Brentwood-based Swiftwick today announced its cut-resistant hockey sock is now available for general consumer purchase.

NHL players with the Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and Dallas Stars use the sock.

Swiftwick began developing the sock three years ago to deliver superior cut and impact resistance against potentially devastating Achilles tendon injuries, yet also allows players to perform effectively.

“No other sock on the market has ever combined cut-resistance, moisture wicking and compression,” Mark Cleveland, Swiftwick co-founder and CEO, said in a release. “In addition, these socks do not inhibit performance on the ice. We’re able to manage moisture while providing blood flow benefits and the performance enhancement of compression, without compromising the overall feel of the sock.”

Nashville Predators ofificials are denying all liability related to a botched “human hockey puck” stunt gone wrong that resulted in a broken ankle for local radio personality Adam Davis. Known over the airwaves as Intern Adam on WRVW-107.5 The River, Davis sued the franchise in August after he was slung across the ice and crashed foot first into the boards during an intermission stunt. Pierce Greenberg and The City Paper have the story here.

Local radio personality Adam Davis is suing the Nashville Predators franchise after a "human hockey puck" promotional effort did not go as planned, resulting in Davis suffering a broken ankle.

Pierce Greenberg and The City Paper have the story here.

Once Cigna's buy of HealthSpring goes final, HealthSpring founder, Chairman and CEO Herb Fritch should enjoy a cash event somewhere on the north side of $150 million, after factoring in change-of-control payments, capital gains and so forth.

Happy New Year, Mr. Fritch!

In addition to having the smart idea of starting and building a company specializing in Medicare Advantage insurance, Fritch is also a key member of the Nashville Predators' ownership group, having bought 36.7 percent of the team in 2007. When David Freeman put together the gaggle of local owners, Fritch was the first partner he announced and was visible from early on during the ownership transition — even wearing a jersey bearing the name "HealthSpring" and the number 1 during the ticket-selling rally.

The question is if his nine-figure windfall makes any difference to the hockey team.

Does Fritch see his ownership stake as a point of civic duty? Did he get involved primarily to keep the team from bolting for colder climes? Or is he interested in hockey as a thing in itself? While he was an early visible face of the new owners four years ago, he's been fairly invisible as a public figure since, ceding those responsibilities to Freeman and now Tom Cigarran. (That's understandable given that HealthSpring has more than doubled in size since 2007.) On the other hand, he is one of the team's alternate governors, the ownership's representative at league meetings. And he did wear that jersey.

Any further investment by Fritch also would dilute the sharesheld by the rest of the group. Of course, a siginficant investment has the potential to make Fritch the majority owner, something the team has been without since Craig Leopold sold to the local investors.

Even without his forthcoming influx, Fritch has been cashing in. He's been selling HealthSpring stock through a trading plan since at least 2008 and has this year sold batches every two weeks or so. Since his last trade of 2010, he has reduced his stake by a net 322,500 shares. Conservatively using $35 as the average sale price — the stock's been well above it for much of the year but below it for some of the time — that adds up to $11.3 million in pre-tax proceeds. Check out his sales history here.

At the team's mid-summer Skate of the Union event, Cigarran said he expected to raise between $20 million and $25 million before the end of 2011 and team COO Sean Henry said the expectation was that the cash would come from local investors — either from owners currently on board or via new money. Cigarran also said the NHL was expected to approve a new ownership stake in the team from Canadian billionaire W. Brett Wilson by September. Now October, neither of those events have come to fruition.

Cigarran was quiet this summer as to how those new millions would be spent, be it on player payroll or building improvement or the more mundane parts of pro sports ownership, like paying off debt or just making the organization more stable in a general sense.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has hired Jeff Schwartzenberg to be its senior director of marketing. Schwartzenberg, who will oversee advertising, promotions, creative, digital marketing and related initiatives for the Museum, most recently put in a short shift as senior director of marketing and communications for the Nashville Predators. Before that, he worked for three years as senior marketing manager at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management after moving to Nashville in 2007.

"It is great to see Bridgestone Arena and Nashville so successful in attracting top-tier entertainment and also to witness the fantastic support of these events by our community,” Sean Henry, Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena chief operating officer/president, said in a release.

“This month has been outstanding,” Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena COO/President Sean Henry said. “The Predators had great attendance all month long, ending with two consecutive sellouts, Bridgestone Arena boasted an incredible nine sold out Garth Brooks concerts and now we are finishing strong with Usher and Zac Brown Band sellouts. These great events have really created a buzz in Bridgestone Arena and all this activity, especially around the holidays, has been really positive for not only us but also Downtown Nashville businesses.

“Especially for us who have been here since before the lockout, usually before football season ends you have a more quiet, not-as-full building,” Sullivan said. “I think they’ve done a great job with the attendance and having people in the stands. We appreciate that, because it’s a lot more fun playing in front of a full crowd than it is an empty building.”