'Sens Sicko' fans embrace U.S. man's new parody anthem
James Mellish couldn't believe his ears when the parody song he recorded for the nascent "Sens Sicko" fan movement was played last Thursday at an Ottawa Senators home game.
The Sens fan's anthem, a parody of the Ying Yang Twins's song Say I Yi Yi, was quietly making the rounds on Twitter until it was picked up by an in-house DJ at the Feb. 25 game, which saw Ottawa beat the Calgary Flames 6-1.
"I just could never have fathomed, especially being an outsider from St. Louis, being able to get in touch with the fan base on this level," Mellish told CBC's All In A Day Thursday.
The Missouri native became a Senators fan back in 2004 when he and a friend rented an NHL video game for a sleepover.
He's now part of the Sens Sicko fan movement, which has grown out of the passionate posts from Sens fans on Twitter, and can be traced back to memes created a year ago, according to an article in The Athletic.
Sens Sicko movement an online phenomenon
Mellish told All In A Day that being a Sens Sicko involves having low expectations of a rebuilding franchise like the Senators.
In the past several weeks, fans like him have revelled in the firing of Montreal head coach Claude Julien following a loss to the Sens, the relatively dominant performance of forward Tim Stützle compared to other highly ranked draft picks, as well as a come-from-behind victory over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
It was that particular game that inspired Mellish's anthem.
"Anytime we're beating the Leafs or the Habs, that's obviously a huge win because those fan bases in general have had more to lord over us ... in the past couple of years," he said.
"Being able to beat them while we supposedly suck is an easy way to negate anything they're trying to brag about."
For Mellish, who began writing Sens parody tunes after the team chose Stützle third overall in the NHL entry draft, the movement grew organically, proving the old adage that misery loves company.
He said he'll continue to record parodies for his fellow Sens Sicko fans.
