Last night's POTG podcast was one of the better ones that we have had with broadcast legend Eli Gold as our special guest. Eli's new book Peanuts to the Pressbox is out nationwide this morning so he is in the middle of a whirl-wind media blitz getting the word out about the book and we were happy to help out.
In a twenty minute interview we covered a wide range of topics with Eli that hopefully will spark your interest in his book which is a great read. Alabama fans know Eli as the "Voice of the Crimson Tide" while NASCAR fans know his work with racing since 1976.
What you may not realize is that Eli Gold's roots were in hockey broadcasting with many minor league jobs, stops with the WHL's Birmingham Bulls, the St. Louis Blues and with the Nashville Predators two seasons ago. He revealed that his days with the Preds were favorites and has great memories of his time with Pete and Terry who he discusses in the book.
The last hour of the podcast consisted of a discussion of the Predators first couple of days in camp and features and extended 15 minute presser with Barry Trotz that covers a wide range of topics as camp begins.
There is also a series of short interviews with Sully, Pekka, Joel Ward, Kevin Klein, Nolan Yonkman, Ben Guite, Shea Weber, Jon Blum and Colin Wilson that should whet your appetite for Thursday night's first preseason game.
In Preds Nation...
The Predator's rookie team traveled to Atlanta last night for a game with the Thrasher rookies and got thumped 6-3. Colin Wilson, Nick Spalling and Taylor Beck scored for the Preds. While it seems like a bit of a one-sided affair, it needs to be kept in perspective. The Thrasher rookies played together all last week in Traverse City so this was their sixth or seventh game together as a team. Any other outcome would be a real surprise.
Here is more from Atlanta on the game, boxscore, a live blog and a video. All are done from the Thrashers point of view but that is the best there is. They meet again this morning at 10:00 before heading back home.
I really wish I was able to attend the Preds camp during the week but work prevails. Jeremy from Section303 and Rachel from What the Puck have had minute by minute Twitter updates at @cellblock303 and @whatthepuck and detailed daily accounts at their web sites. I will defer to them for camp updates for now.
John Glennon has also been doing a great job at camp with several stories including Barry Trotz expecting big things from Legwand and Erat, and today's notes column. He is also doing ongoing camp notes at Inside Predators. The best story out of camp on Monday was the early fisticuffs between Hugh Jessiman and Nolan Yonkman who are both listed at 6'6".
Matt from ViewFromMySeats has a humorous look at the Phil Kessel to the Predators rumor.
Jim Diamond from the Examiner has Five Questions (and answers) with Joel Ward.
I had a chance to talk to Holly Gunning of Hockey's Future at Preds camp on Sunday. She was traveling back to Atlanta after spending a week at the Traverse City Rookie games and stopped by the Pred's camp. I asked her who was the most impressive player in TC and without hesitating she declared the Hurricane's Zack Boychuk. While Holly was here she got with Preds prospect Charles-Oliver Roussell for an interview on his birthday.
The Predators announced their Promo Schedule for 2009-10 and everyone's favorites are back. There is even a new one for Tuesday games and a day of game special that must be a part of the national stimulus package.
Around the NHL...
The season's first exhibition game was held last night between the Islanders and Canucks. LightHouseHockey has an update. Many folks on Long Island are feeling rough this morning from staying up late and eating too many Oreo cookies.
By the time you read this the registration for the NHL Winter Classic "lottery" will be open. There's really no reason not to participate. If you are allowed to purchase tickets and can't go, someone else will be very happy to pay you a large amount of money to take your place. What have you got to lose?
Today is another red-letter day for Hockey gamers as NHL 10 has been released. That is all Jackson wants for his birthday so we will head out to Walmart tonight to pick up his copy. Sometimes it is a good thing to live in a small town in a "non-traditional" hockey market. Jackson adds @jacksonoakes: Getting @NHL10 today! If I were any place other than Tennessee, I might be worried about it being sold out.
Kevin Allen from USA Today has a rather bland look at the Central division.
In Phoenix, today is the deadline for final filings to be made of the offers that were given verbally last Friday in court. There is really no way to know where the judge is headed but I think the no sale option is in a slight lead over the NHL offer with Ballsillie's bid being in third place. The wild card is that from the beginning Judge Baum has been concerned that he did not want to set precedent as to the relocation issue and who can be an owner issue. It makes you wonder if that is the outcome he has been leaning toward, but not wanting to have to actually pull the trigger and do it.
Psycho Hockey Lady has her weekly Tuesday Top Ten that features a lot of weird hockey stuff that may be a must have for you. She also has a post from yesterday about her undercover trip to Switzerland for the 2009 World Championship. I got a Tweet from Katrina and she is now ready for her POTG Radio debut. Stay tuned for programming details. This will be one you do not want to miss.
One of my favorite Twitter follows is Chris Johnson from the Canadian Press. Chris was on his game last night with three humorous entries. RT @reporterchris: Robert Esche named top goaltender of the week in KHL. He turned down a chance to play for the #coyotes in favour of a return to Russia. RT @reporterchris: The #leafs have invited media to sample new hot dogs that will be served this season. Seriously. RT @reporterchris: My flight out of Phoenix is canceled, potentially keeping me from making it to #leafs hot dog tasting tomorrow.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Showing posts with label nashville predators potg radio eli gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nashville predators potg radio eli gold. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hockey Returns and POTG Radio Tonight
Happy 17th Birthday to my oldest son Fisher (@fisheroakes). I love you and I am very proud of you.
After what seemed like an endless Summer, live on the ice hockey, has finally returned. More about the Predators opening weekend will appear below.
First up today, we are thrilled with our special guest on POTG Radio tonight. I was asked to do a book review of famed broadcaster, Eli Gold's new autobiography, Peanuts to the Pressbox, that is being released tomorrow and we ended up getting a live interview to go with it.
Predator fans may remember Eli Gold for his radio play-by-play duties a couple of seasons back. Nationally, he is more widely known for hosting the NASCAR Live Radio Show and being the Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. His broadcasting roots were in hockey having done play-by-play in the WHL for Birmingham, for the St. Louis Blues as well as the Preds.
I have been reading the book and will have a complete review soon and it is a real gem. It has kept me up way too late at night because I've really had a hard time putting it down.
Eli is a couple of years older than I am so we grew up in the same era where it was common to have a transistor radio with you at all times in order to follow sports. The World Series was always a critical time since it always played during the day, so sneaking a radio in to class was always required.
Eli solved that problem by not going to class. I'm afraid of the advice he may give Jackson as to how to further his potential sports media career. Tune in to see what Eli has to say about that and a lot more.
I also have about 30 minutes of interviews from the Preds camp that we will run in their entirety. More than likely, it will run over into the non-live portion of the show that will be available on podcast.
Barry Trotz was especially candid on several topics including the rumors about the Preds having interest in Phil Kessel. We also talked briefly to to Sully, Pekka, Joel Ward, Kevin Klein, Nolan Yonkman, Ben Guite, Shea Weber, Jon Blum and Colin Wilson.
Weekend at Camp...
The first two days of camp were very intense for the players and a lot of fun for the fans that attended, especially on Sunday.
Saturday's drills were a part of David Good's new conditioning tests that he designed to see what type of shape each player was in when they reported to camp. During the summer, each player had been provided the outline of what to expect so they would be prepared for the drills.
The easiest way to describe what they went through was that it was a full circle of the ice bag drill with a few cuts and turns in the middle. Each player did that six times with only a few seconds of rest in between each lap. Times were generally in the mid twenty second range and were a bit slower with each turn. Colin Wilson said that "It was good to get the worst part of camp over on the first day."
Sunday's action was more along the lines of traditional practices with players separated into three groups. The first two were composed of more veteran and AHL players and the last group was the Rookie squad that will go to Atlanta for games tonight and Tuesday afternoon.
The first line of Jason Arnott, J P Dumont and Steve Sullivan looked good together. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a veteran as excited to be on the ice and playing full out on the first day as Steve Sullivan did.
I spoke with Sully afterwords and he was thrilled to be doing ongoing conditioning instead of rehab over the summer. He really looks like he is ready to go right now. Barry Trotz related that having Sully on board on day one should really improve the Pred's power play right from the start.
A few of the new Preds were impressive on Sunday. Physically, Ben Eaves reminds you a lot of Sully and is a quick skater who is not afraid to fire the puck from anywhere. Ben Guite and Marcel Goc were also impressive and should more than adequately make up for the loss of Fiddler, Bonk, and Nichol on the penalty kill.
One disappointment was some uneven play on the Pred's second line pairing of Erat and Legwand. Marty is really slating smooth and looks ready to play while Leggy doesn't seem to be hitting on all cylinders quite yet. I wouldn't worry after one day of practice because I do believe that this will be a breakout year for both. (Jackson even drafted Leggy in a fantasy draft last night)
The Preds also named permanent Alternate Captains for the season with Sully and Shea Weber wearing the "A" for the duration and Arnott continuing to captain the team. Barry Trotz said that the players preferred that. He also said that while it was proper recognition for the guys with the letters that there was no less respect for the guys that rotated last season.
Colin Wilson leads the rookie squad in stretching.
The Preds rookies will play in Atlanta tonight and during the day on Tuesday. There will be little coverage as the Preds are not even running video of the scrimmages. Barry Trotz explained that they had full confidence in the reports of the coaches and scouts to bring the story home. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for the hockey starved fans.
In Preds Nation...
I spent most of the weekend at camp around Jeremy Gover of Section303.com and he had quite an exciting time working overtime to bring Pred Nation the news. He provides a good wrap-up of camp.
Jeremy and his partner Codey's big coup of the weekend was getting the first pictures of the Pred's new third jersey. Check out their site for pictures and a poor quality crowd video from youtube. Going to a Taylor Swift concert for Predator's coverage was above and beyond the call of duty. They even made when big time with a mention on Puck Daddy's site.
Almost lost in the shuffle was a new edition of the 303:30 podcast that came out Saturday featuring comedian Mike Birbiglia. It's a good show that's not 100% hockey, but it's done with a hockey attitude which makes it OK.
The Preds allowing Taylor Swift to wear the jersey first as a leaked sneak preview was marketing genius. It all started Saturday afternoon when Steve Sullivan tweeted @Sully26: "Preds fans going to see Taylor Swift tonight, pay very close attention to her encore.... might be a very special surprise for you guys!!"
That led to the 303 guys getting pictures that went viral on the internet and made Predator fans out of millions of young girls nationwide that may not know anything else about hockey. In a non-traditional market, things can be done in a different way to spread the gospel of Predator hockey. This was a home run!
The other big rumor over the weekend that hasn't gone away is the discussion of Phil Kessel possibly ending up in Nashville. John Glennon wrote about it Saturday and Sports Illustrated did a big piece on the posibility.
Toronto is the odds on favorite in the Kessel sweepstakes as he has indicated that he wanted to play for Brian Burke and Ron Wilson who happen to also be in charge of the US Olympic effort.
John Glennon has also been doing a yeoman's job at camp at the Tennessean as well as his blog, Inside Predators. We are looking forward to John learning to "tweet" this week.
Brandon Felder did a good job of covering the first days of rookie camp and has an interesting thought on the third jersey with a post at Hockey Buzz. Rachel Raines of What The Puck also has a good round-up of Sunday's camp action.
Jim Diamond has a post at the Examiner about Ryan Ellis wanting to stay with the Preds, this year.
Dirk the Forechecker should be back home soon but had more entries in the Meet the Pred Blogger series with pieces on Jeremy Gover and Paul McCann. Dirk promised to do one on himself so hopefully we have that to look forward to. I have really enjoyed the series of posts.
Scott Cullen at TSN has a fantasy outlook for Preds players.
Around the NHL...
For a change, most of our news is about the Preds. I hope that doesn't mean we will lose our readers from other places but we will refocus our efforts on the local stuff while hitting the high points on the national level as the season progresses.
The biggest news of the weekend was undoubtedly the end of the three month Dany Heatley trade saga. Heatley and a draft pick went to San Jose in return for Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek and a pick. Thank goodness this is one story that can be put to bed.
In the saga that we can't get away from, the on ice story in Phoenix is somewhat confusing as Wayne Gretzky was not participated in drills or practice to this point. You would assume that his situation is in limbo, at best, after the hearings last week.
The courtroom action closed down Friday with the NHL as well as Jim Ballsillie adding to their offers. There is still little clue as to what he outcome will be or when it will be announced. One thing is guaranteed, one or both sides will appeal regardless of how it goes down. There is even word that the Canadian Competition Bureau may get involved if Ballsillie is stiffed. I hope the Canadian press likes Phoenix because they will see a lot of it in the future.
For those in the Toronto area, our friends at Hockey54.com (The Face of the Game) are having a big party to kick off their web site on October 1. Click here for your free ticket. We hope to have Larry "The"Schwartz on POTG Radio befor the big kickoff.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
After what seemed like an endless Summer, live on the ice hockey, has finally returned. More about the Predators opening weekend will appear below.
First up today, we are thrilled with our special guest on POTG Radio tonight. I was asked to do a book review of famed broadcaster, Eli Gold's new autobiography, Peanuts to the Pressbox, that is being released tomorrow and we ended up getting a live interview to go with it.Predator fans may remember Eli Gold for his radio play-by-play duties a couple of seasons back. Nationally, he is more widely known for hosting the NASCAR Live Radio Show and being the Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. His broadcasting roots were in hockey having done play-by-play in the WHL for Birmingham, for the St. Louis Blues as well as the Preds.
I have been reading the book and will have a complete review soon and it is a real gem. It has kept me up way too late at night because I've really had a hard time putting it down.
Eli is a couple of years older than I am so we grew up in the same era where it was common to have a transistor radio with you at all times in order to follow sports. The World Series was always a critical time since it always played during the day, so sneaking a radio in to class was always required.
Eli solved that problem by not going to class. I'm afraid of the advice he may give Jackson as to how to further his potential sports media career. Tune in to see what Eli has to say about that and a lot more.
I also have about 30 minutes of interviews from the Preds camp that we will run in their entirety. More than likely, it will run over into the non-live portion of the show that will be available on podcast.
Barry Trotz was especially candid on several topics including the rumors about the Preds having interest in Phil Kessel. We also talked briefly to to Sully, Pekka, Joel Ward, Kevin Klein, Nolan Yonkman, Ben Guite, Shea Weber, Jon Blum and Colin Wilson.
Weekend at Camp...
The first two days of camp were very intense for the players and a lot of fun for the fans that attended, especially on Sunday.
Saturday's drills were a part of David Good's new conditioning tests that he designed to see what type of shape each player was in when they reported to camp. During the summer, each player had been provided the outline of what to expect so they would be prepared for the drills.
The easiest way to describe what they went through was that it was a full circle of the ice bag drill with a few cuts and turns in the middle. Each player did that six times with only a few seconds of rest in between each lap. Times were generally in the mid twenty second range and were a bit slower with each turn. Colin Wilson said that "It was good to get the worst part of camp over on the first day."
Sunday's action was more along the lines of traditional practices with players separated into three groups. The first two were composed of more veteran and AHL players and the last group was the Rookie squad that will go to Atlanta for games tonight and Tuesday afternoon.
The first line of Jason Arnott, J P Dumont and Steve Sullivan looked good together. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a veteran as excited to be on the ice and playing full out on the first day as Steve Sullivan did.
I spoke with Sully afterwords and he was thrilled to be doing ongoing conditioning instead of rehab over the summer. He really looks like he is ready to go right now. Barry Trotz related that having Sully on board on day one should really improve the Pred's power play right from the start.
A few of the new Preds were impressive on Sunday. Physically, Ben Eaves reminds you a lot of Sully and is a quick skater who is not afraid to fire the puck from anywhere. Ben Guite and Marcel Goc were also impressive and should more than adequately make up for the loss of Fiddler, Bonk, and Nichol on the penalty kill.
One disappointment was some uneven play on the Pred's second line pairing of Erat and Legwand. Marty is really slating smooth and looks ready to play while Leggy doesn't seem to be hitting on all cylinders quite yet. I wouldn't worry after one day of practice because I do believe that this will be a breakout year for both. (Jackson even drafted Leggy in a fantasy draft last night)
The Preds also named permanent Alternate Captains for the season with Sully and Shea Weber wearing the "A" for the duration and Arnott continuing to captain the team. Barry Trotz said that the players preferred that. He also said that while it was proper recognition for the guys with the letters that there was no less respect for the guys that rotated last season.
Colin Wilson leads the rookie squad in stretching.The Preds rookies will play in Atlanta tonight and during the day on Tuesday. There will be little coverage as the Preds are not even running video of the scrimmages. Barry Trotz explained that they had full confidence in the reports of the coaches and scouts to bring the story home. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for the hockey starved fans.
In Preds Nation...
I spent most of the weekend at camp around Jeremy Gover of Section303.com and he had quite an exciting time working overtime to bring Pred Nation the news. He provides a good wrap-up of camp.
Jeremy and his partner Codey's big coup of the weekend was getting the first pictures of the Pred's new third jersey. Check out their site for pictures and a poor quality crowd video from youtube. Going to a Taylor Swift concert for Predator's coverage was above and beyond the call of duty. They even made when big time with a mention on Puck Daddy's site.
Almost lost in the shuffle was a new edition of the 303:30 podcast that came out Saturday featuring comedian Mike Birbiglia. It's a good show that's not 100% hockey, but it's done with a hockey attitude which makes it OK.
The Preds allowing Taylor Swift to wear the jersey first as a leaked sneak preview was marketing genius. It all started Saturday afternoon when Steve Sullivan tweeted @Sully26: "Preds fans going to see Taylor Swift tonight, pay very close attention to her encore.... might be a very special surprise for you guys!!"
That led to the 303 guys getting pictures that went viral on the internet and made Predator fans out of millions of young girls nationwide that may not know anything else about hockey. In a non-traditional market, things can be done in a different way to spread the gospel of Predator hockey. This was a home run!
The other big rumor over the weekend that hasn't gone away is the discussion of Phil Kessel possibly ending up in Nashville. John Glennon wrote about it Saturday and Sports Illustrated did a big piece on the posibility.
Toronto is the odds on favorite in the Kessel sweepstakes as he has indicated that he wanted to play for Brian Burke and Ron Wilson who happen to also be in charge of the US Olympic effort.
John Glennon has also been doing a yeoman's job at camp at the Tennessean as well as his blog, Inside Predators. We are looking forward to John learning to "tweet" this week.
Brandon Felder did a good job of covering the first days of rookie camp and has an interesting thought on the third jersey with a post at Hockey Buzz. Rachel Raines of What The Puck also has a good round-up of Sunday's camp action.
Jim Diamond has a post at the Examiner about Ryan Ellis wanting to stay with the Preds, this year.
Dirk the Forechecker should be back home soon but had more entries in the Meet the Pred Blogger series with pieces on Jeremy Gover and Paul McCann. Dirk promised to do one on himself so hopefully we have that to look forward to. I have really enjoyed the series of posts.
Scott Cullen at TSN has a fantasy outlook for Preds players.
Around the NHL...
For a change, most of our news is about the Preds. I hope that doesn't mean we will lose our readers from other places but we will refocus our efforts on the local stuff while hitting the high points on the national level as the season progresses.
The biggest news of the weekend was undoubtedly the end of the three month Dany Heatley trade saga. Heatley and a draft pick went to San Jose in return for Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek and a pick. Thank goodness this is one story that can be put to bed.
In the saga that we can't get away from, the on ice story in Phoenix is somewhat confusing as Wayne Gretzky was not participated in drills or practice to this point. You would assume that his situation is in limbo, at best, after the hearings last week.
The courtroom action closed down Friday with the NHL as well as Jim Ballsillie adding to their offers. There is still little clue as to what he outcome will be or when it will be announced. One thing is guaranteed, one or both sides will appeal regardless of how it goes down. There is even word that the Canadian Competition Bureau may get involved if Ballsillie is stiffed. I hope the Canadian press likes Phoenix because they will see a lot of it in the future.
For those in the Toronto area, our friends at Hockey54.com (The Face of the Game) are having a big party to kick off their web site on October 1. Click here for your free ticket. We hope to have Larry "The"Schwartz on POTG Radio befor the big kickoff.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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