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Wow! This thread has gone on quite a tangent. I'll see if I can bring it back around. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the analogy of New Jersey as a barrel tapped at both ends. Our state has been a significant factor in the development of both New York and Philadelphia. Neither New York or Philadelphia would be where they are today without New Jersey. Yes, our state has benefited from our proximity to these two cities but on the other side of the coin, both Philly and New York have benefited greatly from their proximity to New Jersey. I've seen some people on here that accuse New York and Philly of being an enemy of the state of New Jersey. I do not agree with this. I do understand their superiority complex when it comes to our state but on the other hand, many development firms from both cities have invested heavily in New Jersey cities in an attempt to revive them. If our cities are to revitalize we need all the help we can get and New York and Philly can be powerful allies.
New Jersey pride is sort of an odd thing. It seems as if people identify more with their region than the entire state. People around here seem to have pride only in the parts of New Jersey that they have personal experience with. Anything else might as well be a tired stereotype. If it is outside of your region of New Jersey, you seem to ignore it. Personally, my father's side of the family is from North Jersey. My mother's side of the family is from South Jersey. I grew up in Central Jersey. I have been from one side of this state to the other and have seen great things throughout. If you think that your area of New Jersey is the only good part then you are clearly an idiot. We need to stop alienating the other parts of OUR state and start taking pride in everything that comes from here. I won't list everything that we have to be proud of as that is another thread in and of itself, but bringing it back to the original topic, the New Jersey Devils are something that the entire state can take pride in.
Even if you are a Rangers or a Flyers fan you have to admit that the Devils are a great team. They have been around 30 years and have been to the stanley cup finals 5 times. That is an average of making it to the finals every 6 years! They have arguably the best goaltender of all time, three stanley cups, and numerous players/personnel in the hall of fame (with more on the way). That is a good f***ing team. I want to address some of the criticisms against the Devils.
First of all, while their financial situation is not great, it is certainly not as bad as people are making it out to be. It is odd that people are using the New York Post as reference. Generally speaking, the Post has a terrible reputation and yet people are quoting it as if it were the Bible in reference to the Devil's financial troubles. In response to that I am posting links to the much more respectable New York Times, USA Today, and ESPN that directly counters the Post articles.
Here is my favorite quote from the NHL commissioner. "The playoffs ended, and they didn’t go into bankruptcy. I caution many of you with this on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to club operations, [there is] entirely too much speculation. And most of it wrong." - Bettman (Burnside paragraph 9). The Devils are not going anywhere.
Secondly, I want to address the issue of attendance. I will say this now. The Devils attendance is not indicative of the size of their fan base. In fact, the Devils' fan base is much larger. I will give a few reasons why this is.
1.) Several people have already made the distinction that the Devils' fan base is a generational one. Older hockey fans in New Jersey are most likely Rangers or Flyers fans. Those people are completely ignoring the fact that an entire generation of people have now grown up watching the Devils win their stanley cups. All the people that were born in the late 80's or early 90's grew up watching the Devils win. Where are those people now? I am part of this demographic. We are in college or graduate school or just out of college and unemployed. As a demographic, we simply do not have the disposable income to go to the games to root for our team. That does not mean we do not exist. We exist in great numbers but unfortunately we are a bunch of broke students/young adults.
2.) New Jersey leads the nation in sending kids out of state to go to college. That means that there are a lot of Devils fans that simply are not in New Jersey during the hockey season. If you look at attendance records of individual games however, you will notice that the Devils get a sudden spike in attendance around the holidays every year. When the students are home for winter break they go to Devils games. Take this season for example. There were two sellout games in particular, between the time when winter break generally starts and Christmas against the Sabers and the Penguins. Neither team has a large fan base in New Jersey and yet both games were sellouts.
3.) If there is one team that most people agree are in worse shape, attendance wise, than the Devils, it is the Islanders. This past spring, the Devils organized an invasion of an Islanders Devils game in Long Island. This game was one of only a handful of sellouts for the Islanders and it was because Devils fans invaded it by the thousands. The Devils fan base has the power to travel in large numbers.
4.) Though not as prominent, the Devils do have a significant amount of fans in the Southern portions of our state. During the stanley cup finals this season I was at my friends beach house on LBI and saw numerous people wearing Devils apparel. I saw hats, I saw shirts, I even saw "NJ DEVILS" keyed into a wooden picnic table at a restaurant I went to. Devils fans exist all over this state. Here is a link to the Devils Facebook page showing several fans from Cape May County. You can't get more South Jersey than that.
The Devils are a New Jersey team. They are not a New York team, they are not a Pennsylvania team. I was born and raised in New Jersey and that is why I root for them.
I have no problem making that trip to Newark from down here. Went to a few nets games last year. It felt good supporting a team in our biggest city. I'm sorry but I have no connection to Philly. I love Jersey.
There is nothing with your statement by any means but I couldn't imagine having my favorite team being located in the same state I live in and yet can't even watch them locally on TV, even though the team claims to represent the entire state.
Last edited by gwillyfromphilly; 06-28-2012 at 06:15 PM..
They do represent the entire state. There are agreements that block New Jersey from getting its own area networks. New York and Philly don't want to lose revenue from New Jersey viewers that would switch over to a local network. The Devils are forced to play on a New York channel. That doesn't mean that they don't represent the whole state.
We need to stop alienating the other parts of OUR state and start taking pride in everything that comes from here. I won't list everything that we have to be proud of as that is another thread in and of itself, but bringing it back to the original topic, the New Jersey Devils are something that the entire state can take pride in.
Take pride in? I was rooting for them to lose in the Stanley Cup Finals mainly because they beat my beloved Flyers earlier in the playoffs.
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Even if you are a Rangers or a Flyers fan you have to admit that the Devils are a great team. They have been around 30 years and have been to the stanley cup finals 5 times.
Yes they are a great team and I will admit that.
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The Devils are a New Jersey team. They are not a New York team, they are not a Pennsylvania team. I was born and raised in New Jersey and that is why I root for them.
I hate to break this to you but in reality they are not represent the entire state. South Jersey is Flyers country and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. How can you say the NJ Devils represent the entire state when almost half the state can't even watch them locally on television. Let me ask you a question. Do the Golden State Warriors(NBA) represent all of California?
The long post you wrote was nice to see... thanks for trying to tone down the yelling a bit. At the end of the day, though, you just aren't going to convince people that the Devils represent the state. It's a combination of many things: people being stubborn, people being loyal to their parents, people seeing other cities as being more relevant to them, other teams doing more for local communities than the Devils do, players living amongst people, "teams play for their city not for their state," etc etc etc. There are a plethora of reasons why the people of SJ reject the Devils that have been stated over and over in this thread, so I'm not going to state them again, but again I do appreciate you for trying to look at things objectively.
The long post you wrote was nice to see... thanks for trying to tone down the yelling a bit. At the end of the day, though, you just aren't going to convince people that the Devils represent the state. It's a combination of many things: people being stubborn, people being loyal to their parents, people seeing other cities as being more relevant to them, other teams doing more for local communities than the Devils do, players living amongst people, "teams play for their city not for their state," etc etc etc. There are a plethora of reasons why the people of SJ reject the Devils that have been stated over and over in this thread, so I'm not going to state them again, but again I do appreciate you for trying to look at things objectively.
Nah, I think "montycench" a little confused having grown up in Central Jersey.
4.) Though not as prominent, the Devils do have a significant amount of fans in the Southern portions of our state. During the stanley cup finals this season I was at my friends beach house on LBI and saw numerous people wearing Devils apparel. I saw hats, I saw shirts, I even saw "NJ DEVILS" keyed into a wooden picnic table at a restaurant I went to. Devils fans exist all over this state. Here is a link to the Devils Facebook page showing several fans from Cape May County. You can't get more South Jersey than that.
And Philly Phans aren't going to like it, but due to the high cost of living, more & more North Jersey transplants are moving to Monmouth, Ocean and even (GASP!) Mercer counties. The reverse is not happening. The Devils fan base will continue to invade cheesesteak country. Get ready for a Jimmy Buff's on South Street!
And Philly Phans aren't going to like it, but due to the high cost of living, more & more North Jersey transplants are moving to Monmouth, Ocean and even (GASP!) Mercer counties. The reverse is not happening. The Devils fan base will continue to invade cheesesteak country. Get ready for a Jimmy Buff's on South Street!
Why would the people of South Jersey care about North Jersey transplants moving to Monmouth and Ocean? That's already North Jersey to us.
Haha well I guess that partially answers the question. On a side note, I encourage everyone who has been following this thread to watch that film. It's a great look at NJ as a whole and does a really great job of exploring the issues we've been discussing in this thread.
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