Thrashers fans- have you fully converted over to being a Predators fan??
I am a former Thrashers fan in Birmingham. Despite not actually living in Atlanta, I was a DIE-HARD Thrashers fan, and was completely devastated the day the they officially left. I really didn’t think I would ever get over it. All along, I knew I was going to try to become a Predators fan, but I didn’t anticipate it being the same- I figured at best I would become a casual fan and the Predators would just be the team I pulled for only because I didn’t have a team.
That was what I thought was going to happen, but it definitely did not work out that way- I am now a 100% die-hard Predators fan, just the way I was with the Thrashers. It took a little time- I didn’t feel that way at the beginning of the season, but as it wore on, and we attended several games, there is no doubt that we are just as big Predators fans as we were with the Thrashers. So much so that we made the round trip from Birmingham for the first 2 playoff games, and will do the same Friday for Game 5.
If there was any doubt about this, it was put to rest while watching the playoff games- I can judge how much I care by how nervous I get watching my teams, and I am a nervous wreck watching these playoff games.
It’s funny how things work out- while watching the game last night, it hit me that I have never, ever experienced this before- pulling for a team making a playoff run- one that has a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup- as you know, we never even won a single playoff game in a decade in Atlanta, and before that I was just a big hockey fan without a team. And even if the Thrashers had stayed, I don’t think they would have ever had the franchise running as well as the Predators are right now- right now every single facet of the organization is light years ahead of where the Thrashers were, or probably ever would be.
Maybe it’s easier for me because I don’t live in Atlanta- I have to travel to watch my team regardless of it being in Atlanta or Nashville- the only difference to us in Birmingham is an extra hour of driving time. It’s just funny how things work out- if the Thrashers had stayed I would once again be watching the playoffs without a team, and instead I will be at Bridgestone Friday hopefully watching my team clinch a round 1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings.
I ALMOST am not all that sorry anymore that the Thrashers are no more, and as much as I loved the Thrashers I absolutely cannot believe I am saying that.
Well I can't say that I've had the exact same experience. But I think it's because you live in B-ham. I have really tried to get into the Preds this year and I have. It's not nearly the same level of dedication that I had for the Thrashers. I live in Atlanta and attended every game at Phillips but a few, for the last 7 or 8 years. I have a new kid at home and have unfortunately been unable to make it to a Preds game this year. I think that has hurt me in my conversion to a full blown Preds fan. I'm hoping to make it to a playoff game soon. I watched more than half the games this year on TV and I've been glued to each and every playoff game. Most of all of my friends who were big Thrashers fans are now following the Preds. I hope that one day I can say that I feel the same way as you. But for now, it's gonna take a while. With that being said..GO PREDS! I'm loving watching them work their way towards the cup but it's just not the same for me yet as rooting for the Thrashers.
Well I can't say that I've had the exact same experience. But I think it's because you live in B-ham. I have really tried to get into the Preds this year and I have. It's not nearly the same level of dedication that I had for the Thrashers. I live in Atlanta and attended every game at Phillips but a few, for the last 7 or 8 years. I have a new kid at home and have unfortunately been unable to make it to a Preds game this year. I think that has hurt me in my conversion to a full blown Preds fan. I'm hoping to make it to a playoff game soon. I watched more than half the games this year on TV and I've been glued to each and every playoff game. Most of all of my friends who were big Thrashers fans are now following the Preds. I hope that one day I can say that I feel the same way as you. But for now, it's gonna take a while. With that being said..GO PREDS! I'm loving watching them work their way towards the cup but it's just not the same for me yet as rooting for the Thrashers.
I've sadly never even been to Tennessee or the South (well ok Florida but that was Orlando...) but that doesn't hold me back.
Nice thread, would love to see how everyone feels.
I have a new kid at home and have unfortunately been unable to make it to a Preds game this year. I think that has hurt me in my conversion to a full blown Preds fan .
I can tell you that going to games will definitely help the conversion- it was after going to some games that I really started to feel the emotional attachment
I can tell you that going to games will definitely help the conversion- it was after going to some games that I really started to feel the emotional attachment
I'm sure you are right. I did have fun wearing a Preds shirt I bought off the internet over to my friends house (huge wings fan) to watch the game on Sunday. He didn't think it was as funny as I did.
I think it would certainly have been a much easier transition if I lived in Birmingham. I'm like Magnum in that I spent 11 years going to 30 or more games a year. That investment is hard to replace....
Regardless, The Preds are my team now, I ended up making it to 6 regular season games, plus game one vs the Wings. Will be back for game 5 Friday and as often as the kids schedules allow till Weber lifts the Cup. I've watched (or listened to) every minute of the Wings Series, jumping out of my chair or being pissed off at the appropriate moments, I listen to Nashville sports talk on my a.m. drive just to hear Preds talk....... It's been great but it would be infinitely better had I followed the Preds from day one and attended most of their home games. I'm envious of all you who have done that!
Here's what I typed in a February thread (still applies to some degree):
I like the team, the players, the uniforms, the experience at games. I listen to the podcasts, read all I can, I'm learning the prospects names, I'm trying to piece together the history especially Poile's and Trotz's styles and m.o. 's. I like Pete Weber and Crispy, I like Tom Callahan (although he's no Dan Kamal )I love that they're winning.
I've made it to 3 games now, will be back on Feb 23 and probably one more regualr season game. Bought a hat, a sweatshirt, a tee shirt, got a license plate for Christmas. I've watched all but maybe 3 or 4 games on television, I listen to the games on the radio (Iphone app) when I can't watch..................
I like them, I mean really like them - alot - BUT I don't "love" them (yet) like I did the Thrashers.
For me, it's difficult to invest in the team when I can't come to the majority of games and quite a few practices, rookie camps, training camps, etc and actualy see the "boys" up close and feed off their energy, intensity, and desire in person. I 'm postiive that's it....I click over to the Jets games on occasion and find that I really couldn't care less about almost all the former Thrashers players. It's the whole process of "living" the season with the team that endears me personally. I'm trying to figure out how to capture that with the Preds..... It's all in place in my head, now just need it to move to my heart like the Thrashers did................... Maybe a good playoff run will help that process?
Sappy I know! But kinda theraputic.......still miss having a team here in the ATL!
Couldn't agree more with Tonyin318! That is the same way I feel. Some of my friends are so turned off on the NHL that they have stopped watching hockey all together. I like the sport too much to do that but it's gonna take a little more time.
I like the Preds and have certainly tried to keep up with them through the season and was fortunate enough to make it up for a game but I actually became a bigger fan of the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators.
I like the Preds and have certainly tried to keep up with them through the season and was fortunate enough to make it up for a game but I actually became a bigger fan of the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators.
That brings back memories from ~2004. Idaho Steelheads met Gwinnett in the playoffs. Haven't really followed ECHL since I got to Taiwan.
Last May was rough. Really rough, I didn't really want anything to do with hockey until I attended my first Preds game in January vs the Flyers.
The game against the Jets was the final part of my conversion. I love the Preds now as much as I loved the Thrashers. This playoff run has helped alot, its been a blast.
I grew up watching the Eastern conference. That was the hardest part about making the switch to Preds. I hardly ever watched the Western Conference so all the teams and players I knew were different.
I grew up watching the Eastern conference. That was the hardest part about making the switch to Preds. I hardly ever watched the Western Conference so all the teams and players I knew were different.
Last May was rough. Really rough, I didn't really want anything to do with hockey......
The game against the Jets was the final part of my conversion. I love the Preds now as much as I loved the Thrashers. This playoff run has helped alot, its been a blast.
It's amazing what good ownership can do. I truly think Atlanta has some good fans however, te city is notorious for only supporting winning teams and the city has seemed to be bored with the Braves(and I'm a die hard braves fan).
We Predators, are lucky to have had a local ownership group step up to the plate otherwise this team would be known as the Hamilton Predators...so Jim Balsillie can suck it and burn in hell along with Craig Leopold
While I really and truly appreciate everything the Predators fans and organ-I-zation have done to reach out to Thrashers fans and will be eternally grateful, I don't know that I can ever be fully, 100 percent converted.
Don't get me wrong, there is no other team I'd rather see win the Stanley Cup than the Preds. But it just wouldn't be the same as if it were an Atlanta team that won it. To paraphrase what someone famous once said, "I'm Atlanta born and Atlanta bred. And when I die, I'll be Atlanta dead."
I hope you folks understand. While it's easy for me to cheer for the Preds, it's something different to have a total emotional investment for a team from a city about 4 hours away that I've only visited a handful of times. I can understand where my fellow Thrashers refugees who have converted their allegiance are coming from, especially those who were able to go to a game or more in Nashvegas this year. But to me that's the point. It's a different city in a different state from where my roots are.
To me, the Predators will always be the salve that helped ease the pain of being stabbed in the back repeatedly by A$G and the NHL. But unless Atlanta ever gets another team (and I'm not holding my breath), the wounds will never fully heal.
Maybe I'm being too bitter, but that's how I feel.
While I can't say I understand GreenHornet (because I have never, personally, lost a hometown professional team), I do "get" how you could feel that way.
But at the same token, we don't have a MLB team here. And to be honest, it is VERY easy to be a HUGE fan of the Atlanta Braves. While I don't live in Atlanta and with as many trips as I take down there to watch the Braves play, I almost call Atlanta my second home. I hope eventually this can be the same for you. Just because the team isn't in your hometown, doesn't mean the Preds aren't your "hometown team". I, one day, hope the Preds can represent the Southeast as much as the Braves do/have done.
So while I get what you are saying, I really do hope that the transition slowly grows on you so that you can become as emotionally/spiritually/mentally invested with the Preds as you were with the Thrashers. I know I can't 100% compare the Braves to Nashvillians with the Preds to Atlantians because Nashville has never lost a MLB team (which means there was never any open wounds towards MLB for Nashvillians). But I do think the Preds can be more than "Nashville's team". I think they can be Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Georgia's team too.
While I can't say I understand GreenHornet (because I have never, personally, lost a hometown professional team), I do "get" how you could feel that way.
But at the same token, we don't have a MLB team here. And to be honest, it is VERY easy to be a HUGE fan of the Atlanta Braves.
I guess that's the key here. It would be one thing if we never had an NHL team. It would also something different had we not lost just one team, but two, and under the circumstances we lost them (especially the second one). It will probably be different for the younger generation down here who never saw the Flames and will only have brief, fleeting memories of the Thrashers.
Again, I'm really happy that the Preds won tonight and will be moving on, and I hope to see them hoisting the cup about a month and a half from now.
But I just can't feel the same way I'd feel had it been the Thrashers eliminating, say, the Flyers (whom I despise more than any team in pro sports, BTW).
I hope I don't seem ungrateful, because believe me, I can't imagine what this last year would've been like without you folks in Nashville and the Preds being so great to us orphan birds.
But it's just different.
Maybe that will change one day. Who knows? But for right now, it's just not the same.
I've always been a fan. But when the ticket rep reached out to me after reading what I posted on the Thrashers Bored last year, that sealed the deal. Those 3 Saturday night games didn't hurt either.
Regardless, there's a lot to like about the Preds. I expect this series opened a lot of eyes.
I can attest to what some are saying, I am a huge Atlanta braves fan and I feel like Atlanta would be my second home. I've never liked another team, maybe it's due to Nashville never having an MLB team but it's easy to live and die with a team not in you're fair city. Now if Nashville were to ever get an MLB team, which if TB doesn't build the rays a new ball park, I expect Nashville to push for them but I just don't see Nashville being a player or another pro franchise for at least 10-15 yrs, itll be tough for me to lose my braves fandom, I would simply be a fan of both. My childhood is splattered with images of Fred mcgriff, chipper jones, Sid bream, andres galaragga beatif cancer, Andruw jones, David justice, glavine, maddox, smoltz, Avery....and many more....so it is easy to be a fan of a team not in your city.
I, one day, hope the Preds can represent the Southeast as much as the Braves do/have done.
So while I get what you are saying, I really do hope that the transition slowly grows on you so that you can become as emotionally/spiritually/mentally invested with the Preds as you were with the Thrashers.
Hard to say if the Preds can claim the southeast like the Braves apparently have.
I can only speak from the experience of a southerner whose only Hockey teams have been Knoxville Cherokees (a few games 2 yrs ) and Atlanta Thrashers (most games since 99). I didn't grow up playing, but quickly grew to Love the game through the Thrashers. I'm guessing that any "new" ATL area southern fan that didn't already gravitate to the Thrashers would not gravitate to the Preds despite their relative success since Hockey isn't a traditional Southern Sport. Transplants maybe a different story, but seems any transplanted Hockey fan who became a Thrasher fan would simply return to their original team....
Regardless, I just got back from last nights game and I'm still tingling a little fromt he adrenaline rush......
Loved the game, congrats Preds Nation, congrats Preds, and I'll be back for Round 2!
I'd say it'll take a good 5 years for my Thrashers wounds to completely heal......We'll see how many years can be knocked off of that estimate with a deep playoff run. Last night took off a few months.
I can attest to what some are saying, I am a huge Atlanta braves fan and I feel like Atlanta would be my second home. I've never liked another team, maybe it's due to Nashville never having an MLB team but it's easy to live and die with a team not in you're fair city. Now if Nashville were to ever get an MLB team, which if TB doesn't build the rays a new ball park, I expect Nashville to push for them but I just don't see Nashville being a player or another pro franchise for at least 10-15 yrs, itll be tough for me to lose my braves fandom, I would simply be a fan of both. My childhood is splattered with images of Fred mcgriff, chipper jones, Sid bream, andres galaragga beatif cancer, Andruw jones, David justice, glavine, maddox, smoltz, Avery....and many more....so it is easy to be a fan of a team not in your city.
Now Imagine all those Braves players played those years for a new franchise in Nashville. Since day one you drove an hour to see them in person 2 or 3 times a week, went to their practices and all the team meet and greets, you grew up with them (or your kids did) you know their entire history front and back because you actually lived it. Then suddenly they move 26 hours away - new city and new name. Next closest team is Atlanta - 4 hour drive, brand new team, players, history, established fan base etc,etc...
