The Nashville Predators are in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history, and they have the Boston Red Sox to thank. Or something like that.
Kevin Brady, a die-hard Predators fan living in Tennessee, has been following Nashville throughout its surprising run through the Stanley Cup playoffs. And like many fans, he has his superstitions — one of which involves the Red Sox.
Brady came home from work the day of the Predators’ first playoff game on April 13 and hastily tossed on a Red Sox T-shirt, which he had gotten during a trip to Aruba in January. When the Preds defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, Brady decided to wear the shirt again in Game 2. After another road win in Chicago, a superstition was born.
Brady has worn the same Red Sox T-shirt for every Predators playoff game in the last 46 days — and has yet to wash it, to the chagrin of his wife.
#Preds fan's stinky, lucky shirt has smell of success https://t.co/rzBo3YDzIQ via @tennessean @PredsNHL
— Mike Organ (@MikeOrganWriter) May 28, 2017
“If we win the Stanley Cup I’m going to have to bury this thing in the backyard somewhere,” Brady told The Tennessean’s Mike Organ. “It could probably stand on its own in the corner.”
The good luck charm has worked, though: Nashville has shocked the world by knocking off the Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks to earn a date with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final. And it is it any coincidence that Brady shares his last name with a certain five-time champion New England Patriots quarterback? We think not.
“I’ve got to be the only guy in the United States who’s using a Red Sox Aruba shirt as a lucky shirt for the Preds, and it’s working,” Brady added. “They should give me season tickets when this thing is over.”
Thumbnail photo via Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports Images
