Lets see, when a high school movie is played in theaters and the "home" team wins, what sport is it usually? Football, Basketball, or Baseball. Why is it only these sports that get glorified down in Tennessee? Ice Hockey is becoming a big sport here, but it is impossible for hockey to get recognized here.
Here is a little description about hockey in Tennessee. In the 1970's a team of Nashville Dixies played a few seasons, but quickly left because minor league hockey was not very stable back then. Then in the late 1980's the Nashville Knights came into town, and they were amazing. The team were really active within the community and played very well, but they moved because of ownership. After that a short lived team by the name of Nashville Nighthawks came into town. They weren't that great, but it was hockey and many supported it. By this time the NHL had started talking about expanding and lo' and behold in 1997 it was announced that the Nashville Predators would be coming to the area. This basically sent the Nashville Nighthawks packing because they could not compete with them.
This basically shows that the Nashville area has been in hockey for quite some time. And the other areas of Tennessee have as well. Memphis and Knoxville have had minor league teams as well in the past years. Even the colleges have had teams: Middle Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt, University of Tennessee. And at one time Belmont University had a team as well.
But they need support! The college and high school's around Tennessee refuse to recognize them most of the time. The teams are more or less considered a "club" not a sport. So basically this makes it harder for the team to get a fanbase. School's around the area give money and fame to football and basketball, and give no credit to the men and women who play their heart out. In some cases there is an all out war against the sport. When teams try to recruit players at Freshman Orientation the football table tries to get potential players before the hockey team. The vending machines at school have all of the profit go straight to the football teams. The weight room in the school is only for the teams that are considered a "team" not a "club". Sometimes the hockey team will go all the way to State while the football team has a 0-10 season, but all the pep rallys are just for the football team. While the hockey team gets a mention on the school news channel, that nobody watches. It is like this all over the state. When rec leagues have sign ups, the baseball signs are everywhere but the hockey ones are missing. The reason why they are missing is because the baseball coaches take them down, no joke they have been caught doing this.
Why go after hockey? I really do not understand, maybe I am biased. But I mean isn't it a little much to attack a sport that is made of honor, glory, and fun kind of just like the other sports? This has just blown me away as a player and a ref. I thought maybe it was my own high school that does this, but it is all over the state. This needs to stop right now. Maybe if it was happening to football or basketball they would understand, but they don't and just keep trying to ruin the sport.
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Perhaps climate has something to do with hockey not being very popular in TN. With the state's typically mild winters, maybe winter sports simply haven't caught on.
I'm from the St. Paul/Minneapolis MN area (home of the "Mighty Ducks" movies!) and hockey is a powerhouse at many schools throughout the region. We have long, cold winters that facilitate the popularity of many winter sports.
Even here, though, I don't think most hockey games have pep rallies. Maybe it's just not the "hockey thing."
Thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting!
You could be on to something about the climate. But that cannot be the real reason. I think the one big reason of our "non-existent" fanbase might be because we only have two rinks that support a 20 team high school league. And that is not counting all of the house league, public skate, and travel teams that play. So sometimes we play at around 11 o'clock at night on a school night so many don't come. Another reason could be that we play on the same nights as football games. The biggest reason might be because the rink is thirty to an hour's time away from the school. So this could be the killer reasons.
But you would have no idea since you have probably never been to Tennessee and known this, so I could have said this in the post and I am sorry.
And in Minnesota they don't have pep rallys for the team? Wow I did not know that, that is fascinating to know.
I have been to Tennessee (nice state!!), but don't know much about the hockey there. Thanks for filling me in!
Yeah, sounds like the biggest problem for your team is the lack of hockey facilities (ice). This lack could be due to the climate, because it would be very expensive to keep ice frozen for long enough to support a full season of play.
Pep rallies are pretty much football things, so you don't see them as much for other sports. Some schools are really into their hockey teams, and some schools aren't. It all depends on how good the team is. However, MN/WI is lucky as far as hockey is concerned because the temp is usually below freezing Nov-March.
It takes a lot of energy to keep ice frozen in a warm climate. Tennessee has a certain amount of hydropower in the Tennessee Valley but it is all long since spoken for. Any new demands for power are most likely going to be met with coal and most likely it will be the high-sulphur variety found in the East that will contribute both to greenhouse gases and acid rain.
And it will cost a lot of money. My Mom lives in Nashville but I don't got there to often so I can't comment on the state of Tennessee public schools. But most public schools are struggling to find money to provide just the three R's. I've never heard that Tennessee was any different. A hockey program would cost a lot and would only benefit a small proportiion of the kids. My thoughts are that Tennessee's educational dollars that are taken from hard working Tennesseans for the purpose of educating the children of Tennessee would be better spent on education then on a sport.