The Cincinnati Bengals meet the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC wild card round Sunday, meaning Bengals fans will be asking the same-old question to anybody within shouting distance on Sunday.
"Who Dey?"
What does that even mean? It's a Cincinnati tradition and part of a chant that breaks out after the Bengals score touchdowns at home game at Paul Brown Stadium. The origins of the chant date back to the 1980s, and a local beer company is involved.
Who wants to know more about "Who Dey?" Here is a closer look:
What is the 'Who Dey?' chant?
When Cincinnati scores touchdowns at home games, the team fight song "The Bengals Growl" fight song plays.
In between choruses and at the closing, Cincinnati fans chant the full question in unison:
"Who Dey? Who Dey? Who Dey think they gonna beat dem Bengals?"
"Who Dey? Who Dey? Who Dey think they gonna beat dem Bengals?"
"Nobody!"
When did 'Who Dey?' chant start?
Ken Anderson was the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 1981 season. The Bengals finished 12-4 in the regular season. Anderson told Sporting News that is when the phenomenon started.
"We were the No. 1 seed and so we had a bye week and had both playoff games at home," Anderson told SN. "It was the old Riverfront Stadium, and that's when the 'Who Dey?' chant started. That's when people started wearing the orange-and-black wigs and painting their faces. The banners showed up at the stadium. It was electrifying."
The Bengals lost 26-21 to Super Bowl 16, but seven years later the chant fired up again with a new wrinkle. In 1988, the Bengals again finished 12-4 with quarterback Boomer Esiason. That coincided with the release of rock band Guns N' Roses hit single "Welcome to the Jungle," which also has become a staple at Bengals' home games at the old Riverfront Stadium.
Cincinnati did not lose a home game in the 1988 season. The 49ers beat the Bengals 20-16 in Super Bowl 23, but fans still welcomed the team back with that familiar chant. The team mascot is named Who Dey.
Yeah, yeah, but what about the beer?
'Who Dey?' origins
The most-popular origin story involves a Cincinnati beer from the Hudepohl Brewing Company. For what it's worth, those commercials from the 1980s are fantastic:
Beer vendors at the old Riverfront Stadium would shout "Hudy!" to sell to fans, and that made a natural transition to "Who Dey?" in the stands.
Hudepohl Beers released limited edition "Hu-Dey" beer cans last week.
What about the rest of the chant? According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, "A popular television commercial for Red Frazier Ford of Cincinnati, which was going out of business at the time, featured a similar boast: 'Who's going to give you a better deal than Red Frazier … nobody!'"
City Beat reported that a local radio station claims to have popularized the chant. City Beat reports, "Some credit (WEBN-FM) with popularizing the full Who Dey anthem after WEBN Program Director Denton Marr grabbed some employees and recorded a version of it."
So a winning football team, beer and a car commercial or radio station was the formula for the "Who Dey?" chant. Or did the Bengals just steal it from the Saints?
'Who Dey?' vs. 'Who Dat?'
According to a Feb. 3 article in the Wall Street Journal, "the 'Who Dat' phrase has roots in vernacular poetry of the 19th century and was popularized by Black entertainers." The "Who Dey?" chant would be in the same vein, but it's created a point of contention with New Orleans Saints fan.
The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate took a shot at the Bengals' chant in an editorial on Jan. 25: "'Who dey, who dey, who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?' sounds like a cheap knock-off of our more clever — and grammatically correct — Who Dat cheer."
Did the Bengals have that cheer first? Probably not, but both states can share those chants like they share Joe Burrow, who won a national championship at LSU and led the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI last season.
It's safe to say that is universal in Cincinnati. The Bengals team used that chant in the postgame team huddle after the AFC championship victory against Kansas City last season.
