Good morning, Nashville

Good morning, Nashville, good morning, Insiders, good morning, winter, and happy birthday, Nick Nickson.

Nashville isn’t the worst place to celebrate a birthday, right? Of all the stops on the circuit, this is probably the very best. Other than “flight distance from Los Angeles,” it checks off so many boxes of what makes a very good road city: walking distance to the rink, very good food options, ample nightlife opportunities nearby, and the chance to reconnect with a former Kings broadcaster. In this case, that’s Pete Weber. (Hi, Pete!) It definitely beats celebrating a birthday in Newark or St. Louis. (Here’s also an early happy birthday wish to our FOX Sports West Kings Live producer, Joel Goodling, who turns 35 tomorrow and now that Justin Williams is no longer a King, is to my knowledge the only other ’81-born member of our traveling party.)

It’s our only visit to Nashville this season, and I’ve set out three goals: 1) Blog hard. (Obviously.) 2) Don’t eat so much that you lose energy and want to make it back to the hotel by 10:30. 3) Check out one of the more interesting performance halls and entertainment spaces. Number three is particularly important; while many gravitate towards Tootsie’s, there are better places to see live music than the spot that features carbon copy neo-country and classic rock cover acts that set up shop at the famed Broadway institution. We’ve all had fun at Tootsie’s, but there are better options that won’t charge $20 for a cover of Fishin’ in the Dark. I’ve got a hankerin’ for some bluegrass. Station Inn, anyone?

That’s it for now, Insiders. I’ll get to work on WUWTK, and from there it’s practice time. The team takes the Bridgestone Arena ice at noon, and I’ll have stories and reports later this afternoon from Music City. Let’s talk soon, Insiders.