The atmosphere at Prudential Center, re-visited
by Travis Hughes on Apr 17, 2010 7:12 PM EDT
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PrintA few things to note before delving into this. As I said yesterday, I planned on taking a lot of pictures and a lot of video at Prudential Center on Friday night. But, of course, between warm-ups and puck drop, my phone, which I was relying on as my camera, decided to break. Like, really break. Don't believe me, Devils fans? Here's a picture.
The pictures I did take at the game aren't retrievable, but they were obviously all taken prior to the game anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference. What follows below, however, is a completely honest account of what I saw. I sincerely hope that, even without the photographic evidence that I promised, Devils fans and Flyers fans alike will believe my account.
And with that said, I was actually rather impressed with the atmosphere at Prudential Center on Friday night. It was probably about 75 percent Devils fans, 25 percent Flyers fans. Those of us in orange and black were a clear but vocal minority, which I assume you could hear on the television broadcast. The "Booooooosh" chants were unrelenting, of course, and we were very loud throughout the entirety of the game.
But like I said, the diehard Devils fans in attendance did impress me quite a bit. Does that mean everybody rooting on the home team impressed me? Hell no. But read on, please.
THE BUILDING
I met up with John Fischer from In Lou We Trust before the game and he introduced me to a friend who's name unfortunately escapes me. The duo asked where my seats were, and when I responded with section 228, they said "uh oh, up there with the crazies," or something along those lines.
When at these seats that are literally in the roof of the Prudential Center, you look across at those on the opposite side of the ice equivalent to yours, through a maze of Seton Hall Big East championship banners and metal girders, and you question how they can possibly be good seats. Somehow they are, though, one of the many amazing features of this building. They're much further away from the ice than an upper level seat at the Wachovia Center, but the sight lines are still incredible, even when you're six rows from the ceiling.
It truly is a fantastic venue. It's easy getting there, it's absolutely beautiful inside and out, there's plenty of standing room along the spacious upper concourse, and the food is superb.
But there are also features of the building which severely hurt the atmosphere. The three center ice sections in the lower bowl are completely segregated from the rest of the lower bowl. They're even colored differently and have the Devils logo emblazoned on the back of each seat. VIP, ya know.
Tickets here go for $250 a pop, compared to $96 for the same seat in Philadelphia. It fosters a corporate attitude in which people don't sit in the seats, instead opting to hang out in the private concourse with their suits and bow ties. Hedge funds are more exciting than hockey, apparently.
The impact of this is rather obvious during the game when empty seats in that section are commonplace, but it's also pretty evident during warmups as well. Everybody who's been to a game in Philadelphia has seen how fans gather behind the player benches during warmups, standing up watching the action on the ice. It builds excitement, doesn't it?
In New Jersey, you can do that, but you have to stand over in a small area to the side of these center ice sections. You're basically crammed into one tiny area practically at each goal line with anybody else who might want to get and up-close glimpse at the players before the game begins. Excitement = killed.
This was a serious mistake by my estimation -- putting 2,300 club seats in the areas closest to the players and the ice. But premium customers sell tickets, right? Who cares about the experience of the everyday, working fan?
THE BANDWAGON
I didn't really take the "uh oh, up there with the crazies" comment from John and his friend too seriously. I mean, I'm from Philly, right? As it turns out, it really wasn't all that crazy at all. Most of the people in my section were extremely unoriginal in their "insults," to which I responded with a lot of laughter and a lot of "come on, that's all you've got?" remarks.
For example, a few of the things I heard screamed at me by the "crazies."
- Richards (whose name was stretched across my back) sucks.
- Flyers suck.
- Boucher sucks.
- How old were you in 1975?
- You suck.
And literally, that's about it. Most of the fans up here seemed to be very, very bandwagon. They either wore "Red Alert" t-shirts that were handed out during Game 1 or they wore nothing Devils at all. Maybe a hat. That's not to say there weren't people with Devils jerseys on, and there are a lot of those people at the Rock who do clearly care a lot about their team, especially in the cheap seats.
But to say that those people actually outnumber the people who were clearly there just to see PLAYOFF HOCKEY is just not accurate. I can make this claim for many reasons. The lack of Devils apparel is the obvious one, but the actions of these people are even more of a dead giveaway.
Let's look at some of the chants that the "crazies" engaged in on Friday night.
- Let's Go Devils, quite often.
- Flyers suck, again quite often.
- SHOOOOOOT! Even when the puck was loose. All the time really, even more than morons in Philly who do it (which I didn't think was possible).
- The dumbest chant in hockey: "HEY, YOU SUCK." Here's a video from YouTube. Think about it. Your team just scored a goal. You are celebrating that goal. You're also screaming "YOU SUCK." Of course, they intend to tell the other team they suck, but it certainly seems like they're telling their own team they suck, doesn't it? Watch the video again. It's dumb, but everybody does it -- even the bandwagoners.
- Lots of complaining about even obvious penalties. My entire section was in an uproar when Darroll Powe and Ilya Kovalchuk were called off for concurrent minors. "Bull shit" chant, whole nine yards.
A lot of these people -- again, mostly wearing little to zero Devils apparel -- were just downright rude. Maybe this is what John and his friend meant by the "crazies," but it was obvious that a lot of people were just there to get drunk and antagonize people, much like the unfortunate crowd you see at Phillies games these days. That said, I saw stuff in section 228 and 229 on Friday night that is much worse than anything I've ever seen in Philadelphia.
THE 'PHILLY-LIKE' STUFF
The Devils mascot, which is uber lame on it's own, stood between the two sections at one point banging a big drum in an attempt to lead the fans in a "Let's Go Devils." It was during a television timeout, and a Flyer fan came walking up the steps on the wayback to his seat. The mascot blocked the steps and continued banging his drum.
The Flyer fan tried getting by him, given that play was about to start back up again, and the mascot didn't let him through. The guy continued to try to get through, eventually getting past the giant cartoon, but it swung back with his drumstick in another attempt to bang the obnoxious drum, but this time he caught the Flyer fan right in the side of the head with the big plastic ball on the end of the stick. (The drum stick sort of looked like this one, minus the child's drum.)
The guy was pissed, as any normal human being would be, grabbing the stick out of the hand of the animation and proceeded back to his seat. Several fans from atop section 229 threw beers at him, even hitting him and his girlfriend once, I believe. Good aim? Prudential Center security came over and removed the Flyer fan and his girlfriend from the section, and I can only assume, the game. Kicked out of the game because a cartoon assaulted him. The fans who threw the beers, by the way, were left to carry on for the remainder of the game despite the pleas of a whole group of Flyers fans in 229 who were pointing them out to security. Absolutely pathetic.
During the second intermission, my girlfriend and I took a trip to the bathrooms. She was out before I was, waiting along the wall for me outside. During her wait, a grown man said "nice jersey, faggot" to her. She's 20 years old, looks innocent as can be, and she was alone. What the hell kind of human being would do something like this? They come from the same cloth as those who vomit on 11-year-olds, I imagine.
I'm not pointing out these things to try to paint a negative picture of Devils fans or anything, but I do it for two reasons: one, to show that, no, this bullshit doesn't just happen in Philadelphia. Two though, and more importantly, to illustrate the fact that a lot of these people are just drunks. Not hockey fans, not Devils fans.
A STRONG FOUNDATION
Overall, the biggest impression I got out of my first encounter with the Devils fan base is that there's just a general lack of interest. The atmosphere on the whole is rather sterile, despite the drunk bafoons -- "crazies," if you will -- in the upper deck. On about 10 occasions, the scoreboard prompted fans to stand up and waive their free "Red Alert" rally towels. Maybe a third of the crowd actually did it each time. When prompted to "Make Some Noise" by the scoreboard, fans didn't really respond either.
During goals and scrums and other exciting moments in a very exciting game, the place did get pretty loud. It wasn't Wachovia Center loud by any stretch, but I'm willing to chalk that up to the acoustics of the building. During a normal stretch of play, however, Prudential Center was rather timid.
I have to admit: some of the chants from the die-hards were quite clever. During the penalty kill for example, fans chant "KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!" over and over again until the puck is cleared. I like this. There's also some long form chant where it seems a few fans (or maybe one guy?) leads the crowd in a "Gimme a D! D! etc." type thing.
The problem with these? Maybe 10 people are doing them. That's an exaggeration, of course, but it's completely obvious that maybe -- maybe -- half the people can tell what's going on.
There was a family in front of me; a dad and his two young boys. The dad and I talked back and forth throughout the game, and during the first intermission, he told me that as a season ticket holder, he was glad to see the building so full for the playoffs. We talked about the subject for a while, with him telling me how there's a really strong foundation down but that the team hasn't been able to gather fans in droves.
This seemed pretty accurate with what I was seeing. Yes, there are the die-hards. There are the folks who have season tickets, painted faces, and an unrelenting love for the New Jersey Devils; the people who come up with the clever chants and the people who actually do stand up and waive their towels.
The problem is that there aren't enough of these people. It's a small fan base, and hopefully a beautiful new building can turn some of these rather disinterested band wagoners into die-hards.
That sort of transformation is exactly what the Devils organization needs to compete with the Flyers, the Rangers and the Islanders. It's possible for them, and I think it would be good for all of us if it happens. The foundation is there, but the house isn't built just yet.
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Unanswered questions:
- Did you see the cheerleaders that all the writers were talking about on twitter? If so, how lame were they?
- Was the music they played as bad as everyone on twitter and even on DNL were saying?
- How was there arena vision type stuff? (i.e. videos before the game to get the fans going, motivational stuff during the game…etc)
Very good read, Travis. Well written and unbiased. Wish I could go to any of these games.
"Good night. Good hockey."
1. The cheerleaders were really, really lame. They were randomly dancing to lame 80s music here and there, but that’s about it. Didn’t seem like they really served much of a purpose.
2. Boruk’s tweet the other day about the lame 80s music was spot on. My girlfriend even made a remark about how bad it was, and she’s pretty tolerant of crappy music (hope she doesn’t read this).
3. The arena vision stuff was okay. Mostly just shots of the cheerleaders and the mascot. The pre-game video was pretty cool though. Um, as for motivational stuff, it was mostly just text. Let’s go Devils scrolls and Wave Those Towels scrolls and stuff. They had this one clip with the Jersey Boys from Broadway and they played it at least twice, maybe more.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Apr 17, 2010 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions
I never have, and probably never will understand the presence of cheerleaders at a hockey game. Hope you don’t get in trouble with your girlfriend!
"Good night. Good hockey."
by KreiderDesigns on Apr 17, 2010 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Hah, she doesn’t read my work anyway — let alone the comments.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Apr 17, 2010 8:19 PM EDT up reply actions
My phone was also a casualty of playoff hockey. Though it met it’s maker at the end of the game and through much more violent means. (In my defense it was half broken before the game)
"Good night. Good hockey."
by KreiderDesigns on Apr 17, 2010 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m most impressed with the 20 year old girlfriend. How old are you Travis? Maybe I’m assuming you’re closer to my age for some reason…
Hah, I’m 20 too.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Apr 17, 2010 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions
75-25 is about what I judged the crowd to be from watching and listening on television. Cheering when the Flyers scored was very audible and very visible in the front few rows that were shown on TV. That being said, it did feel like there was a more raucous atmosphere at The Rock than there was for Game 1. Of course, I think the most natural explanation for that is this was a far more exciting game, but regardless, it did sound decently loud during the game’s exciting moments.
Maybe I heard wrong on the TV, but at one time I thought I heard Flyers fans chanting “LET’S GO FLYERS!” and Devils fans chanting “LET’S GO DEVILS!” at the same time. Was there such a moment, or was I hearing things?
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
Happened once or twice if I recall correctly, but a lot of the chanting is kept to specific corners of the rink. One chant can pop up in one corner, but you can barely hear it in the other corner.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Apr 17, 2010 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions
i was at the game earlier in the year that the flyers won at the rock, like the 2nd game of the season. it was empty and probably 60-40% flyers fans but this was also a regular season game in like october or whatever and im biased. as a 22 year old girl with my 22 year old friend we really enjoyed getting “flyers suck you stupid bitches!” “gagne (my jersey) sucks whore!” i mean okay fans heckle but the name calling by older men to two really unintimidating girls is a little uncalled for. i’ve also been to flyers an away game at the islanders and didn’t experience anything like that there.
but as a flyers fan, i was laughing at the uninspired showing by devils fans, i was in the lower bowl though so i cant account for what went on with the “crazies.” and i’m bitter about being called a whore, so there’s that!
Seriously, great read Travis. Took me awhile, but I finally read it.
As someone who didn’t see Game 1 (I was at the Phillies game, purchased months in advance), Game 2 seemed really loud. I honestly didn’t understand what the fuss was about Game 1, but I’m assuming the two games were vastly different in terms of crowd noise.
Lastly, as far as the opponent chanting goes: When I tried (unsuccessfully) to go to a Penguins/Flyers game in Pittsburgh 2 years ago, those chants were even more lame. Seriously, all I got was “Let’s Go Penguins!” and “BOOO!” I’m not even lying. I got one, one “Flyers suck!” My reaction each time was, “That’s it? Really?” I felt sorry for Pittsburgh. Not one person called me gay, suggested I have an inappropriate relationship with my mother, or that I play the skin flute. I was very disappointed.
I’m surprised nobody from ILWT has come over though.
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Apr 17, 2010 11:23 PM EDT reply actions
I don’t want to say it was night and day, but I think the exciting plays of Game 2 had the crowd making more noise than the dull defense and lack of a threat from the Devils in Game 1.
One commenter at ILWT called Travis an ape and does not want to further waste his time any further by reading Travis’s work, even after it was pointed out that Steve Lepore said it was “tough, but absolutely fair and mostly accurate.” I guess some people don’t like seeing an opposing viewpoint about their oh so perfect arena and their oh so marvelous fanbase that can do absolutely no wrong.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
As far as the first paragraph, that’s a huge problem. The Devils play a very boring, dull defensive game. If their fans don’t enjoy that type of game, the team is in serious trouble.
Secondly, this series has made me respect the Penguins – Pensburgh specifically – a lot more. We give them a lot – and I mean a lot – of shit for being bandwagon fans, but those guys aren’t. They’re knowledgeable, respectful, and generally not blind-homers. Obviously, every fanbase (and website) has those people, including us, but last year was a lot more fun with FrankD and HooksOrpik around.
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Apr 18, 2010 12:10 AM EDT up reply actions
They got upset at the Devils “dull defensive hockey team” notions over there as well. Travis had made a joke about it in his preview and what there is to like and dislike about all 16 teams. Apparently stating the sometimes painfully obvious that the Devils are a defense first hockey team equates to Travis being an ape. I am yet to figure it out, myself.
Reading that makes me wish I had known about this site last year for that series. I occasionally visit Pensburgh, more so when there is a game upcoming with the Flyers, and those guys are very cool over there. Sure the Pens have some bandwagon fans now, but you are not finding them over there. I can imagine that being more fun than this is with the Devils thing. Granted I have chipped in more than my two cents on the matter, both here and (mistakenly) there, but at points I feel the Devils fans are asking for it. People who are Devils fans are not bad people, and I would never suggest anything to the contrary, but if they can just listen to what other people say with an open mind, and understand what we are saying, things will be better off. One commenter (Devils fan, I believe) estimated game 2’s crowd to be 95-5. Fischer of ILWT posted a comment at their game thread that their were “hundreds of Flyers fans” at the game. I just saw games on TV and certainly did not count numbers, but listen to the crowd reaction as the Senators score their first goal against the Penguins in Game 2, it comes right at the beginning of the video. Now listen to the crowd reaction as Aaron Asham scores the first goal for the Flyers in Game 2, it starts at the 1:15 mark. It’s a world of difference. At Pittsburgh, it was almost silent. In Newark, there were cheers, there were people jumping, and it was fairly loud. My point is what you saw in Pittsburgh was a partisan crowd filled with nothing but home team fans (in that case, Pittsburgh) and what you saw in Newark was not a fully partisan crowd, as the people at ILWT would lead you to believe. We can guesstimate numbers all day and never get anywhere, in the recap I had 75-25, Travis guessed the same here, but who can say for sure. But to put that at 95-5 and seriously say “hundreds” cheered when the Flyers scored??? Get real.
I now go over at ILWT and see this thing has blown up to levels it never should have. I’ve said my piece more than once and will consciously make an effort to refrain from any more jokes or points about Devils fans.
Proudly supporting a Flyers team with "no honor".
I just read the Devil’s discussion about BSH, and I can safely say “fuck that noise”.
Keep up the good work, Travis.
So, after reading this paragraph:
Aside: I’m going to start calling Richards the Honorless Captain. He is without honor and it’s a shame because he’s so talented. He picked up two assists, he had 2 shots on net, played 24:40, drew Kovalchuk into a slashing minor (which the Flyers did little on the ensuing power play) and went 13 for 23 on faceoffs. He had a good night but my big takeaway from Game 2 was his cheapshots on Parise in the first period.
I stopped reading. Calling a guy “honorless” in the same paragraph as you brush off an unprovoked slash to the back of his leg? Really?
Plus, what is up with these NY/NJ guys and their “honor”?
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Apr 18, 2010 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m not going over to ILWT to talk about this anymore, and this article is likely the last time I discuss the subject at all. But I thought I was quite fair in my analysis here, (and I also think I’m always extremely fair and as unbiased as possible, but according to some Devils fans that’s not true either) and I stand by everything I wrote and everything I’ve ever written.
If Devils fans want to take shots at my integrity (or my species, apparently) while ignoring the points I’ve made above, that’s fine. But I don’t write for Devils fans at BSH — they don’t pay the bills around here. I care about what you guys, the members here at BSH and other Flyers fans who might stumble upon this, think. So if you all understand where I’m coming from and you all still believe I have integrity (and that I’m a human, I guess), that’s really all that matters to me.
I’ve said my piece on the subject, it’ll be here as long as the Internet exists, and I really truthfully don’t care what the fine folks at ILWT care about us anymore.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
Obviously I wasn’t at the game so I can’t say how accurate your article is but you obviously make many concessions and compliment the building and the fans on a lot. Your harshest criticisms were of specifics and not generalities. A person who calls a woman minding her own business a “faggot” is something that should be called out and criticized by all humans even if it’s a flyers fan calling a pens fan by that word, it’s wrong, idiotic and disgraceful. No matter what you’re posting about you’re very objective, balanced and fair. It’s why I love this site so much. This site is filled with smart hockey fans, probably some of the smartest I’ve ever met. Besides, I’ve met you twice and I think you look more like a camel than an ape…definitely some sort of dromedary. They’re way off.
We got your back dude.
"Good night. Good hockey."
by KreiderDesigns on Apr 18, 2010 3:23 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s really a shame. I’ve said countless times, one of the things I love about this site is how civil everyone is. I’ve seen guys from the Pens blog, and the Caps blog on here many times, and it’s always respectful. Not so with ILWT. There’s nothing worse than attempting to have a conversation with someone, knowing absolutely nothing you say will get through…
I feel like I'm going to regret this
But as a Devils fan I feel the need to respond to some of this.
First, I’ll note I’ve never been to another hockey arena besides the Prudential and Continental way back in the day, so I can’t compare the atmosphere with other arenas like you did. So maybe the comparisons will be off, but that’s how it is.
First off, sucks about your camera. What happened? I’m not doubting it actually broke, but that stinks.
-I wasn’t at the game, but from what I saw and what John said, 80-20 to 75-25 devils-flyers sounds right.
-Agree with you on the building. It really is fantastic, and the food is great
-Also going to agree with you on the lower bowl corporate seats. They shouldn’t sell so many of those to them, especially since they usually go to the bar.
-It’s warmups. When I go, my friends and I usually walk down and bang on the glass, so idk if it’s that much of a loss.
-It’s a sports game. How creative do you think a person at a sports game is going to be? I really doubt anyone makes up anything more creative elsewhere. I mean, did you expect a jingle or song?
-Bandwagon and Devils, probably the first time I’ve heard those together
-Fans yelling shoot is annoying and dumb
-I completely disagree, “Hey, You Suck” is one of the greatest chants ever. I find it better than Pennywise
-People are going to complain about penalties, even if their warranted. But a ton of them were not warranted.
-The NJ Devil is not lame. What he did was just for laughs. What happened afterwards is inexcusable.
-Calling someone names is not akin to barfing on someone. The former happens at every game.
-When the Devils scored, the place is loud. When the flyers score, it’s quiet. Pretty much the same in any home away place I’ve been (non-hockey venues).
-Yes the “Ice Girls” are lame. We’re not the only ones with them, but they’re probably not as lame as ours.
Game wise, that was a great game. Hopefully tonight’s will be also.
Never assume skill at bouncing a ball makes you smarter than the guy who built the court.
When there's a WILL there's a WAY
Thanks for being civil and objective. The only thing in your post I would take umbrage with would be this:
-Calling someone names is not akin to barfing on someone. The former happens at every game.There is a difference between names and slurs. “Faggot” is a volatile and hateful word. I see a world of difference between calling someone an idiot or moron or something akin to that and calling someone who’s minding their own business one of the more destructive and hurtful words in our language today. Sure it’s no intentional vomit but still, disgraceful.
But you’re right, the Delta Dental Ice Team in Philly was really dumb and I hated it as much as I would hate any cheerleaders. Most people at sports games aren’t great with zingers, though I do have to say that section 213 had a couple hecklers that would toss out a handful of gems per game.
"Good night. Good hockey."
by KreiderDesigns on Apr 18, 2010 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s not so much the name or the word in my opinion, moreso that you’re a grown man saying it to a girl who’s just standing in a corner minding her own business. Comes from the same class of people, I’d say.
Oh, and our Ice Team sucks too. Yeah. They aren’t cheerleaders though, and the Flyers barely use them for anything.
Broad Street Hockey - SBN's Philadelphia Flyers blog. Got goaltending? Searching since 1987.
by Travis Hughes on Apr 18, 2010 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm not defending it
But those things happen everywhere, unfortunately.
As for bad comebacks, I was at a Giants game last year when we lost to the chargers in the last half minute. Some guy was yelling “Yankees” at a Chargers fan. I was like, wtf, this is football, who cares what the Yankees did, this is different.
Never assume skill at bouncing a ball makes you smarter than the guy who built the court.
When there's a WILL there's a WAY
Well in defense of the Devils fans, and those at ILWT…it doesn’t matter what any of us say, or how legit or false it may be, when you attack a fan base you are going to get an argument, simple as that. Much like we would jump to the defense of the Flyers fan base, Devils fan’s are doing the same. Just like most Cap’s and Pen’s fans seem to disagree with the assessment that the majority of their fans are bandwagon fans. Though the one guy from Jasper’s Rink that comes over here a lot, can’t remember his name,(Fehr and Balanced maybe) but he has at least admitted that a good number of Cap’s fans are bandwagon fans. And so be it. Right or wrong, we have our opinion and they have theirs.
It’s funny because I struggle with this myself as it pertains to the Phillies. The Phillies have always had a lot of passionate fans but there is no denying that there are a ton of “new” fans as a result of their recent success. Now I would never say that the Phillies fan base is a bandwagon fan base but I could never argue that there are not a ton of bandwagon fans.
Morale of the story, it doesn’t matter what you say, you can’t ever win an argument when it comes to a teams fan base because most people are going to respond based on emotion, which means their responses are nor rationale or logical.
Well . . .
As for your mascot tirade, I can totally picture the Philly Phanatic doing the same thing. Remember Tommy Lasorda? Oh right you don’t because you probably weren’t alive. I was there as a 10 year old watching that. I loved it. And I’ve also seen the Phanatic goof on visiting fans before. Did I see any get ejected? Can’t say that, but maybe it’s happened.
I will admit the atmosphere at the Rock wasn’t what it was at the Wachovia Center and it might not ever be. That’s fine. Comparing the two isn’t fair because it’s comparing a big market to a smaller market team. It’ already tough in New Jersey. 2 of the biggest cities in the world are dwarfing you. People in the South part of the state identify with your Southernly big city neighbor and some traitors in the North (most of them Yankees and less so Mets fans) feel like they gotta pull for the Rangers because daddy was a fan and the Devils weren’t around before that.
I’ve said it before, the fans that grew up on the Devils are in their mid-to-late 30s at oldest. Purchasing power is just getting up there to land those season tickets. And we know hockey. If the team stays competitive, it will get better before it gets worse.
There is also a big metro difference between the NYC metro area and the Philly one. You can find a similar atmosphere at MSG as you would at the Rock. I would challenge you to go to a Ranger game at MSG and compare the two. I wore my Devils jersey to a Devil-Ranger game this year and to the 3D game and didn’t even get messed with. The early 90s Ranger upper deck “Blue Seat” fan has seemed to go the way of the dodo. Corporations buy up many of the seats and the fans in the upper bowl seemed to chant the usual novice hockey fan platitudes that you mentioned. I was genuinely surprised, but maybe it’s a larger comment on the corporate and ticket broker cultures dealing with seats at arena games in general.
And in Manhattan, you have dinner before the game and drinks (a lot of time wine and not beer) afterward. It’s more that “Let’s do a dinner meeting at the Garden deal.”
Don’t also get me started on how NYC talk radio totally ignores the Devils, the Rangers and Islanders and hockey in general. If it weren’t for Boomer Esiason, hockey wouldn’t even make the airwaves. His partner , Craig Carton, actually trashes the sport on a consistent basis.
On the flip side, on 610am, I think they do a great job balancing the 4 sports and Cataldi and Eskin care about hockey enough to mention it often, though many times halfheartedly. Angelo had Jones and Morganti on and spent my entire hour drive North talking hockey this morning until exit 9 killed the signal. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN UP HERE. They talk about only baseball, even in the winter, where it’s only talked about less because the Giants and Jets get some airtime.
Point of the matter is Travis, no other city in North America has fans like Philly does. Yeah, we know the bad antics they can do and often do and get noted for. But for straight passion? It can’t be matched. When 6 Rocky films become part of your culture, and you develop that same underdog attitude when it comes to your sports’ teams while imagining them carrying the championship trophy to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” – you have the Philly fan. Add Invincible to the next generation and it will only get more Hard Core. Add a little beer and you get the craziness level.
When it comes to the Devils’ fanbase, people still gotta get over that Newark Bogeyman stereotype. Emailing people an article about a recent murder in Newark isn’t going to keep me away. The murders in Philly don’t. Inviting people to eat outdoors at a Portuguese restaurant in the Ironbound before the game while enjoying some cervejas and spring weather is something that you should do next time, when you’re of age.
The New Jersey Devils have a small market, but loyal, and very much growing fan base. Can’t say that about the Islanders. Wonder where all those Caps fans showed up all of a sudden too? And I again invite you to go to a Ranger game and see what you think of what it’s become recently. Comparing the atmospheres at the Rock to the Wachovia Center can’t be made because it’s just not the same – and that’s OK.
With the Nets likely leaving for Brooklyn, the New Jersey Devils will be the only professional sports team bearing the state’s name. I know you South Jersey Flyer fans may not admit it, but there’s got to be some sentimentality for the Devils when that happens. Because that’s a real underdog.
Devils in 6!
I have respect for most sports fans with 2 exceptions: NY Ranger fans who grew up in New Jersey, and Dallas Cowboy fans who can't name the capital of Texas.
When 6 Rocky films become part of your culture
There were only 5: Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky Balboa
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Apr 19, 2010 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Nope - 6 of them.
Maybe you forgot about Tommy Gunn back in 1990?
I have respect for most sports fans with 2 exceptions: NY Ranger fans who grew up in New Jersey, and Dallas Cowboy fans who can't name the capital of Texas.
This is no such thing. That never happened.
(I’m aware there was a movie titled “Rocky V”, but it is not a “Rocky” movie. Unfortunately, denial doesn’t translate through words.)
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Apr 19, 2010 10:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Really great read. I was also at Game 2 and I think you have a very accurate assessment of the atmosphere. I went to all 3 regular season games at the Rock as well, and the crowd was certainly louder and larger than it was those (granted one of the games was the blizzard day). It is unfortunate because I do think it is a nice stadium. It’s a short walk from the train, the food is good, there are lots of open areas to stand around. The luxury seats are really the problem, as they make the lower bowl always seem only 1/3 full (every time I’ve had to snap a picture, it’s shocking to me). I did get to sneak down to those seats during the snow day and they are quite comfy, with cushiony leather seats and cupholders too. But definitely not worth $250 a seat.
All-in-all, I found the fans, at least the ones sitting around me, to be very unknowledgable bandwagoners. From the “shooooot” screams every time the Devils touched the puck, the outrage at every penalty called against the Devils (even though I’m sure that they, like me, didn’t actually see half of them), or the girl behind me screaming, screaching, squealing – not really sure how to describe what was coming out her mouth – “get it ooooout” every time the Flyers were on the power play, regardless of which team had the puck. It was actually a somewhat miserable experience for me, and not just because the Flyers lost.
I will say the fans in my section were more or less respectful…they pretty much left me alone. But at one of the other games I went to, some drunken Devils fans called me a whore as I was walking down the stairs in my Flyers shirt (right after they had gotten some other Flyers fans kicked out after picking a fight with them).
And the Devils do have the dumbest chant in hockey, although I don’t really remember hearing it on Friday (maybe because the Rangers aren’t in the playoffs!). It’s “Flyers suck, Rangers swallow.” Honestly, I don’t get it.
I vowed to never go back to that place as I was walking back to the train amid ridiculously overjoyed fans (I mean, it was just one game that was essentially a must-win for them). But, I just might have to make one last trek back out to Newark this season on Thursday. Hopefully it’s the Flyers’ last trek there too!
as to the "crazies"
That’s a name that a group of fans have given themselves.
They’re are sometimes called the 228 Crazies or the 233 Crazies, because they sit in those sections and try to get loud and crass. But that doesn’t mean they’re smart fans or have good insults.
Anyway, I think that’s what Fischer meant by his comment.
as to the "crazies"
I am a 228 crazie, and we are smart fans with good insults.
We are good at what we do! and we do it with style.
Say no to plastic toys! Go Green Go wooden toys.
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