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Tuesday, December 1, 1998
Country crowd tuned into Predators
Take a stroll here any night of the week, pop into Tootsies or Legends and you're likely to catch rising stars on their way to the Grand Ol' Opry.
The players on stage receive only tips as payment. They want to be seen and heard to catch their big break. But the group attracting the most attention is the one pounding out the hits at the Nashville Arena.
And so far, on the street where dreams of becoming a big star are born and dashed every day, the newest act in the Music City -- the Predators -- is hitting high notes on the ice and in the stands.
"A year ago I could have walked down the street naked and nobody would have even noticed," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz yesterday. "Now, some of our players get recognized on the street and the fans are really excited."
They'll accept any reason to party in the south. Part of that is the tailgate-football mentality. During games, a band plays during stoppages and the intermission.
Canadian hockey fans may find it hard to accept the game we claim to own has arrived in a city that has absolutely no roots whatsoever.
"I went to my first hockey game the other night," said Rob McKinnon, a computer worker born in Nashville. "To me it was kind of like a bunch of redneck football fans watching hockey. It's an exciting game."
The fans are still learning the basics of hockey here. The words icing, obstruction, neutral zone trap and power play might as well be a foreign language. That's why they're explained on the scoreboard most nights.
If that's not enough, broadcasters Pete Webber and Terry Crisp hold regular seminars -- called Hockey 101 -- before some home games in the bowels of the Nashville Arena to answer queries on the finer points of the game.
"You really can't beat a city like Nashville," said Predators captain Tom Fitzgerald, who went through the expansion experience with Florida. "This is a lot like what we went through in Miami.
"They do a really good job educating the fans here and they're learning. I could see it being humorous to people coming from places like Ottawa.
"We were losing 6-1 to the New York Islanders last week and in most cities there'd be a race to get out of the parking lot before traffic hits. Here, they stayed right until the end and cheered us all the way."
There were serious concerns when the NHL decided to come here. Many observers looked at what happened in Greensboro and wondered if a city of only 1.2 million could and would support an expansion team.
Nashville is trying to turn people onto hockey and the club is doing a good job. There's so much to do here other than country music. The NFL's Tennessee Oilers, Vanderbilt University and NASCAR steal the spotlight.
It has helped that the Predators have played respectable hockey and stand only three games below .500 going into tonight's game against the Senators. Winning and losing may not make much of a difference but success helps.
"We're having a lot of fun," said former Senator Denny Lambert. "What the fans don't know, they're willing to learn."
It has helped the Predators that they've been embraced by the country music community. Barbara Mandrell is a regular at games and hosted a party for the team at her 30,000 square-foot log home in the country side.
Country star Tim McGraw has rewritten one of his hits. I Like It, I Love It as an anthem for the club. The new lyrics are "Don't know what it is about the Predators scoring but I like it, I love it and I want some more of it."
Vince Gill sat behind the penalty box a week ago with Calgary in town. With Theo Fleury in the penalty box, Gill banged on the glass and gave the Flames star the choke sign.
Deana Carter dropped by to say hello. Singer Mindy McCready ditched boyfriend Dean "Superman" Cain and started dating Nashville's Drake Berehowsky. McCready, not hard to look at, has been a regular at team functions.
"We've got to develop some roots here," said GM David Poile. "We need some of our players to spend the whole year here, get married here and have their first baby born here. That will be a big story here."
Does that mean Poile hopes the relationship between Berehowsky and McCready blossoms? "I'm not going to touch that one," said Poile, with a smile.
Lately, a lot of people have reached out to touch the Predators and they're loving it.
