INGLEWOOD, Calif. — "Who Dey?"
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As the Cincinnati Bengals prepare to face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56 on Sunday, fans across the country are becoming more familiar with the Bengals' fanbase's battle cry.
But what exactly does it mean? And where does it come from?
According to Cincinnati.com, the most prevalent theory for the origin of the chant -- "Who Dey? Who Dey? Who Dey think gonna beat them Bengals? Nobody!" -- traces back to the Cincinnati-based Hudepohl Brewing Company, which has been a staple in the Queen City since 1885. As the Bengals found success in the early-1980s, fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium could often be heard ordering beer from vendors by shouting "Hudy" or "HuDey." That combined with a popular commercial for Red Frazier Ford of Cincinnati, which boasted: ”Who's going to give you a better deal than Red Frazier?...Nobody!"
"Beer vendors and bartenders selling Hudepohl at Riverfront Stadium and at bars across Cincinnati began shouting, Hudy or HuDey for the beer name as that bears a phonetic similarity to who they," Greg Hardman, owner of Cincinnati-based Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., which now owns Hudepohl Brewing, told Cincinnati.com in 2015.
Hudepohl capitalized on the chant with special "Hu-Dey" beer releases to commemorate the Bengals' previous Super Bowl runs in 1982 and 1989. After Cincinnati beat the Kansas City Chiefs to clinch its upcoming appearance in Super Bowl 56, Hudepohl resurrected the beer for a very limited run of 2,800 six-packs, which were released at the Over-The-Rhine brewery's dock earlier this week.