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| Protestors rally against Russian occupation of Ukraine outside the Cherry Bomb Cafe. |
By Ariel Mutha-Tafoya
FSN Sports
Enraged over Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine, thousands of angry demonstrators converged yesterday on the 12th Avenue Bakers’ unofficial headquarters at the Cherry Bomb Café, demanding imprisonment — and worse — for the team’s beleaguered owner, QCurl Sharif, and his Russian partners.
The crowd, estimated by police at 5,000, blocked Avenue Q near the venerable café and spilled over into nearby Sevier Park, where hundreds camped overnight before resuming the protests on Tuesday.
“Russia out of Ukraine and 12South” read one banner carried by protesters on the street. “Sharif Is Putin’s Mr. TD,” read another, which bore an image of the owner’s face superimposed over the body of the Bakers’ beloved former mascot, a chain-smoking chimpanzee.
The ownership stake in the team by Russian oligarchs, which has been a source of a simmering controversy for the past year, appears now to have boiled over with Russia’s use of military force against its Eastern European neighbor. While Russian president Vladimir Putin has not been identified as one of the investors in the Bakers’ franchise — details of the partnership have never been released — it is widely believed that Putin controls the investor group.
Team sources also say that Putin has received a VIP invitation to this year’s Bacchanal to the Future. Moreover, Sharif has allegedly lobbied festival organizers to name the Russian strongman as co-Grand Marshal for the event — an apparent quid pro quo for Sharif being allowed to carry the Olympic torch along a half-mile portion of its route through the streets of Sochi on its way to the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games.
Cardinal Giorgio Leonardo, who serves as papal nuncio to 12 South from an office next to the Cherry Bomb, appealed to the crowd for calm. He was joined by former Bakers’ coach Snoop Lion, who briefly addressed the protesters via loudspeaker.
“We don’t need another Orange Revolution,” Lion said, a reference to the popular movement in Ukraine that toppled former president Viktor Yanukovych. “What we need is a Green Revolution! Y’all feel me? We got some of that caviar that don’t grow in Russia! Meet me over by the Satan Tree, and we will smoke the pipe of peace.”
Some protesters did migrate over to the Sevier Park landmark, where community activist Roz Tefarian was handing out what she described as “goodie bags” filled with packets of a product labeled “Herbal Tease” and copies of Lion’s recently published manifesto, “Blunt Speaking.” But the majority of demonstrators remained in front of the Cherry Bomb, where their numbers grew throughout the day.
Some of the demonstrators were members of Nashville’s large Ukrainian community. There were persistent rumors, however, that many of the demonstrators had been paid for their presence by rival owner Mojo D. “He’s a hater,” said Bakers superfan Bill Cheatham of the Corsairs owner, whose team has frequently been involved in turf wars with the Bakers. “I saw people in Corsair T-shirts giving walking-around money today to people standing in line at Pancake Pantry. It’s all a ploy.”
Cheatham’s accusation could not be verified as of press time.
Meanwhile, the protests were not the only problem for the besieged 12th Avenue franchise. Both of Tennessee’s U.S. senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, called for the U.S. government to freeze the assets of the Bakers and their Russian investors. They also demanded that the NFFA strip ownership of the team from Sharif. “It’s time to sever the Russkie Connection,” said Corker. Alexander, meanwhile, is well known in Nashville as a fan of the Village Green.
The Bakers’ primary owner could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether he was at his penthouse apartment at the Cherry Bomb.
In response to the senators’ demands and urgent calls for an owners’ meeting, NFFA Commissioner Lorena “MeeMaw” Murrman issued no public response. A league official said Murrman was in Alamo, Texas, preparing for the grand opening of the new NFFA Hall of Fame building and that “she is studying the situation closely.”
FSN will have more details on this story as they emerge.
The crowd, estimated by police at 5,000, blocked Avenue Q near the venerable café and spilled over into nearby Sevier Park, where hundreds camped overnight before resuming the protests on Tuesday.
“Russia out of Ukraine and 12South” read one banner carried by protesters on the street. “Sharif Is Putin’s Mr. TD,” read another, which bore an image of the owner’s face superimposed over the body of the Bakers’ beloved former mascot, a chain-smoking chimpanzee.
The ownership stake in the team by Russian oligarchs, which has been a source of a simmering controversy for the past year, appears now to have boiled over with Russia’s use of military force against its Eastern European neighbor. While Russian president Vladimir Putin has not been identified as one of the investors in the Bakers’ franchise — details of the partnership have never been released — it is widely believed that Putin controls the investor group.
Team sources also say that Putin has received a VIP invitation to this year’s Bacchanal to the Future. Moreover, Sharif has allegedly lobbied festival organizers to name the Russian strongman as co-Grand Marshal for the event — an apparent quid pro quo for Sharif being allowed to carry the Olympic torch along a half-mile portion of its route through the streets of Sochi on its way to the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games.
Cardinal Giorgio Leonardo, who serves as papal nuncio to 12 South from an office next to the Cherry Bomb, appealed to the crowd for calm. He was joined by former Bakers’ coach Snoop Lion, who briefly addressed the protesters via loudspeaker.
“We don’t need another Orange Revolution,” Lion said, a reference to the popular movement in Ukraine that toppled former president Viktor Yanukovych. “What we need is a Green Revolution! Y’all feel me? We got some of that caviar that don’t grow in Russia! Meet me over by the Satan Tree, and we will smoke the pipe of peace.”
Some protesters did migrate over to the Sevier Park landmark, where community activist Roz Tefarian was handing out what she described as “goodie bags” filled with packets of a product labeled “Herbal Tease” and copies of Lion’s recently published manifesto, “Blunt Speaking.” But the majority of demonstrators remained in front of the Cherry Bomb, where their numbers grew throughout the day.
Some of the demonstrators were members of Nashville’s large Ukrainian community. There were persistent rumors, however, that many of the demonstrators had been paid for their presence by rival owner Mojo D. “He’s a hater,” said Bakers superfan Bill Cheatham of the Corsairs owner, whose team has frequently been involved in turf wars with the Bakers. “I saw people in Corsair T-shirts giving walking-around money today to people standing in line at Pancake Pantry. It’s all a ploy.”
Cheatham’s accusation could not be verified as of press time.
Meanwhile, the protests were not the only problem for the besieged 12th Avenue franchise. Both of Tennessee’s U.S. senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, called for the U.S. government to freeze the assets of the Bakers and their Russian investors. They also demanded that the NFFA strip ownership of the team from Sharif. “It’s time to sever the Russkie Connection,” said Corker. Alexander, meanwhile, is well known in Nashville as a fan of the Village Green.
The Bakers’ primary owner could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether he was at his penthouse apartment at the Cherry Bomb.
In response to the senators’ demands and urgent calls for an owners’ meeting, NFFA Commissioner Lorena “MeeMaw” Murrman issued no public response. A league official said Murrman was in Alamo, Texas, preparing for the grand opening of the new NFFA Hall of Fame building and that “she is studying the situation closely.”
FSN will have more details on this story as they emerge.
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