Preds Fired Anthem Singer Tells His Side of Story

I'm in London this week and Paris next week on a family vacation. So you'll have to wait until July 16th for another Periscope or Facebook Live -- but it will be reacting to "Game of Thrones" episode 1! -- and I won't be back on radio until Monday, July 17th. I'm also dialing out on writing much of anything during these two weeks so apologies for those of you who have been missing our usual content here.

Other than updating my Twitter and Snapchat accounts a couple of times a day I'm all in on being dad.

Here are a few pictures from London for those of you who aren't on social media.

We went to Wimbledon thanks to Andy Roddick hooking us up with incredible tickets.

While there I broke out a scorching hot outfit which caused Pippa Middleton to toss me her panties during Nadal's Centre Court match.

And last night we went to see Kings of Leon perform in Hyde Park and after the concert Lara and I hung out with band member Jared Followill backstage, who is an Outkick fan and a massive college football fan as well.

So, anyway, things have been going pretty awesome over here and I'll write a really entertaining European trip column when we we get back to the states, but on July 1st the Preds former anthem singer took a shot at me on Twitter and I responded.

The next day the Preds former anthem singer emailed over 1250 words saying he wanted to get his side of the story out there. I just got around to reading the email today and figured I'd go ahead and publish it here since that's what he wants.

Here it is, unedited. (P.S. I have never mentioned his use of a middle initial. I still don't know this guy's name. He's just the Preds fired anthem dude to me.)

By the way, just told my three boys they could pick how we spent tomorrow here in London. They unanimously voted they want to go to McDonald's and then go watch Minions 3.

USA, USA, USA!

"Clay:

How have I lived in Nashville for 17 years without ever hearing your name? I’m sure you would say it’s because I’m all the things (names) you called me on your show on May 16th … which I finally got around to listening to on the 20th because I was told I needed to. Sadly I’ll never get those minutes back in my life. Get a clue dude. I don’t know what all you do, but do you consider yourself to be a member of the media? Regardless of your answer, if you believe everything you hear or read in various mediums, I would submit that you are infinitely dumber than you have accused me of being.

When the Preds called me to tell me Carrie Underwood would be singing the Anthem before Game 1 vs. Chicago, my contact there is the one who called her “the Captain’s wife” … those were not originally my words. I don’t know why that terminology stuck in my head, and I wish it hadn’t, but it did … so that’s the way the words rolled off my tongue when I spoke to the Tennessean.

I think you were also one of many who questioned or made light of the use of my middle initial. Read the article in The Tennessean from January to find out why I asked the Preds to use the “K.” Not my choice … I did it out of respect for the famous songwriter in town whose name is also Dennis Morgan. I figured he wouldn’t want to be confused with a “nobody” Anthem singer. People like you just assumed I am an arrogant jerk and was afraid I would be the one confused with someone famous. In fact I resisted for years because I suspected it might come off as conceited. But when Paul McCann introduced me as “Dennis Miller” for the second time, and asked how he could make it up to me, I asked them to begin using the “K.”

I give my time to sing the Anthem at The Special Olympics, local cycling races, Little League baseball games, The Tennessee Air Show, pick-up and fundraiser games at Ford Ice Center, and other similar events … again, the overwhelming majority of which are on a volunteer basis. I am attempting to get neither rich nor famous. I am a guy who loves my Country and am honored to sing its Anthem at any invitation I can work into my schedule.

I planned family vacations around the Predators’ schedule this past season because that’s what I thought a person under contract should do. My family and I attended out-of-state weddings and funerals and traveled back sooner than we might otherwise have done so I could fulfill my end of the deal. That deal, expired now by the way, states that I am to be the designated Anthem Singer for all home Playoff games as well. Kind of hard to misinterpret the word “all.” So why wouldn’t I have been upset when I neither sang nor was paid for any Predators home Playoff games this season? It was not an unreasonable expectation since I sang before each and every home Playoff game last year (the only other year I was under contract) and even in 2011 and 2012 as a volunteer. What if you were told your “show” was being preempted by Dan Patrick or some other well-known radio host once Super Bowl week began? You wouldn’t put your Law Degree to work then?

Even though I wish our paths still hadn’t crossed, I have read enough about you now to know you make your fine living by being largely irreverent and dishing out huge doses of satire every day of your life. But – putting aside my wife’s assertion that I frequently have a hard time believing everyone in the world doesn’t see things my way – it’s hard for me to imagine, knowing as much of my story as you now know, that you can’t take off your clay-colored glasses and see that I had a reason to feel disrespected at the very least and, according to my lawyer, legally wronged.

I freely admit my lack of media savvy allowed me to be played. I was approached by the Tennessean about a fun article that turned sour when I let it slip that it was not MY choice to step aside for the Country stars. I probably should have declined the interview request in the first place. The writer told me the Predators had declined comment because it was “after hours” when we did the interview. Less than 120 minutes later the online version hit with a false statement from them. Had I known they would indeed comment and that their statement would not contain the truth I might have gone ahead and told the whole story right then. Hindsight is always 20/20. The poor judgment I demonstrated coupled with the fact that my words were twisted and the Predators’ spokesperson was either misinformed or flat-out lied was a recipe for disaster … and that is certainly what has ensued.

Assuming you (or someone who works for you) made it all the way to the bottom of this lengthy email, I just want you to know that the reason I think about as much of you as you think of me is because I have only listened to your podcast once … and that was the segment concerning me. I think you’ll understand why I’m not a fan. You obviously have a lot of followers and supporters and, as much as I like to laugh and as sarcastic as I am, I would probably be one of them if you hadn’t blasted me for something that contained nowhere close to all the facts. All I ask now is that you consider the “other side of the story.” I don’t care if you ever mention my name on air again … but, selfishly, it sure helps me to get some of these things “off my chest.”

One more thing ...

I know my place and know who I am compared to the stars in this world. If I had a choice between Carrie Underwood and me, Luke Bryan and me, Faith Hill and me, and others ... I'd choose them too. It's the fact that I had a contract that I thought provided protection that bothers me. And that I had made plans, invited guests to the games, etc. based on that expectation. Maybe Little Big Town, Lady A (whom I thought was the best of the Playoffs, for what it's worth) and the others have won awards and have international followings. But they are not my superiors in terms of the fact that we are all human beings and have feelings. The way my words were taken out of context to make it sound like I was disrespecting Carrie. I couldn't be any sorrier for that. But, with all due respect to her, why should that mean more than the who were planning to go to the games with me and ended up not having that same experience? Or more than how the Predators treated me? We were all created by the same God. Are their feelings more fragile? In a city that prides itself on not going "gaga" for celebrities -- and the celebs like it because they can go about their everyday lives without much interruption -- it's ironic (and sad) that so many fans went crazy over the stars and literally got excited about piling on the "nobody" with people like you leading the charge."