POTG Podcast with Pred's Beat Writer Josh Cooper and Tuesday Tidbits

Last night's POTG Radio show was an interesting journey through the many experiences that Josh Cooper has had leading up to his new job as the Predator's beat writer at the Tennessean.

Josh is a hockey guy that is looking forward to writing about hockey. He grew up in New York City and attended many games with his father who had season tickets for the Rangers games. He also played hockey as a defenseman up until he retired from the Vanderbilt club team to take a job as sports editor of The Hustler at Vandy.

During the show we found out about the huge variety of experiences Josh has had leading up to his newest gig. He was a beat writer covering the University of Alabama for two years, has worked at three different Olympics, worked for Baseball America, and actually interned with the Predators while in college.

At age 27, he is probably one of the youngest beat writers for a major daily in the league and I consider that a good thing. He has grown up with the internet and is not afraid to use it.

Please give the show a listen and I'm sure that you will be impressed with Josh and will look forward to seeing how he handles the Pred's beat as the season gets rolling. You can click on the player below or download the show at iTunes.

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Programming Notes...

We would like to thank James "Tapeleg" of The Rink Podcast who did new voice overs for our intro and outro that debuted on last night's show. If you have a podcast and like what you heard go here to find out how to get them for your show too. Believe it or not he does a professional job at no cost to you.

I will co-host tonight on Ryan Porth's Red Light District Radio with special guests Jeff Marek from Hockey Night in Canada and Agent Scott Norton from Norton Sports. It should be a good show so tune in at 7 p.m. Central.

In Pred Nation...

Josh Cooper, our guest last night on POTG Radio, has the latest on Blake Geoffrion living and working in Nashville. He also blogged about Shea Weber's first workout as captain.

Jim Diamond gets the lowdown on Charles-Oliver Roussel in the coming season from McKeen's Hockey scout Rick Springhetti. Jim also reports that the Predators will host a coaching symposium on September 25. Here are the details.

Julie Robenhymer has really nice piece on Colin Wilson at HockeyBuzz. She chronicles his recent past and looks ahead to this year. She also has bonus video with a good example of helmet hair.

Amanda DiPaolo has an extensive piece asking if the Preds signing a big name free agent would give the hockey world a jolt. She looks at several UFAs and whether they might fit in with the team. She also has her weekly Central Division Shakedown.

On The Forecheck's man of the day on Friday was Matthew Lombardi. Everyone is looking forward to see him on the ice in a Pred's sweater. They also had an update on Cal O'Reilly who is reached a make or break point with the team as camp opens. Dirk was up early this morning with his Tuesday Breakfast Links.

Chris Rydburg has a list of all the things that made this offseason the best ever for the Predators.

NHL.com posted a story about the new coaches at the Pred's ECHL affiliate in Cincinnati.

DaveArt has new masks for Chet Pickard and ex-Pred Dan Ellis.

More in the "Who would have thunk it" category from @JulieRobenhymer: I'm at Legends corner in Nashville and guess who's waiting to cross the road....Mike Babcock and his family! His kids are country fans so they're being tourists - visiting the Ryman, Hall of Fame, etc...

Around the NHL...

Dmitry Chesnokov has the first interview with Ilya Kovalchuk after his contract was finally approved. It sounds like Kovi was the calmest person of all throughout the process.

All Habs had the best article of the long weekend that has sparked tons of comments about the Montreal Media picking on our friend, Launy "The" Schwartz. Launy appeared on The Team 990 on Friday with Tony Marinaro and established credibility with one of his bashers from the day before. I'll have more on this in a separate post.

Matt Reitz started his annual pre-season look at all thirty teams and started with a look at the Northeast Division with five great local writers giving their input. The series will continue on Monday, Wednesday and Friday through next week.

NHL 11 hits the shelves today. Here is a video review.

There is a rumor floating around Quebec City that there may be funding for a new arena in the near future that could pave the way for the return of NHL hockey.

Tapeleg celebrates Labor Day by reflecting on the Hockey Blogs and Podcasts that have come and gone.

Bob Hunter at the Columbus Dispatch looks at the value of goalie Steve Mason who is entering the final year of his entry level contract and will be an RFA next June. This is a make or break year for the kid who has a terrible sophomore year after winning the Calder the year before.

The Subway Super Series, which features All-stars teams from CHL teams playing Junior squads from Russia, will be held at six sites across Canad beginning November 8.

Ryan Porth has a nice piece about Agent Scott Norton giving back to the needy.

Tim Rosenthal takes a look back at a few highlights of the hockey off-season at Rosie's Rebounds.

Say what you will about Mike Comrie (Mr. Hillary Duff) but the Pens got a great deal picking him up for $500,000 to play beside Sidney Crosby. His fantasy value just went through the roof. As much as this guy gets pummeled by the press, he plays because he enjoys it. Since his family is well off, it is obviously not for the money.

PHT takes a look at Scott Burnside's list of coaches most likely to be fired and adds additional commentary. Barry Trotz and Lindy Ruff obviously did not make the list.

Adam Proteau has good advice for bloggers in MSM/Blogger debate. My paraphrase would be to do a good job and let the work speak for itself.

Odds and Ends...

If you haven't seen the fan fight at the US Open tennis tournament, this is one of the worst examples of poor security at a major event that I've ever seen.

Big news for the city of Nashville as they have landed three more SEC Men's Basketball Tournaments adding 2015, 2016 and 2019 to 2013 which was already scheduled.

Here is a new video from the Nashville RollerGirls. It is really well done.



More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass