There were also a fair number of Red Wings fans in the area, thanks to General Motors’ nearby Saturn plant and the automaker’s close ties to Detroit. Once Nashville landed an NHL expansion franchise, Wolfy’s became a go-to stop for fans and players. He also lobbied Nashville to build an arena on the other corner to spur redevelopment of what then was a neighborhood down on its luck.īack then, he served burgers to construction workers and the Predators’ new owner, Craig Leipold. He helped open the restaurant bearing his name across from renowned honky-tonk Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Wolf is a Rangers’ fan born in Brooklyn who had played drums for Johnny Paycheck and others before going into the restaurant business in Nashville. He says the idea to toss a catfish grew out a discussion at Wolfy’s during the Predators’ inaugural season, back in 1998-99. Wolf, of course, watched all this from afar with some measure of satisfaction. Waddell was charged with disorderly conduct, possessing instruments of crime and disrupting meetings or processions before they were withdrawn. The Predators then scored three goals before Pittsburgh pulled out a 5-3 win in the opener. Īfter an extraordinary effort to conceal a flattened catfish on his person, Waddell threw it onto the ice - in Pittsburgh - on Monday night. Nashville’s catfish tradition is well known around here, but it became national news earlier this week thanks to Jacob Waddell, 36. Pittsburgh leads the best-of-seven series 2-0, but that’s another story. The Predators are about to host their first Stanley Cup Final game, on Saturday night. “Passionate fan base, and it’s what we expected.Indeed it is. You suck!” For good measure, they added, “It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!” To his credit, Murray was surprisingly even-tempered in his reaction to the ruthless chiding. After each of the seven goals he let up this series, the Predators were quick to remind that he was not playing his best: “Murrrrraaayyy. Penguins goalie Matt Murray got it rough during the latest games at Bridgestone. When he lets a puck get by him, the crowd erupts in a raucous, synchronized cry of, “He shoots! He scores! You suck!” Then the assembled Predators fans begin to repeatedly chant the goalie’s name, just to remind him of his failure. The main vitriol, though, is reserved for the other team’s goalie. It’s the same routine every time: After an opposing player’s name is called, the crowd screams “sucks!” A special variation is saved for the opposing coach’s intro: “He sucks, too!” After six “sucks” and a “he sucks, too,” the network decided not to include that portion of the broadcast for Game 4. You might have heard it before game three of the Stanley Cup Finals, when NBC aired the Pittsburgh Penguin player introductions live. Now, they start the psychological warfare before the puck is even dropped. At first, some fans were reticent about the Cellblock’s frequent use of “sucks” - this is the polite South, after all - but eventually decorum gave way to the disdain of the visiting team. Their dedication and enthusiasm grew in popularity, and after a few years the entire arena started joining in the fun. Just like the catfish throwing, a random idea - basically, “let’s get some season tickets up in the rafters and come up with funny taunts” - created a tradition. What set them apart from other NHL fans was the enthusiasm and creativity of the heckling, more akin to the rabid SEC football crowds down here. To make the games more exciting, the friends worked up a series of taunts and chants, some original, others lifted from minor league and college hockey traditions, and some cribbed from European soccer hooligans. Named after their section number, Cellblock 303 was born, led by music manager Mark Hollingsworth, aka The Warden. Before Nashville even had an NHL franchise, it was a decidedly minor league hockey town, with an ECHL team known as the Knights banging heads in the much more lowbrow Municipal Auditorium before the current EnormoDome was constructed on Broadway.Ī corps of hardcore Knights fans made the jump to the big leagues when the Predators entered the NHL for the 1998-99 season, and three of them chose to establish a cheering section up in the cheap seats.
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