why A&M is fighting so hard to get some name recognition.
Texas hooking in record royalties after national title By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY Thu Jan 19, 7:22 AM ET The University of Texas is poised to smash Michigan's annual record for collegiate licensing royalties after the Longhorns' 41-38 upset of Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Everything with the burnt orange Bevo silhouette, from hats, T-shirts and acoustic guitars to branded furniture and Waterford crystal collectible footballs, has been flying out of stores since quarterback Vince Young led his team to the national football title. Texas probably will double royalties to $8 million during the 2005-06 academic year, predicts Craig Westemeier, UT director of trademark licensing. That would top the $6.2 million collected by the Wolverines in 1993-94, the highest take ever among the 200 schools represented by the Collegiate Licensing Co., chief operating officer Derek Eiler says. CLC represents about 80% of all schools, with the exception of some big names such as Ohio State. "The stars have aligned to break the record," he predicts. Ohio State earned $5.2 million after its national title in the 2002-03 school year, according to the Associated Press. Texas is in talks about a possible licensing deal with high-end watchmaker Rolex, according to Westemeier. But the Austin-based school has turned down some stranger offers such as Longhorns toilet seats and, yes, licensed coffins. Texas collects about 8 cents in royalties for every dollar of wholesale revenue generated by 450 licensees such as Nike. "It's a perfect storm. Our fans are still celebrating," Westemeier says. The simple, classic Longhorns trademark could become the Nike swoosh of the college world, retail experts say. sales of Texas merchandise almost tripled to $12 million for the year-to-date period ending Jan. 15, reports Neil Schwartz, the director of SportScanINFO, a market research firm. USC Trojans merchandise, meanwhile, doubled in sales to $1.2 million in the same period. "Texas has a much more national following than USC," Schwartz says.
Oh no no no no. They're antics are national. I submit a transcript of a Jim Rome segment from a few years back. I can only provide a transcript since an audiofile would require subscription to the Rome Show. The Jim Rome show is a nation wide show... just in case. http://www.geocities.com/longhorn6482/JimRome.html "They won't shut up. They have to go on about spirit, and old army, and red ass, and how bonfire represents the burning sensation they have in their urine to beat UT, and blah blah blah. Shut up. You start to get the feeling the entire school was built to spite UT. Forget the fact that when the Texas Legislature back in the 1870's passed legislation to start a state university they also decided to have a subsidiary branch of the main school(University of Texas) that would teach agriculture and mechanics. Aggies love to say their school is older, from where they get that I don't know......the fact is, the State intended A&M to be a branch of UT. They are like the afterbirth from the original creation. Like Danny Devito in "Twins". So they apparently have this complex, so much so, that they must devote their entire school to trying to prove to UT that they are just as good. All the while, nobody at UT denies that A&M is a good school, yet they won't shut up. So they write a fight song......about?....Texas, and how they want to beat them. They have a Fish Camp for freshman where they tell them how bad Texas is and how good A&M and all its traditions are. It is the world's largest known case of penis envy, and it is manifested in everything A&M does. The people at A&M. Now we all have friends who went to A&M or are at A&M. There are some nice people there. However...there is the Corp. East Texas' answer to dreams of ROTC kids everywhere. For every boy scout who never learned to stop playing with his GI Joe Toys, there is the Corp. Now, forget the fact that A&M will actually let people with sub-par grades enroll if they agree to join the Corp. Forget the fact that the Corps looked like a Gestapo hate rally while beating down students on Kyle Field in 1995. Forget the fact that along with the numerous hazing charges that have been filed against them, and swept under the rug over the years, they just this past month have had one Corps member bring charges against another Corps member who apparently had been propositioning others for a little actual sodomy. Not only could I go on with more instances of idiocracy by these Khaki-clad-shaven-headed-dorks, I am sure each of you have your own stories. The point is: We all respect West Point, Annapolis, The Air Force Academy; however, nobody respects the Corp. I imagine they are kind of the laughing stock of the military world. Just because you dress like the Army, and try and act like the Army, does not make you the Army. People at A&M don't even respect these clowns. It is not cool to shave your head and dress up. Halloween is only supposed to be one day of the year. If you want to carry guns and beat up civilians, move to Israel. It is even less cool to slobber on somebody's daughter on national television and call it a tradition. Dry humping 18 year old girls in the stands at football games is not cool. Not only is it not cool, it should be against the law. I know that in College Station, students are just prone to mount each other on the campus lawn, or in the middle of class, or anytime anything good happens you can just grab the girl sitting next to you and start sucking on her face. But everywhere else in the world, it is looked down upon. Especially if you are doing it on my TV. That is why we have moved the game from Thanksgiving. Because people across the nation were gagging on their turkey when in the middle of watching a football game, some boy scout is tongue thrashing some overweight co-ed during somebody's Thanksgiving dinner. We do not need to see burly women engaged in a suckfest every time your woeful offense manages to put points on the board. Some of these girls are in desperate need of a trip to the Clinique counter. Screw that, forget make-up, it is too late for that, just give them a veil. "t.u." is not funny. It is NOT insulting. It is dumb. Just imagine if folks from Texas kept talking about M&A and giggling. That would not be funny. In fact, it would be r****ded. That's why UT fans don't do it. Please learn. You want to lose the image of country bumpkins, of a people fond of sheep, of people that aren't stupid? Then quit building things that fall down. Quit chasing cheerleaders around with swords on national TV. Quit whooping in church. Quit whooping period. Quit putting up scoreboards for the enjoyment of dead mammals. Quit spending your Friday nights practicing how to yell. Quit telling rape jokes to reporters when you're running for Governor. When you are filling out season ticket renewals, and the form asks for your phone #, H & W, quit putting 258-3999, Height 6'3", Weight 185. Just, collectively, stop making asses of yourselves. Go to East Texas, tour every small town, and ask every red neck with a 5th grade education why they cheer for A&M and wear maroon. That is your fan base. This is why you are perceived by the educated masses as stupid. Nobody cares if you think your band is better. They might be louder, they might march in neat little zig zags, but they have no musical ability. The point is, nobody cares who wins halftime. Quit getting geeked up about marching bands. I find it hard to believe you stood through your high school band's entire halftime performance. And why? Cause nobody cared then and nobody cares now. Plus, you can hear them fine sitting down even if you do care. Why is it cool all of a sudden now that you're in college? Men should never let out high pitched whooping sounds. Perhaps the only justifiable situation in which this can be tolerated is perhaps during an anal probe. Oh wait...I understand now. Dogs are not ladies. They don't look or smell like ladies. Dogs eat their own feces and should be treated accordingly. Finally, College Station is an arm-pit of a town. Quit pretending that it is a great college town. It is a town and there is a college there. That should be the end of this comparison. If you feel that life doesn't get any better than the Dixie Chicken, and enjoy being stuck in a never ending "Dukes of Hazard" episode, then move there. More importantly, don't move to Austin.....they are trying to create an educated, technological, and open minded population base. Austin is, and will continue to be, the birthplace and final resting place of all that is cool. As my friend Stephen Johnson once said: "If the world were ever to get an enema, College Station is where you would connect the hose." If you go to school at A&M, please don't be an Aggie. God Bless the Great State of Texas. PS. This has been posterd before. I only repost for those who haven't read it or are just to lazy for the search function.
I personally can't stand Jim Rome (I think he is an obnoxious *******) but I always enjoyed reading that article that is attributed to him.
wow thats just stupid. In other news, John Madden, Al Michaels, ABC, ESPN, CBS, and Fox have all been sued for referring to the crowd as a 12th man during a football game. Texas A&M is also moving to patent the "6th man" for their basektball team. The "10th man" for their baseball team and the actual "stick up their ass" for the entire university.
