A few years ago there was an issue of Texas A&M suing the Seattle Seahawks to cease and desist using the term “12th Man”, and lost because it was a moronic lawsuit, and honestly, shame on them.

But now the empire is striking back, and turning the tables on the NCAA, specifically Cal and Stanford, whose annual matchup is well known in the Bay Area as the “Big Game”, which is the phrase that the NFL is currently trying to trademark for exclusive use. I grew up in the Bay Area, had season tickets to Stanford football for quite a few years, and I know damn well that I have never referred to the Super Bowl as the “Big Game”, but have done so for years when it comes to the Bears-Cardinal rivalry.

But the Big Game also has a very specific application for Stanford University and UC Berkeley, whose annual football game dates back to 1892. It has been known as the Big Game since 1902, according to San Francisco author Ron Fimrite, who is writing a history of Cal football.

As Bob Murphy, a former Stanford baseball player who has been an analyst on Stanford radio broadcasts for many years, said, “This game started way before there was anything called the National Football League. Besides, it’s such a common expression, I don’t know how you would trademark it. It’s like copyrighting ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’ It’s kind of silly.”

So first off, if the Cal-Stanford game has been using the “Big Game” since 1902, case closed, the NFL is wasting everyone’s time. Second, Murphy is right, and when does it stop? This practice of trying to trademark commonly used phrases is such an f-you to everyone in the football community, including Cal-Stanford and any/all high school rivalry using the name.. apparantly the NFL feels they are not worthy to use the term, and hopefully for everyone the judging parties are not as dumb as the geniuses who don’t realize that 104 years of usage would easily put the “Big Game” rights to the Bay Area schools which deserve the right to use it.

• NFL marketers want ‘Big Game’ trademark (San Francisco Chronicle)