What Comes Before
Charliy Nash
Tuesday June 5, 2007
The game starts at 7:00. The doors open at 6:00. The hours leading up to that time are filled with activities that most of you never get to see.
Through the magic of – well, there’s really no magic, I just spent a gorgeous spring day sitting inside the arena keeping a record of everything that happened before a recent home game (it’s true; I have no life).
12:25 I walk down the ramp to the underground parking garage at the Nashville Arena. An NHL playoff game was played here last night, so the carpet is on the ice and is rather bumpy. Flat weights that look like big folding tables are strategically placed around the floor. The endzones are littered with debris from pom-poms, so the floor was apparently not cleaned before it was rolled up after the previous game.
The floors of the bench areas are covered with water, probably condensation from the ice underneath and the warm air above. There are no chairs set up in the benches.
12:32 Workers are hanging one of the shot clocks in the north endzone. The other one is already in place.
12:37 Scoreboard and clocks are powered on. A technician keys in “Kansas” to replace “Chicago” as the visiting team on the scoreboard. Somehow I don’t think that’s what the visiting Kansas City Brigade will want it to say.
12:40 Head trainer Bob “Freezer” Fresorger arrives with a large cart full of Gatorade.
1:00 Bench areas are mopped. Everything now has the lovely aroma of ammonia.
1:05 Enter the giant ride-on vacuum cleaner that basically looks like the carpet version of a Zamboni.
Fresorger begins to set up over 30 drink bottles in each bench area, stashing them in spots that are convenient for the players to pick up. It looks a lot like a bartender getting set up for the night.
1:20 Freezer is finished setting up the benches.
1:50 The rug Zamboni, slow under normal circumstances, and even more delayed by having to detour around all the weights, finally makes its exit.
General manager Bob Flynn and business operations intern Jimmy Scales begin distributing the giveaway item for the night’s game in the lower level seats.
2:25 Equipment manager Lynn King throws a few footballs into the nets to test the bounce. His day is not just starting; he began moving the gear from the practice facility at 6:30 AM. “We had to come over and set the locker room up,” he explained, “The players’ gear, the coaches’ gear, and we also had to bring over Kansas City’s gear.” With the hockey game the previous night there was no opportunity to do it the day before, so both locker rooms are set up by the home team on game day. Since then he’s been restriping helmets, scrubbing footballs for game use, and generally making sure all team gear is ready.
2:30 Workmen with a small electric truck begin removing the weights from the field.
2:46 The pyrotechnics crew take their gear out of storage and begin to set up. Meanwhile, up on the concourse, Jimmy Scales is setting up all the tables that are used for the various promotions.
3:00 Cheerleaders start arriving
3:08 Can you hear me now? Equipment managers Lynn King and Bo Sanders test the helmet radios.
3:30 Assistant coaches from visiting Kansas City Brigade arrive. As I predicted, they ask if the scoreboard can be changed to “KC”. The cheerleaders come in to begin practice.
3:34 I see the first Kats players, Dan Alexander, Brian Howard, and Charlie Morris arrive.
3:45 Cheerleading director Stacie Kinder comes onto the floor with about a dozen young girls who will be participating in the “Little Kittens” program with the cheerleaders.
They begin practicing.
4:00 Dan Alexander is the first player out on the field taking warm-up laps and stretching.
4:10 It’s Kyle time! Strength and conditioning coach Kyle Feldman of D1 Sports Training begins what she calls “active passive stretching” with Alexander. This consists of her twisting players into positions that have a strong resemblance to wrestling submission moves. Some observers (and players) have suggested that the diminutive trainer enjoys making these big guys wince in pain, but that’s not the case, “The only enjoyment I get is knowing I’m helping these guys loosen up and play their game.”
4:15 We’re not in Kansas anymore. The scoreboard operator has changed the visiting team to “KC”. Team assistant Vic Lombardo is throwing warm-up passes to receiver Kenny Higgins.
4:17 Kats’ backup QB Matt Kohn replaces Lombardo throwing passes to Higgins.
4:20 The Brigade players arrive. Higgins is still catching passes – not just standing or running routes. He lies flat on his back and catches passes as he sits up. He takes balls from every conceivable odd position – preparing to catch in a game situation where he may be hit by a defender or have to go after a tipped pass.
4:49 Kansas City kicker Clay Rush begins taking short warm-up kicks.
4:54 Kats’ QB Jeff Smoker is tossing passes to Vic Lombardo. Kenny Higgins quickly comes over and begins taking passes from Smoker.
5:05 Brigade players begin to practice taking kicks off the nets. Meanwhile, Kyle is bending the extremely flexible Monty Montgomery into a position I would not be able to achieve even with the assistance of two defensive linemen.
5:08 The pyro team tests the strobe lights.
5:11 The game officials arrive and do a quick walk thru of the field.
5:34 Microphone check.
5:36 Stacie Kinder brings the Little Kittens back out onto the field for a photograph.
5:40 Anthem singer Crystal Armentrout practices the Star Spangled Banner
5:58 While I had slipped out to the media room for a quick meal, the Brigade began their organized workouts. Team workouts are precisely timed. First the visiting team gets the whole field. Then the home team comes out and each team works out on half of the field, then the visiting team returns to the locker room and the home team uses the entire field.
6:00 Ushers move into position.
6:05 Fans begin to file into the stands.
6:36 Kats warm-up session ends. The Kats Krew begins throwing t-shirts into the crowd as the team leaves the field..
6:38 Pyro team begins final set-up.
6:49 The visiting KC Brigade make their entrance.
6:51 The Music City Kittens enter and perform their opening dance routine.
6:54 Video for the Kats entrance.
6:55 Kats starting defense introduced.
6:57 A moment of silence for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting, at the request of VT alumni James Baron.
6:58 Armentrout performs a beautiful rendition of the national anthem. One thing we don’t have a problem with in Nashville is finding excellent singers.
7:02 Coin toss.
7:05 The play clock starts winding.
You pretty much know what comes after that. Now you have a little glimpse of what comes before.
