Sometimes You Just Have to Be A Fan...

It's not like I sit around jaded and sick of covering hockey. Far from it.  However, there are days when I find myself doing the equivalent in my field of not being able to see the forest for the trees.  Its easy to get too caught up in the politics and trying to be the best when its such an apples and oranges (and kiwi fruit and melons and...) undertaking in the first place.

So I did my duty and when I got off from my very early am job, I went to Centennial with a story in mind. When I got there, I saw Jim Diamond* and no other media. The usual milling around that happens in the press pit just wasn't happening.  This wasn't a huge concern until I got to the stands and saw they were pretty sparsely populated.  Braving the possibiltiy of being told no, I started to wade in and ask people a few questions.  There were a few younger men and women but there were also more older men standing around than usual.  Keep in mind as you read this that I'll ask people for their names but often depend on my digital recorder to catch them because I sometimes can't hear lower voices when there is a lot of ambient noise.  I haven't heard the recordings yet, so there's no telling who's dad I talked to except one very nice gentleman who demurred being interviewed about DET but didn't mind chatting about Detroit.  He was from Sweden and observed that there were many good hockey players from Sweden playing for the Red Wings.

Okay, this was when my fangirl self kicked in because yeah, there have been and are some great players frome Sweden in Detroit.  Heck, my dog is named Niklas Lidstrom**.   However, this was Nashville, and it was my town and my team and...and...

"That's very true," I said, "but some of Sweden's best play for Nashville."  I borought up Patric Hornqvist and started to bring up Anders Lindback and then blanked as to whether he was from Sweden.  Crappity. The man next to him (I'm sorry sir.  I'll know who's Dad you are when I sit down to transcribe the interviews.)  prompted me to say Lindback.  Being relieved that I was sure of The Moppet's provenance and a goalie geek en extremis, I got all gushy about Lindback.   Then I remembered to ask  the gentleman for his name. Yep. He was Lindback's dad.

I had forgotten that this was Dad's trip week in NSH.  When stuff like this happens, I try not to do any locker room interviews***.  The guys need that time with their parents.  I can always talk to them later on.  So I decided to talk to more fans instead and ened up at the other end of the bleachers with some female fans who were roughly my age. We ended up doing something I hadn't done in a very long time. We just started chattering about hockey and how much we love this city and the team and how we're blessed with some of the nicest players in the league and how great they did in Philadelphia last night and I stuck my recorder in my pocket and was just a fan for a little while.  We even squeeeed a little bit over Sullivan and Tootoo.  (Not really in the puck bunny sense, more like "They're back!  Yay!")  I even met "BlackBarbie". 

For those of you who have never visited the Predators message board, "BlackBarbie"^ is the person who loves the Predators, especially Jordin Tootoo better than anyone else. When people get too snappy and critical about them, I know I can go to the message board and be encouraged by Barbie's unconditional adoration of all things Predator.  In person she is exactly the way she is on the message board.  She's a blast to be next to when they're on the ice and I can imagine the people who sit with her at actual games feel the same way. 

I hope it's not the case, but the chatterchatter might have gotten on 22, 26 and 39's nerves, because they eventually moved to the other end of theice and I knew I needed to call it an afternoon and go write.   Here's the thing: the bottom line is that I wouldn't trade what I do for anything.  I love being one of the people who is lucky enough to give the Predators, and Predsnation in general, a voice.  This is a dream come true and I hope to be able to continue to improve and provide even better representation.  However, for a half an hour, I went back to being a fan.  While its no longer where I live, its a great place to visit and it reminds me that Nashville is a great town because of who is on both sides of the glass.


*If you haven't already, check out his sportswriting on examiner.com/nashville.  He's one of the sharper sports writers around here.

**The different spelling of the first name is deliberate.

***I still feel guilty for going into the locker room on Canada Day when they probably had family waiting for them to get away from the rink.

^  Yes she does look like my my fifth grade friend Angela's African American Barbie Doll.