Ah, yes. Nashville sports. When you seem to be in the midst of a championship curse, you know you’ve arrived as a veritable sports town. When the feelings of being “happy just to be here” subside, towns start itching for titles. Nashville has been a professional sports market for over 20 years now. As a sports city, we’re no longer a Spring chicken. We’re starting to scratch said itches. The Stanley Cup Final was wildly successful here in 2017, events like the NHL All-Star Game and the NFL Draft have been wildly successful here, too. After a taste of what championship sports are like, this city is even hungrier for a title.
So, I’ve deliberated and looked back upon the last couple of decades in Nashville sports, and tried to stir up some sort of retrospective of our town, the sports town.
And, hey – if your favorite Nashville sports moment isn’t on this list, well, that’s too damn bad. I asked all of y’all to chime in on Twitter and I only got a small handful of responses.
Conspicuous by their absence
I don’t think these technically count as “Nashville moments” in that they weren’t teams based in Nashville. But, they all meant a lot to a lot of people in the market, so we’re going to mention ’em here:
The Vols ’98 College Football Title – After much deliberation, we decided to keep the list strictly to Nashville. Sure, this is a huge win for a lot of area fans, but Knoxville isn’t exactly a hop, skip, and a jump away. If we’re going to count this one, why shouldn’t we count all the Kentucky basketball titles? All the Crimson Tide football titles? Memphis Tigers? etc….
MTSU upsets Michigan State – Same deal as above – of course, Murfreesboro is much closer than Knoxville. Still, this remains one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. The Spartans were favored to reach the Final Four, some even thought they’d win the whole damn thing. But, no one counted on the feisty Blue Raiders bouncing them in the first round.
Little League World Series – During the Summer of 2012, the Little League team from Goodlettsville captured the hearts of our city, as they won the United States bracket before losing to Tokyo in the championship game.
Honorable Mentions
Several events emanated from the Music City, including the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four, the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, several U.S. Soccer games, and of course, WWE Judgement Day 2002, where The Undertaker delivered probably the single worst chokeslam of all time to Hulk Hogan (your’s truly was in attendance).
In 1999, the Titans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars three times in the same season. In fact, the Titans were the only team to defeat the 14-2 Jags that season. Perhaps the most gratifying was the 33-14 drumming of the Jags in Jacksonville during the AFC Championship. Nonetheless, sticking it to a division rival like that always feels good.
Other moments that come to mind include Pekka Rinne’s phenomenal Game 7 in Anaheim, Steve McNair winning the NFL MVP award, the wild Titans-Giants game from 2006, the 99-yard game-winning drive vs. the Arizona Cardinals, and the emotional catharsis of Vanderbilt beating Boston College in the Music City Bowl (I know…the Music City Bowl…but don’t act like James Franklin getting ’em there wasn’t important). I’d also add Vanderbilt’s 2019 College World Series Championship to the list, though I don’t think it was as special as the 2014 one.
I’m also ecstatic to have Nashville SC in town. Hopefully, they’ll add some signature moments to this list as they embark on their journey in MLS.
Then, there’s the moments that happened off the field, or at least away from the game – Randy Moss joining the Titans and “making them a Super Bowl contender” (shout out to Brent Dougherty), the 2008 team stomping the Terrible Towel on the field, and the Summer of 2012, when fans were consumed/obsessed with the rumors that Peyton Manning was joining the Titans.
Worst Moment in Nashville Sports History: There have been some horrible defeats in Titans history, but I can’t ever remember feeling the range of emotions I felt after the infamous 59-0 game in New England. The playoff game following the 2008 season comes to mind, as well. If you don’t remember, that’s the game during which the Baltimore Ravens ripped Chris Johnson’s ankle in half and stole the game on the final drive. That was the best Titans team we had seen since the Super Bowl era teams, and they were bounced in their first playoff game.
Bumped from the initial list
Sweeping the Blackhawks – What a sweet, sweet moment, one that was completely unexpected, and one that propelled the Predators on a magical run. Nashville fans kind of sort of have this thing against Chicago Blackhawks fans, in case you haven’t heard. Because tickets are so expensive in Chicago, fans find it cheaper to actually drive to Nashville and stay the night than watching them at the United Center. So, whenever the Blackhawks are in town, the city becomes flooded with black and red, as their fans overwhelm Bridgestone Arena. Since the Detroit Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference, I’d say Chicago is easily Public Enemy #1 in Nashville…which made this 4-0 sweep all the more sweeter.
Vince Young’s game-winning run in OT in Houston – The first era of Titans were dwindling out when the team selected Young to be the next face of the franchise. For a few seasons, it seemed as though Young was going to be the answer. During that time, one of the most memorable plays in Titans history took place:
Unfortunately, it never quite panned out the way it was expected to. Once NFL defenses figured Young out, he couldn’t adapt, and found himself bouncing around the NFL.
Chris Johnson’s 2,000 yard season – When Chris Johnson was on, Chris Johnson was ON. I actually think he deserves some consideration for the NFL Hall of Fame. In his prime he was one of the NFL’s most electric players. His career is marked by hitting the rare 2,000-yard mark:
1st Predators Playoff Series Win – The Preds’ first five trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs ended in first round exits each time. That streak ended in 2011, when they defeated the Anaheim Ducks in six games. Since then, the Preds have won two more playoffs series against ’em. The animosity of the Ducks may have very well been born out of this series, as the team has grown to be one of the biggest enemies of the Smashville faithful.
The Top 10
10. NHL All-Star Game – How fun was the NHL All-Star Game?!?! It felt like an entire month’s worth of festivities were crammed into a few days. You’d see the best hockey players on the planet strolling around downtown, drinking in the honky tonks. You could go to the convention center to see the Stanley Cup, and at the end of the weekend, all you heard from the national media was what a great hockey town Nashville had become….if they only knew of what was to come…
9. The Preds eliminate the Red Wings – So….yeah….for the better part of the Predators’ existence, they always played ‘little brother’ to the Detroit Red Wings. In 2012, ‘little brother’ finally got the upper hand, when they defeated the Red Wings four games to one. It was the earliest the Red Wings had ever been eliminated…after a season during which the Preds finished ahead of ’em in the standings for the first time.
Funny story – I was actually at the decisive Game 5. It was the loudest I’d ever heard an arena get, but after the dust settled, and we started to make our way home, I noticed the Red Wings car was still outside and people were attempting to further destroy it.
I noticed several gentlemen attempting to tip over the car, and I thought, “they could use my services.” So, I kicked off my flip-flops…walked barefoot through the broken glass and debris, and began hoisting the car into the air. It had been raining, so by the time we got the car at shoulder level, it began to slide across the wet concrete towards a crowd of people.
That’s when the police stepped in and asked us to stop. A very memorable moment indeed.
8. The comeback in Kansas City – Mike Mularkey’s Tennessee Titans were tough and scrappy if nothing else. They wormed their way into a playoff spot after the 2017 regular season and hit the road for a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round. When Alex Smith and company went up 21-3 before halftime, it looked like we were in for a long night. But, Marcus Mariota and Derrick Henry got things going in the second half. Henry had a 35-yard touchdown run, but Ocho stole the show by throwing a touchdown pass TO HIMSELF. The Titans pulled off the shocking upset and stormed back with 19 unanswered points to win 22-21.
7. The Presidents Trophy – It wasn’t a Stanley Cup, but to see the Preds bring home some hardware for Nashville sports the season after making that incredible run to the finals was a decent consolation prize. They won a surprisingly tough series against the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs before getting beat up by a tough and physical Winnipeg Jets team in the second round.
6. Vanderbilt’s College World Series Championship – Back in 2014, we saw an indication of just how fervently this city can get behind one of its teams. The Vanderbilt Commodores defeated Virginia to win the College World Series. I can still recall the wild scene as thousands of fans packed Vanderbilt Stadium for the viewing party.
5. The NFL Draft in Nashville – I don’t know how you could see the fanfare that came to Music City along with the NFL Draft, and NOT think Nashville is a perfect fit for the big events like that. But, it was just that. Even though my liver was damn sure sore after three days of the festivities, I think it went along way for Nashville sports in showing that as a city, we can handle events of this magnitude.
4. The 2019 AFC Championship team – Those Titans teams of the early days, led by Steve and Eddie, created some wonderful memories for Nashville sports fans. But, I don’t know that any of those teams, or the 2008 team, were as special as this 2019 one.
When you look at how this team started (2-4, lest we forget) and how they evolved and adapted over the course of the season, it’s amazing. They went from not being able to score a single point against the Denver Broncos to being the best offense in the entire NFL down the stretch.
They had to go on the road to Houston to earn a playoff berth. Then, they had to travel to New England, to Baltimore, and eventually to Kansas City in the AFC Championship during their playoff run. Derrick Henry won a rushing title, and emerged as the best back in the league with 657 yards in that four-game span. Truly unbelievable stuff.
This city was ready to get behind a champion, and maybe this is still the regime to make the Titans just that.
3. One Yard Short – A Super Bowl is still a Super Bowl, and while the outcome is heart-wrenching for Titans fans, Nashville’s team still made it that far. We were this close to celebrating a Super Bowl win:
2. The Music City Miracle – You can ask just about any Nashvillian to boil the city’s sports history down to one moment or one play, and just about all of them will reply with the Music City Miracle. And, really – why not?
On a side note, we desperately need to get “Whoomp! There It Is” back in Nissan Stadium after Titans victories.
1. 2017 Stanley Cup Final – It’s hard to put into words exactly what that playoff run meant for Nashville. For the sake of brevity, I won’t try to. You can read our recap here. As to why this distinguishes itself from the Titans Super Bowl run, well…it’s simple. The city was in a different place then. We’ve blossomed into this destination “it” city, and its citizens have shown up in droves to support this team. Seeing 50,000+ people pack Broadway for a hockey game in June was unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s special.
#BecauseItsTheCup
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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