Denver Post columnist: Stay classy, Nashville, cause the Predators aren't

The Predators Game 1 win over the Colorado Avalanche ended with a bit of fisticuffs on the ice, and some of that spilled over into the pages of The Denver Post on Friday morning.

Post columnist Mark Kiszla took the Predators to task for being a dirty team in his morning column and took a swipe at Nashville as a nouveau-riche hockey town while he was at it.

This city has dubbed itself Smashville. It’s kind of cute, don’t you think? Hockey is as fresh and exciting and sloppy here as an adolescent kiss. Try to stay classy, Smashville. I know it’s difficult. For example: What was that elbow Nashville forward Ryan “The Ripper” Johansen delivered Thursday night to the head of Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie with three minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the second period of an NHL playoff game? It was a blindside cheap shot, that’s what.

READ THE STORY: Stay classy, Smashville. Johansen deserves suspension for cheap shot

Kiszla argues that Johansen deserves a suspension from the NHL for his hit, or else "any pretense for concern about player health is a joke, and Colorado has already been dismissed as nothing but a nuisance forbidden to bother the NHL’s new fun couple: The Preds and Smashville."

Lest you think Kiszla is just some jealous outsider who's spent too much time in a Rocky Mountain haze, he attempted to shore up his southern bona fides.

The city of Nashville is one of America’s greatest success stories of the past 50 years. I lived in this sleepy little Music City as a teenager in the 1970s, and if you had told me way back then the NFL, NHL and millennials were destined to flock here, I would have spit out my Goo Goo Cluster in a fit of laughter.

But while Kiszla's column opened with a shot against the Predators, some of his most pointed comments were reserved for their fans.

In more ways than one, the Nashvegas of 2018 evokes the vibe of Denver during the mid-90s. Newly hip. The mellow not yet harshed by bumper-to-bumper traffic. Also: Feeling a little entitled, as if the only way that shiny new truck in the garage could look better is by throwing the Stanley Cup in the back and driving it around town.

READ THE STORY: Post columnist calls Predators fans 'loud and obnoxiously proud'

Of course, the fervor inside Bridgestone arena and dedication displayed around town - as evidenced by record-breaking TV ratings - are enough to smooth the edges of even the most jaded sportswriter.

Kind of.

Every time a puck got behind Colorado’s goaltender for a score, Nashville fans roared with the same choreographed chant: “Bernier, Bernier, Bernier. You suck! All your fault. All your fault. All your fault.” It was kinda cute, in an innocent, adolescent kind of way. Of course, in the House of Catfish, they cheer for anything that wears yellow, even when Johansen delivers a cowardly cheap shot to the head of a defenseless foe. Stay classy, Smashville

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