why i have to root for the nj devils

let me preface this with stating that i don't know much about hockey. i'm not a regular fan, i hardly ever watch hockey... sometimes i'll watch a bit of the "winter classic" they show on new years day. so i'm a tourist. if you're a hockey purist, you can take joy in knowing that i don't know what i'm talking about.

the nj devils are facing the new york rangers in the eastern conference finals. and in this area it's sorta a big deal. anyone that's into hockey around here is usually rooting for one of these two teams. occasionally i encounter an islander or flyer fan, but let's be honest, fuck those people.

so i find myself naturally wanting to root for the nj devils. and i have many reasons for it... none of them being that i'm an actual fan of the hockey team. i can't even name two players on that team.

also, i'm a bit of a turncoat. i rooted for the rangers in 1994. i didn't know much about hockey back then either but my best friend at the time, eric, and his pops... they knew everything about those rangers. and it was goddamn contagious. so i chose my side back then and i rooted for the rangers and the rangers won it and all was well with the world and i really didn't care how devils fans felt about it.

fast forward a bunch of years and i actually went to a hockey game live. i got tickets through my job at the time and it was for devils vs. rangers in madison square garden (regular season game). i went in a rangers fan. but during the game, ranger fans were talking so much trash about new jersey... not just the team, but about my beloved home state, that when i left, i felt somewhat betrayed by the rangers fan base. i found myself wanting to change sides.

but since i don't watch hockey much, i never put much thought to it... till now...

new jersey needs something to be proud of beyond bruce springsteen. our reputation's getting pretty nasty elsewhere. the rest of the country figures we're all cast members of the jersey shore or real house wives or whatever other reality drivel is filmed in the garden state. long gone are the days when everyone thought we were all pasta fazool eating mobsters.

even though i don't watch much hockey, i do know it's a badass sport and there's fights and blood and knocked out teeth. i'd much rather jersey be known elsewhere as a hockey state than the snooki state. jersey needs this...

and we need it now. we just lost our basketball team. the new jersey nets went turncoat and will now be the brooklyn nets. it makes me mad and what's worse is that i kinda like their new fucking logo.... but that's besides the point.. they'll probably make some awesome trade in the offseason, get better, and actually sell tickets. it's infuriating. it's like the sports world has no love for new jersey.

all you have to do is look at the demographics of hockey fans in this state. up north i'd dare to say there's more ranger fans than devil fans.... and the farther down south you go, the more flyer fans you encounter. we can't even as a state unite behind one team... in fact not just one team, but the only team that rocks the name of our state with pride.

this is about so much more than hockey. this is about a state in crisis... the garden state, my home...

this is about new fuckin jersey!