Let me preface this entire entry with this — I firmly believe in bad hockey chi. I refuse to talk negatively about another team when my team is playing, even when they are playing against my team. You have NO idea how hard it was as a Devils fan to bite my lip during the Flyers and Rangers series. So now that it is all over, I’m finally ranting, and stating exactly how I feel.
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The beauty of being a blogger versus a writer for a well-established media source is that I can say this without any professional ramification: I hate Los Angeles, I hate the Kings, and I hate their (very) recently expanded “fan” base. Now, before anyone jumps down my throat and labels me as a bitter Devils fan, which I am not, let’s review a couple of things that will help you understand why I feel that way.
I’m not going to lie, I don’t pay attention to the Western Conference if the Devils are still in the midst of their playoff run. I mean I need to focus on our games and the potential matchups. I don’t have the time to pay attention to what’s going on the other side of the country. I had heard some mild buzz about the Kings, basically just as much as any other team from over there, so I was plenty surprised by how many fans they had acquired by the time the finals were about to begin.
Prior to game 1, I had zero issues with the Kings or their fans (well except Wayne Gretzky for obvious reasons), but as the series went on, my mindset would change drastically. Fast forward to New Jersey being down 2 games and having to play in the Staples Center for game 3, and that’s where everything went downhill. Here are said issues that I had:
- Wayne Gretzky ceremoniously dropping the puck prior to the game. When did this tradition start? I have never seen this before. If it was game 1 I could maybe, MAYBE, understand doing this, but at this point we were already 2 games deep. So I really didn’t understand this move.
- Pia from American Idol singing the National Anthem. Typical L.A. move, get a star to do it. Arlette has been singing the National Anthem for the Devils since 2003, and just because we were now put on a nationally televised pedestal, that didn’t change a thing for New Jersey. Everything doesn’t need to be a show.
- Tay Stevens. So some chick with big boobs sits behind, and tries to distract, our coach and players. And a lot of the Kings’ fans rallied around this. Classy.
- The L.A. Kings official twitter. I honestly cannot believe that as an organization, they posted some of the things they did. I understand friendly banter, I understand maybe poking fun, but that twitter feed looked like it was run by a 12 year old boy.
- The plethora of celebrities at the Staples Center. If you truly think that any of those celebrities are actually L.A. Kings fans, and didn’t go just for publicity, you are absolutely crazy. (Note: Matthew Perry aside, because he even flew to NJ to watch the games)
- Jonathan Quick. I want to take nothing away from this kid or the way he played, and this comment has NOTHING to do with him. He was stellar in these playoffs! But here’s what I have a problem with: No one even knew his name until Henrik Lundqvist was knocked out. When I heard Vezina, Lundqvist’s name quickly followed, but now it’s all about Quick. Did anyone hurt themselves hopping from one bandwagon to another?
- The L.A. Kings have 40 season ticket holder accounts for a total of 100 tickets. 100 out of 18,118 seats with potentially real fans. I say potentially because how many are corporate accounts that company’s just use to dish out tickets to important clients when they roll into town? To whatever percentage of that 100 that are actual fans: I congratulate you.
- A fellow Devils fan went to the game in L.A. last night. They wouldn’t let him in with his Devils shirt on. That’s ABSURD! The Devils took a lot of heat for their “no blue” campaign when they encouraged Devils fans to only sell tickets to other Devils fans, but to not let a fan represent their team is outrageous. So even though I’m sure it was still 99.5% pro-Kings, if there were Devils fans there, they literally wouldn’t let anyone see it.
- The attempt at the Marty chant. Again, the ATTEMPT at the Marty chant.
I will say that the Kings deserved to win. That’s all. Had we lost to basically any other organization I would be happy for the team, city, and fans, but I will not throw any support my way to L.A. Look, I’m an avid sports fan, but I’m also a girl. You can pitch a 30 second heartwarming story to me and that’s reason enough for me to get behind, or be happy for, a team, but there is nothing, not one thing, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy about the Kings. So for this to be the way my season ended is simply heart breaking.
So, after the pre-season, regular season, two month long playoffs, NHL draft day, days worrying about whom would get traded and re-signed, I invested a solid 9 months of my 28th year to Devils hockey. And starting July 1st when I’ll be anxiously watching Zach Parise’s every move, I’ll be glad to do it all over again.
From missing the playoffs last year, to playing a game 6 in the Stanley Cup finals, as a fan you couldn’t ask for much more. I personally got to go to at least one game during each round of this playoff season, and it was INCREDIBLE! To the entire organization I say thank you for the great run and memories!