PREDATORS PASSION RISES TO FEVER PITCH IN NASHVILLE
City goes all in on team’s quest for Stanley Cup
NASHVILLE At famed Jack’s BarB- Que on Broadway, where grub is served cafeteria- style, a worker in the food assembly line is focused on her job until she sees the patron in line rocking a gold Nashville Predators shirt.
“Go Preds,” she says, nodding before pushing across his tray of smoked chicken and potato salad.
Just blocks from Bridgestone Arena, the new tallest building in the city is under construction and workers have a hung a Predators flag at its highest point.
At Fifth Third Bank, a Predators corporate sponsor, “Every branch looks like a high school gym at homecoming now,” Predators CEO and President Sean Henry said. “Blue and gold everywhere. The drive- in windows are all soaped up with real engagements: ‘ Sign up for a checking account and get a team jersey.’ ”
With the Predators in the Western Conference finals for the first time and two wins from the Stanley Cup Final, Predators fever is an epidemic in the city.
“There was a time where it wasn’t a foolish thing to say, ‘ I don’t pay attention to hockey,’ ” said Willy Daunic, the Predators’ television broadcaster and a radio talk show host. “If you put that out there today, you don’t sound like you are with it. You are not ‘ cool’ if you say that.”
Said Predators defenseman Matt Irwin, “You can feel the buzz in the city.”
Ralph Schulz, president of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and a season ticketholder, said Predators fever has been contagious.
“You can see the ‘ Gold’ passion build,” Schulz said. “You can see it on the street with people wearing jerseys all day to work.”
The city plaza wasn’t big enough to hold everyone who wanted to watch Game 3 on an oversized television outside the arena, so a big screen had to go up in the neighboring park to handle overflow.
“There is nothing like the
crowd turning out onto Broadway, the center of country music entertainment, in a roar,” Schulz said. “People are chanting, and the sound is bouncing off the walls of the buildings. It’s a blast, and everyone is caught up in it.”
THE ‘ SEVENTH MAN’
Ten years ago, people were holding rallies to save the franchise, and now the Predators are the hottest ticket in town. On eBay on Thursday, two tickets for Game 4, 15 rows from the plexiglass, were selling for $ 10,000.
“When they started winning, everyone went crazy,” said fan Dan Harrell, a retiree and a Nashville- area resident since 1967.
The Predators’ 10- 3 postseason record is the NHL’s best, an impressive run given the team had the worst record ( 4129- 12) among the Western Conference qualifiers.
Daunic said talk radio only used to offer listeners small doses of the Predators. “You were scared to talk about it too much,” Daunic said. “Now this is what people want to talk about.”
The passionate fans have become part of the story in Nashville. Home teams have a 38- 36 record in the 2017 NHL playoffs, but the Predators were 6- 0 at home entering Thursday’s Game 4.
The Predators refer to their crowd as the “Seventh Man,” and the players constantly talk about the charge they get from their fans.
“It’s hard to put into words what you feel on the ice when the fans get behind you,” Irwin said. “You feel that energy in warm- up, and they carry through the puck to the final buzzer.”
Nashville fans considered their firstround opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks, as their rival, and it was disheartening to them that 3,000 or more Chicago fans could get tickets in the past to attend playoff games in Nashville.
“When the playoffs started this year, there was probably 200 Chicago fans in our building,” Henry said. “Our fans realized: ‘ This is ours.’ I think we realized this is a special market.”
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Who sings the anthem in Music City is a big deal in Nashville. Who performs live on stage outside is another important aspect of the Nashville experience.
“The ownership group has really paid attention to the fans and the experience,” Harrell said. “Win or lose, you had a lot of fun. You are going to see a couple of stars from music and film. ( The Predators) made the game an event, now the hockey success has come on top of that.”
You see sideshows at a Nashville game that you won’t see anywhere else. For example, the Predators haul an old car from the junkyard, have an artist paint it with their playoff rival’s colors and logo and ask fans to hammer it into submission.
On the corner of the arena, you can see the “cubed up” remains of the cars of the Predators’ first two playoff foes, the Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.
You get three swings with a sledgehammer for $ 5, and all the money goes to the team’s charitable foundation.
None of this should be viewed as the Predators not being serious about winning the Stanley Cup.
“Our real show is at center ice,” Henry said. “That’s why people are here. They know this team is special.”