As part of our efforts to bring you more coverage, we added a couple more new faces. Bobby Misey and Michael Gallagher will enhance our site’s content in the upcoming year, and will be helping us provide coverage in new areas. We brought Bobby in for several reasons, one of which is video content. Michael worked last year with the Nashville Post, and we’re going to be leaning on him for in-game coverage as well.
Let’s get to know our latest signings a bit better, shall we?
Tell us a quick bit about yourself.
Bobby: Hey there! I lived in Nashville from when I was two to six and ended up in Barry Trotz’s doghouse, spending the next twelve years of my life in Milwaukee. Instead of bolting from Milwaukee to Russia, I played in the American Collegiate Hockey Association for the College of Wooster. I majored in German while also studying French and Swedish. Next year I will be starting law school at Ohio State, so I’ve been hounding EBay for a Seth Jones Blue Jackets sweater. If you were to find me on a weekend this summer, I would either be playing beach volleyball on Lake Michigan next to a cooler of Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy or competing in a chess tournament somewhere in the upper Midwest.
Michael: I graduated from MTSU with a Masters in Sport Management. I also have a Bachelors in psychology so I’m a pretty well-rounded dude. Sports are my passion so much so that I made it my career. I bowled a perfect game once.
When and how did you become a hockey fan?
Bobby: Both my grandfather and father grew up playing hockey in Milwaukee, so I naturally followed in the family tradition. As soon as he could get me up on skates, my father would take me to the Centennial Ice Rink. When I turned six, the Predators were in the middle of their first season as a franchise. My father took me to see them play the Blues and I was immediately hooked. Afterwards I begged for him to take me to more games and, by the end of the season, I saw Predators play the Coyotes, Stars, Rangers, and Devils. Kimmo Timonen was nearly immediately my favorite player. However, my father was offered a new job in Milwaukee, so we moved up to Wisconsin. The closest NHL team to Milwaukee is the Blackhawks, so my father would take me once a year to see them. However, my allegiances never changed, always sleeping as a child with my Predators flag hanging above my bed.
Michael: 2010 – My buddy took me to a Preds game against the Blues they won in OT and I fell in love with the sport.
If you were watching a hockey game in person, but weren’t at a Preds game and weren’t wearing a Preds jersey, where would you be and what jersey would you be wearing?
Bobby: I somewhat eluded to it at the end of my last answer and maybe some people will probably go grab their pitchforks, but I would be at the United Center in my white Toews sweater (Come on guys, they’re called sweaters, not jerseys!). While I was still upset that the Blackhawks knocked us out of the playoffs last year, my boyhood idol and favorite all-time Predator was Kimmo Timonen, so seeing him finally raise the cup live at their parade and rally was an unforgettable experience.
Michael: I’d be at a Rangers game (I’m from New York) and I’d still be wearing a Preds jersey!
Favorite place to dine at in Nashville?
Bobby: Oh boy. There was a great donut shop en-route to the Overbrook kindergarten that my parents often took me to. Anyone know what place I’m talking about? Donut Den maybe? Does that sound right? (Yes)
Michael: Soulshine Pizza Factory, in midtown.
If you were a fighter/baseball player, what would your walk-up music be?
Bobby: “Joker and the Thief” by Wolfmother.
Michael: “I’m the Man” by Aloe Blacc
What other teams do you follow?
Bobby: As any Wisconsinite, I follow the Packers and the Brewers. However, my other true love after the Predators is SC Freiburg of the German Bundesliga (soccer). When I studied in Freiburg, I lived a five minute walk away from their stadium. European soccer culture fascinated me and nearly every home game I was with my buddies in the standing fan section, singing and chanting the entire game. I even attended their derby against Stuttgart as an away fan, which was simultaneously one of the most thrilling and most terrifying fan experiences that I have ever had.
Michael: Titans, 49ers, and Yankees.
Lastly, what is your favorite hockey memory thus far?
Bobby: There are a lot of great stories from when I played over in Germany, but the best story is from my first game playing for Freiburg. At first my North American style did not mesh well with my team, who were astonished that I would dump and chase the puck and only take 40 second shifts. My coach in particular was baffled and often would chastise me for my play. Our first game of the season was in France against Mulhouse and we blew them out 10-1. The French were not amused and began to take their frustrations out on us. In the third period I was pinned on the wall in front of our bench and a French player who had been yapping all game tried to break his stick on my ankle. Naturally I spun around and clocked the guy, sending him plummeting to the ice. I immediately jumped onto our bench and the referees managed to lose sight of me. As the French team protested, I coolly walked behind my wall of teammates, each of them yelling that nothing happened while offering me fist bumps behind their backs. After the game I was one of the last players in the locker room and, as I entered, my coach brought me in front of my team. He put his arm around me and shouted “Hier haben wir ein Deutscher!” (Here we have a German!), handing me a beer as the locker room erupted.
Michael: The Mike Fisher 3 OT winner from this years playoffs. My eyes were getting heavy in the press box and I didn’t think the game would ever end.