Coming Soon to Trusted Retailers of Nashville Predators Goods

I have always been deeply interested in the world of marketing, advertising, and branding. My undergraduate work often focused on those topics while I studied psychology and business marketing. Being a fan of hockey and the NHL I’m always eager to see the promotional campaigns and branding concepts developed both by the league and the individual teams. Recently I found myself browsing shop.nhl.com to do a little bit of pricing and also to what new items might be offered. One could say that I was surprised to see that the NHL introduced two new products for the Spring, a hammer and a tape measure branded with whatever team logo that you could ever want. It wasn’t just that I was surprised; one could say that was laughing my ass off until I fell out of my chair. While I have no doubt the league will sell thousands of those items, it strikes me as being as silly as the Nashville Predators toaster or anything with both a Predators logo and a Stanley Cup on it. 

I decide that I would take the time and see if I could get a sneak preview of some of the products that we can look forward to the NHL and Predators premiering over the summer. Fortunately for you I was able to get my hands on some of the distributors catalogues so that I could bring you a sneak peek of the some of the exciting items coming to shop.nhl.com and the Bridgestone Arena Pro Shop.  And sorry, no official prices as of yet, but I'll update this page if and when I can get my hands on them.

My Hockey Bookmark: An (short) Essay

I've always placed a high value of books.  I try to treat my books well, and when I buy used books I have to verify that the previous owners also treated their books well.  It is just unpleasant to page through a book and find stains or marks from pens or pencils.  The absolutely worse thing that I come across in used books is dog-eared pages.  I am pressed to think of a good reason to dog-ear pages outside of pure convenience.  Personally, I prefer to use bookmarks, but here is a problem: bookmarks get lost.  It is unavoidable that you will lose your bookmark at some point or another.  My solution to this problem is to simply use whatever flat objects that I find lying around my apartment.

In the past I have found myself using index cards with a myriad of notes, directions, lines of poetry, or crude drawings of inebriated ghosts scrawled on one or both sides.  At other times I will find myself preying on a pack of playing cards, actively choosing clubs since no one ever talks about that suit.  Most recently my bookmark of choice has been drawn from smallish stickers that came in the mail accompanying vinyl records or CDs that I had ordered.  Basically, I go after any number of objects that I'm not all that concerned with losing.  Last week I started reading Perdido Street Station by the shockingly talented China Miéville; it is a pretty incredible piece of writing and my first time reading one of Miéville's books.  I decided that I needed to grab a new bookmark in honor of diving into the works of a new author. Which brings us the the start of conflict!

Social Media & Band/Fan Relations

I haven't written a blog in so long that the second I was struck my an idea I had to sit down and pound it out.  It's especially nice to be writing something that focuses on music since this space is meant for more than just me wonderful hockey brethren.

A Sunday ago (the 6th) I went to the Exit/In up in Nashville to see Larry and His Flask and Streetlight "do I even need to post a link to these guys" Manifesto.  I had been waiting to see Streetlight Manifesto live since I first discovered the band back before I even graduated from high school, so this was a nigh religious experience.  To keep it short, the show was incredible, I got to be near Tomas Kalnoky, and Larry and His Flask really got the crowd pumped for the headliners.

Due to the highly energetic environment I was exhausted and drenched in sweat, and so, unsurprisingly, I ended up getting sick sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.  It was just a cold but enough to keep me down pretty well.  Typically I would just be annoyed at getting sick, but I hard learned that the follow Sunday (last night) River City Extension was playing the same venue.  You may recall, but most likely not, that River City Extension was part of my occasional Feature Friday and ranked 5th out of 20 on list of Top 20 Albums from 2010.  I spent Thursday through Saturday resting, drinking a gallon of orange juice and eating spicy foods in hopes of chasing the annoying fatigue, congestion, and headaches (though the headaches may have been from that nasty elbow I took to my head at the Streetlight show) in hopes of making it to the show.

The actual story is after this break.... you know, because I tend to type a lot.

More Like Smashedville, amirite!

It would be an understatement to say that Predators as a whole are feeling pretty frustrated.  This season the Preds have specialized in bursts of stunning play that excites the fan base and sends certain media outlets buzzing about Nashville being a true contender, followed by a series of crushing, soul-sucking defeats that leave Smashville feeling like we had been crushed by a grotesque, soul-sucking demon.  And around all of this hockey related emotional abuse has been a couple of concepts that strike me a tad disturbing.

Jonathan Toews Wants You To Be His Valentine

I dislike greeting card companies.  I think that they are an evil embodied only by the cardboard rectangles that we shuffle around the world like money, germs, or, more likely, money coated in germs.  To this extent I tend to take issue with holidays defined by greeting cards such as Mother's and Father's days and Valentine's day.  Also, Children's day, the hell's up with that?

Anyways, I wanted to acknowledge Valentine's Day in my own way and with the help of Chicago Blackhawk center and captain Jonathan Toews.  Frequenters of this blog will recognize the format, and I admit to being a tad obsessed with it at the moment.

WARNING : All but the last of these use language and ideas that would not be out of place in a prime time network sitcom.  The final one is the same, but only due to language.  This distinction is primarily based off of having watched How I Met Your Mother for the past however many years.

Guest Hosting on Up The Pucks Podcast

For the first time ever, my voice is appearing on the Internet. I volunteered to join some of my fellow hockey and punk bloggers to discuss Buffalo Sabre hockey, music from the Buffalo area, and I summarized the Preds' current trials and tribulations. It was a lot of fun, and everyone should give it a listen. Pete and Brandon put out a fun podcast every week. Thy even managed to make a show with five hosts worth listening to, and that is talent.

I've posted a link to the most recent episode of Up the Puck below, and you can always find a link to the podcast on the right side of the blog. Finally, if I find the time over the weekend I should have a little something to make folks chuckle.
Up The Pucks ep 21

Barry Trotz's Words of Wisdom

As some of you may know, I frequent the Nashville Predator Game Day Threads over at On The Forecheck.  Over this current season the GDT community has exploded and evolved.  One thing that all of us have seized upon are various memes.  Besides my quick picture posting fingers I am known as the creator of this little piece of horror: