Let me first start off this blog by saying, I bleed black and red. The Chicago Blackhawks will always be my team regardless if I'm in Chicago now or in I'm living in Nashville in ten years. There will be no switching teams for me. Will I cheer on the Preds (if the Hawks aren't in town) when I'm down there and hang out? Sure. But don't get it twisted, I'll be in the Bridgestone Arena with a Chicago Blackhawks hat on every single time. The only team I can't stand more than the Nashville Predators are the St. Louis Blues. I'm also a diehard Cubs fan if that helps you understand that last statement.
Having said that, I respect the hell out of Nashville as an organization. They have climbed the ladder of dangerous NHL teams VERY quickly, hell, they were in the Stanley Cup Finals just two years ago and have a solid chance of making a deep playoff run this year! Incredible. But imagine being a team, jumping on to the ice night after night knowing that your jersey says "Sabercats" on it...this isn't a children's television show. This is hockey. You might as well call them the Nashville Sunflowers if we're going in that direction.
If you're one of the newer teams in a sports league and don't have any real team history to back you up, you better have badass team name to help you out. San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, (before they relocated), Las Vegas Golden Knights (bit of a stretch yes BUT, they made history their first year in the NHL by making it to the Stanley Cup Finals), all these teams had to have intimidating names when they were added to the league because they didn't have the history and clout of a Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Red Wings squad. Do you see what I'm saying?
Now, I take this post with a grain of salt because I'm sure it's nothing more than a college project that these kids threw together the Monday morning before the presentation after a weekend of partying and blowing off homework because that's what I what everyone does in college, so I can't blame the kids. But I can blame us as a society for going soft and realizing that the name Nashville Predators is actually offensive to groups of people. This has nothing to do with "How To Catch A Predator" or R Kelly or any of the disgusting things going on in this world. This is hockey. You disagree? You know where to find me. Thank you, next.
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