Even If You Hate Hockey, You Should Be Rooting For The Nashville Predators Right Now
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are in full swing, and they remind me of a conversation I had with a Canadian on a ski lift in Canada a few months ago. He turned to me, an American, and told me two things: one, all of Canada collectively blames (or congratulates) the entire U.S. population for Trump, and two, that all professional hockey teams south of Philadelphia are a crime against humanity. As much as I hate to go against the wise words of my Canadian cable lift elder (just kidding), I’m spending these playoffs rooting for the Nashville Predators — and you should be too.
Nashville started the improbable post-season run by sweeping the perennial favorite and tryhard Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round, so that should automatically make you love them. In addition, every national anthem at Predators home games this postseason has been sung live by famous country recording artists. If those facts didn’t turn you into a Preds fan instantaneously, consider this: who else are you going to root for?
The Rangers? That’s cool, if you like your team’s star player being 5’7″.
The Washington Capitals? They’re all but eliminated. Plus, we all know Alex Ovechkin’s a secret communist.
The Anaheim Ducks are still in it, but any team that owes their existence to a Disney movie does not deserve to exist in the first place.
Pittsburgh? What are you, a bandwagon bitch?
A Canadian team? Obviously not. That only leaves the Preds.
The Predators possess two human weapons of mass destruction in their arsenal. First, there’s Carrie Underwood, wife of Predator’s captain Mike Fisher. Carrie’s mere presence all but precedes postseason success for our dudes in Nashville. Second, there’s defenseman P.K. Subban. Not only is the latter an amazingly talented hockey player and incredibly charitable guy, Subban is also a guy who seems like you’d have such a great time drinking with that you’d both wake up the next morning remembering nothing and finding out you stole a Maserati and accidentally kidnapped Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
If you needed any other reason to root for Smashville at this point, think of the postgame celebration. Instead of taking the greatest trophy in sports to some frozen, all-but-deserted Canadian city for a celebration, the cup would go down Broadway in Nashville, stopping for a drink in every honky-tonk along the way in a scene that sounds like something out of a Canadian country song I’m slightly upset doesn’t exist.
If the Preds end the season without the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, we should all be disappointed. It’s a feel-good Cinderella story that drunken hockey fans like me typically can only dream of. God bless the sport of hockey, and god bless the Nashville Predators (but mostly Carrie Underwood)..
Image via YouTube
I bet dorns rooting for the predators
8 years ago at 1:35 pmAs a native to Nashville and a Preds fan since I was a kid, I want Nashville to bring home the cup so we can finally prove to everyone that we are a hockey town despite getting snow twice a year and also so I can get obliterated and sing with drunk PK Subban after the game.
8 years ago at 2:41 pmWho the hell hates hockey?
8 years ago at 6:05 pmAnd if you hate hockey, you’re a pussy
8 years ago at 7:19 pmFucking Ryan Ellis. Fuck.
8 years ago at 9:01 pmSo you like his slide into the boards Friday night. UR A Pysch Fuck.
8 years ago at 5:38 amit’s hard to cheer against a team whose captain is married to Carrie Underwood, and whose star defenceman is donating $10 million to a children’s hospital in the city that traded him.
8 years ago at 9:34 pmYou know as soon as his contract is up PK is going right back to Montreal.
8 years ago at 10:16 pmfuck the predators
8 years ago at 12:56 pmThe reason Nashville is becoming popular is the personality on that team is remarkable. For a Southern hockey team, they are chocked full of talent & personality. From the smart lil bro named Ryan Ellis to the Swedish mafia, they outclass even the Dallas Stars. Plus America can relate well with the country music side & Carrie Underwood, whose fantastic when ever she sings the anthems. Nashville also is a larger market than most realize, after Atlanta lost their team, most of Alabama is within the market range.
8 years ago at 2:16 pmSee. Total Domination. Nashville has it goin’ on. The game couldn’t have gone either way. The Preds were outshooting the Ducks 2 to 1 well into the middle of the game. Only twice all season have I seen Mike Fisher solemnly speak of regrets they lost a game where they outplayed their opponent.
8 years ago at 5:34 am