We’ve got our kitsch…the Fang Fingers, the goal chant, the taunts from Cellblock 303…yeah I guess people could say that fans in Nashville have a rather large cheese factor to them when it comes to cheering on our team. Put all that aside and you’ll find one of the most amazing fan bases in all of the NHL. We’re not one of the Original Six and frankly, I think I like it that way. We’re the newbies of the league, still trying to prove to so many that we can and will do what we need to do to say “Nashville knows its hockey.” Yet we have one of the largest individual, non-corporate season ticket holder fan bases, so I have to keep wondering…when will they [read: everyone else in the hockey world] learn?
Every season there is talk about how great the fans are in Nashville when the arena is full. But talk is talk and no one can really understand what the atmosphere of a game at the Sommet Center is like until they’ve experienced it for themselves. Eklund and Julie Robenhymer from HockeyBuzz have their own accounts of watching a game in Nashville posted here and here. They do a great job of describing what it's like and I'm pretty sure they'll be welcome back with open arms any time.
So by now, you might have heard about our “TV timeout” moment from the April 3rd game against St. Louis. Never before and possibly never again will I be lucky enough to experience what can only be described as a truly magical moment in Predators history. So here’s the scene: We’re battling for 8th in the West with Vancouver on our heels. We know how badly we need to win this game to stay alive. We manage to get a one goal lead 4 minutes into the third period and then it’s all a game of “secure our lead or we’re in serious danger of losing it”. We, as fans, were pumped and wanted to make sure the team knew it too. With about four and a half minutes left to go in regulation, we started cheering and waving our free t-shirts in the air. Now this kind of thing has happened before but normally it’s prompted by the in-game announcer saying “blah blah blah thank you so-and-so sponsor for the free t-shirts that were given away tonight…now let’s see those shirts!” BUT this time, there was no prompting at all. Just genuine and completely authentic cheering, yelling, screaming and applause. About 30 seconds into this outburst, I look at Becky, standing to my left and shake my head as if to say “I can’t believe we’re still going”. We both try to say something but neither of us can hear a thing because the noise is deafening. So instead, we laugh to ourselves, shrug our shoulders and woo hoo our hearts out for the next four minutes or so.
If you still don’t believe that this kind of spontaneous outpouring of support could come from hillbillies and country folks down in Nashville (thanks for that, Chelios!) then I give you Exhibit A:
Call me a softie, but I still tear up and get the chills when I watch this. And this was only about half of the length of what the Predators organization refers to as the “fan standing ovation”. Seriously amazing. Being a Nashville fan makes me feel as though we are all one big happy family and I could not think of 17,112 other people I would chose to spend time cheering on my team with.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
We're all in this together
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Isn't it Amazing?
What I think is amazing is this: the Buffalo Sabres have to have the best fans out there. I'm sorry, but it's true! As you recall, there was a "unfair" hit against Chris Drury from Chris Neil. Many did not believe it was dirty, but the way Neil acted last night I think made it significant that he had the intention of hurt Chris Drury. He instigated (Is that a word? Maybe he was the 'instigator.') many fights last night, but only one was started between himself and Adam Mair (along with an anticipated fight between Andrew Peters and Brian McGratton). He also barged in after McGratton got in Danny Briere's face during the game warm-up, Adam Mair also showed up to make sure nothing happened.
ANYWAYS... Lindy Ruff was fined $10,000 because he put the Peters, Mair, Kaleta line up verses the Spezza line on Thursday. Now, every player agrees, he did not tell them to do anything, only to get on the ice. Now, that right there made Buffalo mad, so some people decided to make a statement and help out. For instance, Pesci's Pizza, a Buffalo pizzeria, decided to donate 10% of their proceeds to Lindy Ruff to pay his fine. Also, in some towns farther to the south, a school is suggesting students who are Sabres fans donate a dollar, also for Ruff's charge. As a result, the Sabres organization released this statement-
STATEMENT FROM THE BUFFALO SABRES ON FANS WANTING TO DONATE MONEY TO THE BUFFALO SABRES TO HELP PAY FOR LINDY RUFF'S $10,000 FINE:
"The Buffalo Sabres organization is aware of some fans wanting to donate money to help pay for the fine that was levied on Lindy Ruff by the NHL on Saturday. It certainly is a wonderful gesture by our fans to want to assist Lindy through various fundraisers, but the team will pay the fine. We do not want fans to donate any money to Lindy or the organization as a result of the fine."
Although, many people were expecting this, so Chris Phillips, co-owner of Pesci's Pizza specified "If Lindy wants to donate it to a charity of his choice or the Sabres Foundation, that would be fine with us." I mean, how many cities would do that for their team. It reminds me of last year in March, when the fans were very supporting of the Ruff family because his daughter, Madeleine, was discovered to have a brain tumor.
By the way, I change my answer to number 5 on the questionnaire.
5. If you had to punch one hockey player or member of the NHL Organization, who and why?
Chris Neil, because I hate him for what he got away with.
