Nothing Going On in Nashville…

Or at least it’s eerily quiet in Titanville, and it has been for some time now. So quiet in fact, that the local paper is running stories about the economy, traffic stops, local cuisine and the housing market. In the sports section. To be fair, there hasn’t been a whole lot of news to report over the past week, but we could take a look at some things that may be coming down the pipeline in the next few weeks and months (in no particular and somewhat reverse order). That is, unless you want to read another story about motivating Vince Young.

That sounds like a great movie title – Motivating Vince Young.

For starters, the preseason schedule has been released and the Titans have two “primetime” games. They will open the NFL preseason on NBC on Aug. 9 against the Buffalo Bills in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game at Canton, OH. They will also play the Cowboys in Dallas on Aug. 21 in a game that will be televised on FOX. Here’s the full slate of Titans games for the 2009 preseason.

That leads us to the regular season, which the Titans will also open to a national audience, as they travel to Heinz Field to face the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. This will be the Thursday (Sept. 10) NFL season opener on NBC.  We don’t know the dates of their games yet, but we do know the opponents. And we obviously won’t know until then, but the Titans should have at least one more built-in nationally televised game. Here is who the Titans will face in 2009:

Home: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Miami, San Diego, Arizona, St. Louis

Away: Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, New England, N.Y. Jets, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle

With just a quick look at it, I’ll say that we already dodged one bullet with that Steelers game being in September. No one wants to go into Pittsburgh in late November or December. Let’s just hope that the road games against the Patriots and Jets are during the first half of the season and that those home games against the Chargers and Cardinals are scheduled for the second half.

The there’s the draft that will take place on April 25-26. This is actually the closest thing to look forward to at this point, unless something happens with Torry Holt in the next couple of weeks. The Titans have the 30th pick of the first round, and 10 picks total (four compensatory). Something sorely needed for a team looking to add depth and groom future starters. Here they are, given round first, then pick:

1.30, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, 4.35 (Comp.), 5.37 (Comp.), 6.30, 6.33 (Comp.), 7.30, 7.33 (Comp.)

Free agency should pick up again after the draft, and then before you know it, training camp is here. Here is a list of important dates that will lead the Titans up to camp in July.

So yeah, maybe letting you all know that Courtland Finnegan’s 2nd Annual Karaoke for a Cure Event is coming up this Wednesday is news…

What do you think the next big news will be for the Tennessee Titans?

There is still plenty of “big four”sports news happening in town right now though. If you haven’t been following (shame on you), the Nashville Predators are surging at just the right time. They have points in nine of their last ten games, and currently sit 7th in the Western Conference standings. If they can hold on (and it just gets harder with news like this), they will extend their postseason appearance streak to five straight years. Not bad for a non-traditional hockey market with the second lowest payroll in the league. What may be even more impressive, though, is that the Central Division currently has four other teams in the playoffs at the moment. That makes all five – Detroit Red Wings (2nd), Chicago Blackhawks (4th), Columbus Blue Jackets (6th) and the St. Louis Blues (8th). Only eight teams make it from each conference. Pretty impressive.

Next up, a trip to Columbus to face a surprisingly good Blue Jackets team. You can catch the action locally on FSN which is channel 28 for Comcast customers. Otherwise, you can find your closest sports bar or listen to it here.

And finally, another random video that I randomly put up when I feel like it. I think you’re gonna like this…

You have no idea how many more of these there are on YouTube. There’s a whole world of crazy monkey videos out there. Even more monkeys on motorbikes! Monkeys riding dogs! Drunk Monkeys! Monkeys babysitting! Monkeys doing most anything you or I can do, but soooo much more. Seriously, take half an hour and explore. You know you’ve got half an hour for monkey videos. They’re like little bitty people!