I’m not really sure what’s taking place in Old Hickory Village via the Web or in the real world. The internet has changed so much in our society so quickly, but it has not changed one thing: We’re all neighbors, whether we’re separated by picket fences or IP numbers. It appears that there’s been plenty of mudslinging in various directions in this particular instance, and I have no clue who is in the right or in the wrong here.

The internet can help us do incredible things, but it also naturally reflects the good and the bad of human nature. Without some measure of respect and civility and a desire for constructive dialogue, what sounds nasty in person still sounds ugly in cyberspace. And that kind of rhetoric, whether analog or digital, doesn’t get anyone very far.

I’m pleased to see Starbucks taking steps to offer free* wifi at its locations. I think the company’s current agreement with T-Mobile is restrictive, and it benefits the wireless carrier far more than the coffee company. Starbucks made this deal early in the wifi era, and in retrospect I think it was a mistake, as competitors lured customers with free internet access of their own. Starbucks is reeling in the wake of increased competition, especially from McDonald’s, and this move is better late than never, in my opinion.

*An active Starbucks gift card is required, and sessions longer than two hours require payment. This isn’t a great way to engender loyalty from your customers, but it’s a start.

Completion of the Preds’ new lease deal with the city of Nashville has taken longer than many expected after an agreement was completed in principle last fall. If negotiations continue to lag, how tempted will the new ownership group be to stick with the original lease?

Hanging over negotiations is the possibility that the Predators could complete this season under the existing lease, fail to average 14,000 tickets a game and invoke an escape clause. The team’s last regular-season game would be on April 4.

“Without a new lease (and with the current low ticket sales), the Team can leave at the end of this year and pay the City approx $18 million … unless the Team is put in default, and we file an injunction that prohibits them from leaving,” Lawrence wrote in his memo.

Such a move, coming so soon after they bought the team with the promise that they would do everything possible to keep it in Nashville, could seriously damage the reputations of the mostly local owners.

I think this is the multi-million dollar question. My guess is that Freeman and company have little interest in exercising the escape clause, but I’m curious whether any of this becomes leverage behind the scenes if those completing the deal continue to be mired in the details. I sure hope not.

Mayor Dean and his administration are looking out for the city and for Preds fans. I applaud them for sticking to their guns about the lease terms negotiated late last year.

The lenders want to be able to assign the lease to new owners if the current owners fail financially and the lenders have to foreclose on the loan. Metro attorneys have resisted that request because they don’t want a third party to have that power, but they’ve made an alternate proposal to the lenders’ attorneys and are waiting for a response.

Allowing lenders this authority could put the Preds’ future here in serious jeopardy over the long haul. Who’s to say that “new owners” might not be Jim Balsillie or another prospective owner set on relocating the team?