Predators fan arrested for throwing catfish explains he's 'just a dumb redneck'
Move over "Dart Guy," these NHL playoffs have a new Most Interesting Fan.
That honor goes to Jake Waddell, Predators fan and very dedicated catfish smuggler. Or, in his own words, a “dumb redneck with a bad idea.”
During Monday's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, a dead catfish came flying over the glass and landed on the ice, causing a brief break in the action as the ice crew cleaned it up. Catfish-tossing has become a tradition at Nashville Predators' home games in recent years, so we expected to see it happen during these Finals as the Preds took on the Penguins.
The only thing is, Monday's game took place in Pittsburgh, not Nashville.
Waddell traveled to Pittsburgh for the series opener and went to great lengths to ensure that he brought the tradition with him. In the end, he was successful, but he also got kicked out of the game and arrested for his efforts. Pittsburgh police charged him with disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime and disrupting a meeting.
While that seems a little ridiculous and excessive, so does Waddell's strategy to carry out the act.
Sean Gentille of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did some fine investigative journalism to find out exactly how the Preds fan successfully managed to carry out a catfish toss despite some of the city's seafood vendors doing their best to prevent it.
https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/869367273575907329
Not only did Waddell travel quite a distance (he was in Ohio visiting his in-laws for Memorial Day) for the game, the catfish he brought was actually from Nashville. He attempted to mask the gross smell with Old Spice, threw it in a cooler and then transported it to Pittsburgh.
But here's where Waddell's commitment to the task really starts to come into play.
On game night, he took the fish to his cousin’s house, filleted it, cut out half the spine and ran it over with his truck. That made it easier to vacuum-pack and conceal ... but not that easy.
“The head was too damn big,” Waddell said. “No matter how much I ran it over with my truck, the head was too big.”
The oversized head also prevented him from stashing the fish in his original planned location -- his boots -- and forced him to find another hiding spot. He decided to stuff it in his crotch, between his underwear and a pair of compression shorts.
During a bathroom break, he pulled out the catfish and wrapped it in a Penguins giveaway t-shirt and headed down to the glass during a stoppage in play, threw it over and became a legend.
https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/status/869366278867353600
The home fans weren't thrilled and his glory was short-lived, but Waddell doesn't seem to have any regrets or shortage of support.
"The cop told me, to my face, ‘You are being charged with disorderly conduct. You will get a ticket, a citation in the mail.’ … That’s what I was told. Now they come out with a couple other trumped-up charges, which are BS. I mean, a catfish isn’t an instrument of whatever-the-hell-they’re-saying-it-was, and I didn’t disrupt a meeting. It was an athletic event.”
The radio station is going to cover any fines he incurs, and he’s got plenty of Nashville-area lawyers willing to help.
“If they want to go down that road, we can go down that road,” Waddell said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll win that battle. I’m just stubborn enough, as you can probably tell by strapping a catfish to my crotch, to go up there and fight it.”
Never underestimate the resolve of a man who is willing to transport a dead animal hundreds of miles, then stuff it down his pants just for the sake of sport and pride.
Update: Per Pittsburgh's WTAE, the charges against Waddell have been dropped.