Given our use of the phrase “Who Dat” on this month’s cover, I’m thankful that state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell finally straightened out that whole trademark mess with the National Football League. Otherwise, I guess it would’ve been just a matter of time before I got a nice letter from the NFL demanding that I fork over licensing royalties.

Unlike everyone else, though, I would not have raised a big stink about it. Instead, I’d have gladly shelled out the NFL’s fair share of our cover price. Ten percent of free is jack sh—t, and that’s exactly what the league deserves for the usage of “Who Dat.”

The phrase has actually been around longer than the league itself, and it grew to become synonymous with the Saints in the early ’80s because of loyal fans, not the NFL. Yet, for a while there, the folks on Park Avenue seemed to believe they owned the rights to it simply because it’s become the team’s de facto anthem.

If that were the case, then the NFL may have also been led to believe it has licensing rights over the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, Texas’ Lone Star, and the color brown. UPS better damn well hope Cleveland never makes it to the Super Bowl like the Saints finally did, otherwise the league executives may try to see what brown can do for them.

And wasn’t the timing of this whole Who Dat trademark thing uncanny? I mean, it’s been used for about 30 of the team’s 43 years, yet it took the Saints finally making it to the big game for the wunderkinds at the league to demand a piece of the action.

Where were they when I was in fourth grade, making my own homemade Who Dat T-shirt? Why weren’t they demanding their cut back when my dad was schlepping my fat ass to the Dome to watch “the Aints” once again break everyone’s heart? How come they didn’t claim trademark infringement back when tickets started at $10, John Meacom was the owner, and no-shows numbered in the tens of thousands? I guess licensing revenue from the sale of brown paper bags wasn’t worth the trouble.

So what happened when the Saints beat the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game to prompt the cease-and-desist letters? Did the commissioner happen to stumble upon a T-shirt boutique, see the clever Who Dat goods, and say, “Hey, there’s some money we’re not making”?

I know economic times are tough for the NFL. It’s had to lay off folks back at the home office, and the current collective bargaining agreement with the players ends pretty soon, which means the ownership may have to make more concessions to the union.

But you know who needs the money more? Small, locally owned businesses in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Isn’t it funny how the media likes to play up the Saints storyline with the Katrina card while the NFL had no problem demanding from the city’s entrepreneurs a revenue stream that many legal experts insisted it has no legitimate rights to?

This was not good publicity for the NFL. National media outlets picked up the story and ran with it. Hell, both Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter and Democratic U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon roundly criticized the NFL, which is really saying something in this hyperpartisan political environment.

Had the league continued to unreasonably hold its ground, Roger Goodell would have ended up making Jay Leno and Jeff Zucker look like Nobel Laureates, because at least Conan got $32 million out of his deal. T-shirt places like Fleurty Girl, on the other hand, would have been lucky to get a dab of Vaseline.

Of course, the folks at the NFL weren’t the only ones who recently made national news for a foolishly overreaching decision regarding a New Orleans institution.

Four conservative activists were arrested for allegedly attempting to set video surveillance equipment in Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. They claim they wanted to capture embarrassing footage of Landrieu’s staff ignoring calls from constituents.

One of those arrested was James O’Keefe, the kid who made headlines last year after posing as a pimp seeking business advice from ACORN workers and capturing the whole thing with hidden cameras.

The money shot the pimp and his friends were looking to get involved Landrieu’s folks blowing off voters angry over her support of health care reform. You remember that whole New Louisiana Purchase, in which she got $300 million for Louisiana in exchange for her vote to allow debate to continue?

For that political ploy, she was vilified and portrayed as a high-priced prostitute by conservatives. So I guess it’s only fitting that a fake pimp would try to bitch slap a fake whore … metaphorically speaking, of course.

Instead of dressing as a phony pimp and hooker, this time two of O’Keefe’s buddies posed as phony telephone repairmen. However, the charges against all four of them are quite real. They face up to ten years in prison for entering a federal building under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony.

I’m not sure what’s being taught in Arlington, Virginia, at the Leadership Institute, which trains conservative activists and where O’Keefe previously worked. Whatever it is, the curriculum apparently doesn’t cover Watergate. Otherwise, they might have thought twice about trying to illegally gain access to a building with the express purpose of recording the conversations of Democratic operatives for political gain.

Of course, this episode leaves me with the burning question: What did the douche know, and when did he know it?