"Smashmouth" (the word)

Why is this word everywhere now? I hear it in every stupid XFL commerical–even w/ Mike Ditka (I think) saying something like “Smashmouth football was our creed”–and it’s the title of that Gore/Bush book that’s out now.

When did this term originate? It ain’t in my Webster’s 10th. I never heard of it before the band Smashmouth became popular a few years ago–certainly not way back when Ditka was playing football.

A “Smashmouth” was a 1950’s slang term for a brawl.

It also is a term used for a cudgel, which I believe is a walking stick with a clublike aspect.