You know what, I just changed my mind. I have a hard time doing anything other than agreeing with the guy whose job is predicated on making blanket statements that often turn out to be completely wrong. Sure, statistically speaking, the Predators' attendance has been right on par with that of the Penguins for well over a decade...
And the atmosphere - inside and outside Bridgestone Arena - in Nashville is absolutely awe-inspiring from a visual standpoint and eardrum bruising from an auditory standpoint...
But being enthusiastic and invested in a way that has never been seen before from a market that's as non-traditional as Tennessee does not make a "Hockey Town" - even if the fanbase in question is only now getting it's just due because of the stage the team is performing on. In fact - considering the pompousness with which some butt-hurt weather guesser withheld his all-too-important stamp of approval - I think I'm at liberty to say that there's only one thing that can truly make a place a "hockey town". That, of course, is bottoming out so badly as a franchise that your attendance drops to dead last in the league prior to lucking into a generational superstar that will finally make fans give enough of a flying fuck to show up. To be clear, we should continue to shun the natural growth in support of a relatively new team in a unconventional city, and praise the fickleness of those that started staying home when their long standing and successful organization fell on hard times. You want to become a true "hockey town"? Draft the next Sidney Crosby, because becoming one of the loudest and most engaged fanbases without having a historical connection to a sport that often fails - in comedic fashion - to market itself isn't taken kindly to by the wet blankets that love nothing more than to smother the fun out of hockey with their overtly pretentious bullshit.
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