for barry beck....
couldn't find much on the blue seats, but here's the originiation of the greatest cheer in the history of sports.
It's a date Rangers fans - and we mean real Dale Rolfe-jersey-wearing, vent-your-lungs nightly, name the members of the GAG Line, bleeding-blue Rangers fans - will never forget.
It was Feb. 25, 1979, a midseason matchup between the Rangers and the hated Islanders, the interlopers from Long Island. It would prove to be a night of both angst and discovery for the denizens of the Garden that night, especially the rabid Rangers loyalists occupying the beloved blue seats.
The play, one that would signal the beginning of the end of an injury-riddled Rangers career for Ulf Nilsson as well as the birth of perhaps the most famous chant in Garden history, was clean by all accounts. Both Nilsson - a Swedish import who ranked somewhere below meatballs but definitely above ABBA - and Islanders defenseman Denis Potvin agreed.
But clean hit or not, the blue seats would have none of it.
Nilsson was supposed to provide the Blueshirts with truckloads of goals and lead the Rangers, then in their 39th season without a Stanley Cup championship, to hockey's Holy Grail. But following Potvin's hit, Nilsson lay crumpled on the ice, his ankle broken and his season shattered.
No one is exactly sure how long it took before Rangers fans, stunned at the sight of their fallen hero, began to regroup and turn their ire on No. 5 of the Islanders. Minutes perhaps, surely not any longer.
But that night the chant was born. "Potvin Sucks, Potvin Sucks."
It became a mini anthem, one that unified Rangers fans and became a rallying cry - whether Potvin was in the building or not. In their eyes, the Rangers' failure to beat the Canadiens in the Cup Finals later that season lay squarely on Potvin's shoulders.
There were also variations to the chant. One referred to Potvin's domestic problems at the time. Another suggested Potvin purchase a Porsche, the same kind of car that claimed the life of Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh in a high-speed accident.
But neither was a suitable substitute for the original.
Organ music, which originally prompted the fans to begin the chant, has since been replaced for the most part by fans whistling the musical introduction. That way, the chant can rain down at any time. It has become as much a part of the fabric of the Garden as the retired jerseys hanging from the rafters.
Much has changed since that night over 25 years ago. The blue seats have been replaced by a kinder, gentler teal. The Islanders are still hated, but they boast no player on their roster as detested as Potvin. And the Florida Panthers are now a hot ticket when they come to town. Not so much for their players, but for their TV color analyst.
Denis Potvin.
It's a date Rangers fans - and we mean real Dale Rolfe-jersey-wearing, vent-your-lungs nightly, name the members of the GAG Line, bleeding-blue Rangers fans - will never forget.
It was Feb. 25, 1979, a midseason matchup between the Rangers and the hated Islanders, the interlopers from Long Island. It would prove to be a night of both angst and discovery for the denizens of the Garden that night, especially the rabid Rangers loyalists occupying the beloved blue seats.
The play, one that would signal the beginning of the end of an injury-riddled Rangers career for Ulf Nilsson as well as the birth of perhaps the most famous chant in Garden history, was clean by all accounts. Both Nilsson - a Swedish import who ranked somewhere below meatballs but definitely above ABBA - and Islanders defenseman Denis Potvin agreed.
But clean hit or not, the blue seats would have none of it.
Nilsson was supposed to provide the Blueshirts with truckloads of goals and lead the Rangers, then in their 39th season without a Stanley Cup championship, to hockey's Holy Grail. But following Potvin's hit, Nilsson lay crumpled on the ice, his ankle broken and his season shattered.
No one is exactly sure how long it took before Rangers fans, stunned at the sight of their fallen hero, began to regroup and turn their ire on No. 5 of the Islanders. Minutes perhaps, surely not any longer.
But that night the chant was born. "Potvin Sucks, Potvin Sucks."
It became a mini anthem, one that unified Rangers fans and became a rallying cry - whether Potvin was in the building or not. In their eyes, the Rangers' failure to beat the Canadiens in the Cup Finals later that season lay squarely on Potvin's shoulders.
There were also variations to the chant. One referred to Potvin's domestic problems at the time. Another suggested Potvin purchase a Porsche, the same kind of car that claimed the life of Flyers goalie Pelle Lindbergh in a high-speed accident.
But neither was a suitable substitute for the original.
Organ music, which originally prompted the fans to begin the chant, has since been replaced for the most part by fans whistling the musical introduction. That way, the chant can rain down at any time. It has become as much a part of the fabric of the Garden as the retired jerseys hanging from the rafters.
Much has changed since that night over 25 years ago. The blue seats have been replaced by a kinder, gentler teal. The Islanders are still hated, but they boast no player on their roster as detested as Potvin. And the Florida Panthers are now a hot ticket when they come to town. Not so much for their players, but for their TV color analyst.
Denis Potvin.
posted by fredeeky at
8:33 AM
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