But their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers aren't much better, with 42 points, 7 out of the last Playoff spot.
Next Thursday night, the Devils will play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It will not be one of the more consequential meetings in what was once called "the Lincoln Tunnel Tangle."
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There are certain requirements to being a New Jersey Devils fan:
1. You have to love hockey.
2. You have to love New Jersey, and be ready to defend your home State against all who would insult it.
3. You have to hate the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum.
4. You have to hate the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth, although giving them a grudging respect is definitely permitted, because, unlike most Ranger fans, Flyer fans do tend to know the game.
With regard to The Scum:
5. You have to remind them that they don't get to talk about "history" when they've won the Stanley Cup just once since Pearl Harbor, while we've won it 3 times since Oklahoma City. They don't get to brag about being an "Original Six" team when 4 of the 6 teams weren't original, and that 8 Cups have been won by "Original Six" teams since they last won it (4 by Detroit, 3 by Chicago, 1 by Boston).
6. You have to explain why Henrik Lundqvist is no "king," and will never be as good a goaltender as Martin Brodeur was.
7. You have to explain why Mark Messier was never as good a Captain, and Brian Leetch was never as good a defenseman, as Scott Stevens was.
8. You have to explain why Claude Lemieux was a real player, while Sean Avery was never anything more than a classless thug.
9. And, eventually, at least once, you have to go into the belly of the beast, Madison Square Garden, and see the Devils play the Rangers.
The experience could get ugly -- for reasons that have nothing to do with the physical appearance of either The Scum (the Rangers) or the Scummers (Rangers fans).
And, in case you're wondering: I've adopted the terms "The Scum" -- always Capital T, Capital S -- for your team's arch-rivals, and "Scummers" for their fans, from English soccer. If you don't like to see a sports-themed blog with that kind of language in it, too goddamned bad.
Follow these directions, and, most likely, you will get in, see the game, and get out in one piece.
Before You Go. This game is in the same metropolitan area, so the weather will not be noticeably different upon your arrival than when you left your residence. Nor will the time zone be any different, although Ranger fans often act like it's still 1994 and they're still a successful club. (It isn't, and they're not.) So "Set your watch back 26 years" is merely a joke. Much like the Rangers themselves.
Tickets. Pretty much since the Rangers' late 1970s revival, they averaged 18,200 fans per game, a sellout every night. Since "The Garden Transformed," which is at least the 2nd major renovation of the 1968 Garden (this 2011-13 revamp followed one in 1991-92), capacity has been reduced slightly, to 18,006. But they are no longer selling out every game, averaging 17,186 this season, only about 95 percent of capacity.
Contrast that with the Devils, who are averaging 14,994 this season, or 91 percent of capacity. This is a sore spot in the rivalry: Ranger fans love to point out that they sell out every night, while the Devils don't even come close. Well, what would you rather have in your building: 15,000 people with taste, or 17,000 drunken, boorish animals?
At any rate, if you don't already have a ticket for Saturday's game, you're probably out of luck, unless you want to take your chances with StubHub or a scalper.
Seats in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $323 between the goals and $207 behind them. In the 200 sections, $134 and $151. The former 300 sections are now the 400 sections, going for $110. And the former 400s, the old "Blue Seats," full of the nastiest Ranger fans, are now the 300 sections, going for $175. If you take your chances with a scalper, figure that, whatever price is listed on the ticket, you'll be charged at least double. Law of supply and demand, and all that.
At least you can know that there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Let me rephrase that: There isn't a bad view in the house, and the seats themselves are comfortable -- but those around you might make it a "bad seat." I'd especially advise you, as a visiting fan, to stay out of the uppermost seats: This is hardcore Blueshirt fan territory. If your choice is a seat in the 300s and a seat in the 400s for $50 more, spend the extra half-C-note and be safer.
Getting There. Madison Square Garden is in Midtown Manhattan, between 31st and 33rd Streets, between 7th and 8th Avenues, on top of Pennsylvania Station. The official address for the arena is 4 Pennsylvania Plaza -- if they used a traditional address, it would be either 400 7th Avenue (the main entrance for The Garden is on 7th), or 200 West 32nd Street. 8th Avenue on the west side of The Garden, between 31st and 33rd Streets, is named Joe Louis Plaza, although Louis only fought at the previous Garden.
It's 14 road miles from the Prudential Center, and if you were going to drive from pretty much anywhere in New Jersey, you would take the Turnpike to Exit 16E, and take the Lincoln Tunnel in, taking the right, downtown fork as you came out. But there are only 2 types of people who drive in Manhattan: Professionals (taxi drivers, chauffeurs and deliverymen) and people who end up asking themselves, "Why did I do this?" The fact that The Garden is on top of Penn Station makes it all the more sensible to avoid driving, and take public transportation.
If you go in by New Jersey Transit train, it's simple enough: Just ride to New York's Penn Station. If you go in by bus, from Port Authority Bus Terminal to Penn Station and The Garden, it's just 1 one stop on the Subway: Take the A, C or E train from 42nd Street to 34th.
Times Square
I do want to note that ZIP Codes for Manhattan begin with the digits 100 (including the Knicks' team offices, in 10001), with a few examples of 101 (including the Madison Square Garden Corporation, at 10119, and the Rangers' team offices, in 10121) and 102.
New York's Area Code started as 212, but 718 was split off in 1984, for Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The Bronx was also split off and moved to 718 in 1992. Now, only Manhattan has 212, with 917 overlaid in 1992, 646 in 1999, and 332 will be added this coming June 10. The Tri-State Area has 2 "beltways": Interstate 278, the Belt Parkway, within The City; and Interstate 287, in both New Jersey and Westchester County.
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Besides those involving the home team, these include: The 1st fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on March 8, 1971 (the 2nd was also held there, on January 28, 1974, but was far less significant because neither man then held the title), Nadia Comaneci performing the 1st perfect 10 in an international gymnastics meet in 1976 (before doing it again later in the year at the Olympics at the Montreal Forum), and various concerts and political conventions (the Democrats in 1976, 1980 and 1992, the Republicans in 2004).
Once your ticket is scanned, you will be directed to a "tower" at one of the "corners" of this completely round arena: Tower A (33rd & 8th), Tower B (33rd & 7th), Tower C (31st & 7th) or Tower D (31st & 8th). These are escalator towers, and will make it easier for you to find your seating section.
Although I am a Devils fan and I hate the Rangers (I'd say I hate their guts, but they are completely gutless), the only things I didn't like about The Garden as a structure are these escalator towers (they take too long, going either up or down) and the narrowness of the concourses (about half the width of those at the Prudential Center, and no wider than those at the inadequate Meadowlands Arena, or at the Nassau Coliseum before its recent renovation). Improving these was among the recent "The Garden Transformed" renovation.
The 100 and 200 Levels are now accessed by the Madison Concourse on the building's 6th Floor. The 300 and 400 Levels are accessed by the Garden Concourse on the 10th Floor. The old color system of red seats down below, white in the middle and blue up top is long gone. So is the system that replaced it, of purple seats in the 100 and 200 Levels and aquamarine in the 300 and 400s. They're all purple now. Fortunately, as I said, there really isn't a bad view from any seat in the house, not even in the 400 Level, and the sound carries spectacularly well.
Food. Although New York is one of the world's great food cities, The Garden isn't exactly known for great food. Perhaps having so many well-known restaurants and bars around the place is a reason: The Madison Square Garden Corporation might have good relationships with these establishments, and not want to outshine them. Some of these places would go out of business without Knick and Ranger postgame traffic.
There are specialty stands of interest, though. The 10th Floor has Garden Market between Towers B & C (on the 7th Avenue side), and the 6th Floor has one behind Sections 108 and 115.
Team History Displays. There used to be a "Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame," with the names listed on the marquee at the main doors on the 7th Avenue side. That was removed a few years ago. There is now a "Walk of Fame," inside the arena. Inductees include:
* Rangers: Harry Howell, Rod Gilbert, Eddie Giacomin, Phil Esposito and Mark Messier.
* Other Hockey Legends: Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky.
* Knicks: Joe Lapchick, Dick McGuire, Harry Gallatin, Red Holzman, Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBuscchere and Patrick Ewing.
* St. John's: Lou Carnesecca, and Lapchick and McGuire also qualify here.
* Liberty: Teresa Weatherspoon.
* Other Basketball Legends: Nat Holman, George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Carol Blazejowski,
* Boxers: Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Oscar De La Hoya. If you see Robinson, and are wondering about Sugar Ray Leonard, he only fought at The Garden once, near the end of his career. Mike Tyson? Two fights on his way up, in 1986, but he's not honored here.
* Tennis players Rod Laver, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navaratilova, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf.
* Track: Jesse Owens, Glenn Cunningham, Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
* Other Sports: Figure skater Scott Hamilton and "wrestling" official Vince McMahon.
* Sportscasters; Bob Wolff and Marv Albert.
* Music: George Harrison (but not any of the other Beatles), The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Elton John and Billy Joel.
* And the longtime official photographer for the arena, George Kalinsky.
The Rangers hang banners for their 1928, 1933, 1940 and 1994 Stanley Cups; their 2014 Eastern Conference Championship; their 1992 President's Trophy for finishing 1st overall in the regular season (as Queens native Archie Bunker would say, "Well, whoop dee do!"); and their regular-season Division Championships of 1927, 1932, 1942, 1990, 2012 and 2014.
The Rangers have 10 banners honoring retired numbers, although (as with the Yankees) they are willing to retire a number for 2 different players. Despite being around since 1926, they didn't retire a number until 1979 (Rod Gilbert), and as late as 2004, 78 years into their history, they only had 2 (Eddie Giacomin's was retired in 1989). Over the next 4 years, they had 5 ceremonies for 6 players, including 2 guys who'd debuted for them in the 1950s (and, thankfully, were still alive to enjoy it).
The numbers are: 1, Eddie Giacomin, goaltender 1965-75; 2, Brian Leetch, defenseman 1987-2004; 3, Harry Howell, defenseman 1952-69; 7, Rod Gilbert, right wing 1961-77; 9, Andy Bathgate, center 1954-64, and Adam Graves, left wing 1991-2001; 11, Vic Hadfield, left wing 1959-74, and Mark Messier, center 1991-97 and 2000-04; 19, Jean Ratelle, center, 1960-76; and 35, Mike Richter, goaltender 1990-2003.
And, of course, while he only played 3 seasons with the Rangers, and only got as far as the Conference Finals in 1997 (making it a bit silly to claim him as a "Ranger Hall-of-Famer"), the Number 99 of Wayne Gretzky is retired throughout the League, but his number is separate from the others.
Calendar year 2018 saw the retirements of 11 for Hadfield and 19 for Ratelle. Together, with Gilbert, who is still the Rangers' all-time leader in goals with 406 and points with 1,021, they formed "the GAG Line," which stood for "Goal-a-Game." They were together from Gilbert's arrival in 1961 until Hadfield was traded in 1974, but the name wasn't used until the 1971-72 season, when the Rangers reached the Finals and lost to the Boston Bruins.
Bathgate is an interesting case: The Winnipeg native won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1959, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated that year, the 1st Ranger so honored. The article suggested he was, already, the greatest Ranger ever. Yet he didn't get his number retired by the team until 2009, when he was 78 years old. He also won the Stanley Cup -- in 1964, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, mere weeks after the Rangers traded him away. His grandson Andy is currently in the Pittsburgh Penguins' minor-league system.
There are 25 players who played at least 5 seasons with the Rangers who are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, yet only Giacomin, Leetch, Howell, Gilbert, Bathgate, Messier, Ratelle and Richter are honored with retired numbers. (Graves and Hadfield aren't in the Hall yet.)
Frank Boucher was the Captain of the Rangers' 1928 and 1933 Cup wins, and the head coach of their 1940 win. They didn't win the Cup without him being directly involved until 1994. Have they retired his number? Yes -- but for Gilbert; it was 7. Nor have the numbers of his linemates on the "A-Line" (named for the 8th Avenue Subway) been retired Hall-of-Famers and brothers Bill and Frederick "Bun" Cook (5 and 6, respectively) been retired.
Ivan "Ching" Johnson was a Hall-of-Fame defenseman in that era, but Number 3 isn't retired for him. Bryan Hextall (father of 2 NHL players and grandfather of infamous goalie Ron) is in the Hall, and scored the winning goal for the 1940 Cup, but his Number 12 isn't in the rafters. From their 1970s teams, the Rangers could have retired 2 for Brad Park long before Leetch arrived.
And, of course, the greatest Ranger of them all, Lester Patrick, their 1st head coach and general manager, could have been honored with the retirement of the Number 16 he wore just once, as an emergency goalie in the 1928 Finals. (Today, that wouldn't be allowed, but with today's 2-goalie rosters and better protection, it wouldn't be necessary).
As I said, there used to be a display on the marquee at the 7th Avenue entrance showing a "Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame." It's gone now. And the Rangers certainly have enough club legends to have a Monument Park-like display someone in The Garden. But they don't.
If it wasn't for MSG Network's program MSG Vault showing clips from the 1970s and '80s, a stupid man (of which Ranger fandom has many) could easily believe that the club's history began with Messier's arrival in 1991 -- especially now that chanting "NINE-teen-FOR-ty!" no longer works.
All that history, yet the club honors only one man who (barely) played for them before the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. While Ranger fans like to brag about their history (its length, if not its fleeting glory), the club has done a poor job of recognizing it.
L to R, in the order that their numbers were retired:
Rod Gilbert, Eddie Giacomin, Mike Richter, Mark Messier,
Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell.
February 22, 2009, when Bathgate and Howell had their numbers retired.
Bathgate died in 2016, Howell in 2019. The rest are still alive.
Messier, Leetch and Bathgate were named to The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players in 1998. So were 1928 and 1933 Cup-winners Frank Boucher, Bill Cook and Earl Seibert; 1940 Cup-winner Babe Pratt; 1950s star Bill Gadsby; 1970s stars Brad Park and Phil Esposito; Mike Gartner, who just missed the 1994 Cup; and Wayne Gretzky, who played his last 3 seasons with the Rangers.
The Lester Patrick Trophy, named for the Rangers' 1st boss, is awarded for contributions to hockey in America. As you might guess, many members of the Rangers' organization have received it. It was established after Lester's death, but his son Lynn received it, partly for playing for the Rangers, and partly as the original GM of the St. Louis Blues. Other Ranger players who've received it are: Frank Boucher, Murray Murdoch, Rod Gilbert, John Davidson, Phil Esposito, Brian Mullen, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter and Wayne Gretzky -- although Gretzky, and arguably Esposito, got it more for contributions elsewhere.
Also receiving the award were Rangers GMs John Kilpatrick, Bill Jennings and Emile Francis; head coaches Boucher, Francis and Fred Shero; boradcasters Davidson and Bill Chadwick (honored mainly for his contributions as the finest referee in NHL history), scout Bob Crocker, and publicists Jim Hendy and John Halligan.
Bill Cook, Ching Johnson, and Red Dutton and Normie Himes of the New York Americans were named to the NHL All-Star Team that opposed the host Toronto Maple Leafs in the Ace Bailey Benefit Game in 1934. Frank Boucher, Cecil Dillon, and Americans Sweeney Schriner, Art Chapman and Hap Day (better known as a Maple Leaf) were named to the All-Star team that opposed a combined Canadiens and Maroons team at the Montreal Forum in the Howie Morenz Memorial Game in 1937. Art Coulter, Neil Colville, and Tom Anderson and Harvey "Busher" Jackson of the Americans (like Day, better known as a Leaf) were named to the All-Star team that opposed the Canadiens in the Babe Siebert Memorial Game in 1939.
Grant Warwick, Edgar Laprade and Tony Leswick (better known for scoring the winning goal for Detroit in overtime of Game 7 of the 1954 Finals) were named to the team that opposed the defending Champion Leafs in the 1st official NHL All-Star Game in 1947. Brad Park, Rod Seiling, and the entire "Goal-A-Game Line" (or "GAG Line") of Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert were named to Team Canada for the 1972 "Summit Series" with the Soviet Union. And 4 members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team played for the Rangers: Rob McClanahan, Dave Silk, Bill Baker and Mark Pavelich.
Due to their inclusion on Team Canada '72, Park, Seiling, Hadfield, Ratelle, Gilbert and the non-yet-Ranger Esposito were elected to Canada's Walk of Fame. For his overall contributions to the sport, so was Gretzky. Gretzky and Anders Hedberg, a Swedish right wing who starred in the '79 Finals team, have been elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame.
Ranger players in the Hockey Hall of Fame include:
* From the 1928 Cup winners: Boucher, the Cook brothers, Johnson.
* From the 1933 Cup winners: Boucher, the Cook brothers, Johnson, Babe Siebert, Earl Seibert (No relation: Note the different spellings).
* From the 1940 Cup winners: Coulter, Hextall, Lynn Patrick (but not, as yet, his brother and teammate Murray "Muzz" Patrick), Neil Colville (but not, as yet, his brother and teammate Mac Colville), Babe Pratt, Clint Smith.
* From the 1950 Cup Finalists: Laprade, Buddy O'Connor, Chuck Rayner, Allan Stanley.
* From the 1950s and 1960s: Bathgate, Howell, Gadsby, Gump Worsley.
* From the 1972 Cup Finalists: Giacomin, Gilbert, Park, Ratelle.
* From the 1979 Cup Finalists: Esposito, Davidson (elected mainly as a broadcaster).
* From the 1994 Cup winners: Messier and Leetch. Richter and Graves are not yet in. Gretzky arrived in 1996. Sergei Zubov was elected to the Hall in 2019, but 1993-94 was 1 of only 3 seasons he played for the Rangers, and thus he doesn't count for them.
Bathgate, Ratelle, Esposito, Messier, Leetch and Gretzky were named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players in 2017.
In addition to the Knicks' and Rangers' banners, 2 music legends are honored with banners at "The World's Most Famous Arena." Bronx-born, Long Island-raised Billy Joel was given a Number 12 banner, for the Garden record of straight sellout concerts he had played recently (breaking his 2006 record of 12, necessitating a new banner). That banner has been replaced by one with the number 100 on it, for having the most concerts by a single performer. Previously, Elton John held the record of 64, including for the 60th time on his 60th birthday.
The previous banners for the Piano Men.
There aren't, however, banners honoring some other landmark concerts at The Garden, though some of these are mentioned at the entrance: The 1968 opener with Frank Sinatra; the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh headlined by ex-Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with appearances by Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton; ex-Beatle John Lennon's One to One Concert of 1972 and his surprise guest appearance with Elton John on Thanksgiving night 1974, his last live concert appearances; Elvis Presley on June 9, 10 and 11, 1972; Led Zeppelin's 1973 shows that formed the concert film The Song Remains the Same; and the all-star shows that paid tribute to Dylan in 1992 and Michael Jackson in 2001, and raised funds for charities following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The 1st Ali-Frazier fight was 1 of 8 fights for the Heavyweight Championship of the World to be held at the current Garden. The others: Frazier defeating Jimmy Ellis, February 16, 1970; Ali hanging on to beat Earnie Shavers, September 29, 1977; Larry Holmes beating Mike Weaver, June 22, 1979; Riddick Bowe beating Michael Dokes, February 6, 1993; the draw that robbed Lennox Lewis of a win in his 1st fight with Evander Holyfield, March 13, 1999; Lewis' win over Michael Grant, April 29, 2000; and Andy Ruiz Jr.'s upset knockout of Anthony Joshua to win the WBA and IBF titles on On June 1, 2019. (Joshua avenged that defeat on December 7, but it was not at The Garden.)
The Devils-Rangers rivalry is closer than you might think: The Rangers have won 137 games, the Devils 119, with 27 ties. (These totals include Playoff games.) There have been 6 Playoff matchups, with the Rangers leading 4-2.
The Rangers won the 1992 Patrick Division Semifinals, the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals (with Game 7 going to double overtime before Stephane Matteau's goal won it), the 1997 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, and the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (the 1st postseason series played at the Prudential Center. The Devils won the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (the only sweep), and the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals (with Adam Henrique's goal winning the clinching Game 6 in overtime).
But the bigger rivalry is Rangers vs. Islanders. There's a street connecting 31st and 33rd Streets, separating The Garden from Penn Station, and it's now used only for deliveries. It was a taxi stand prior to "The Garden Transformed," and I liked to say that it was the most dangerous place in New York City. Not just because New York taxi drivers are maniacs, but, when the Rangers played the Islanders at The Garden, Islander fans would have to cross it to get to Penn Station and the Long Island Rail Road, and, well, Rangers-Isles is one of the few times when North American sports fans act like English soccer hooligans.
This rivalry could not be much closer, and not just in the distance between the arenas: The Rangers have won 146 games, the Islanders 144, and there have been 19 ties. There have been 8 Playoff series between them, but none since 1994. The Isles lead, 5-3. The Rangers won the 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals, the 1990 Patrick Division Semifinals, and the 1994 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
The Islanders have won in the 1975 Preliminary Round (a watershed moment that seemed to have changed Ranger fans' reputation from classy to boorish), the 1981 Stanley Cup Semifinals, the 1982 Patrick Division Finals, the 1983 Patrick Division Finals, and the 1984 Patrick Division Semifinals. The 1975 and 1984 Isle wins, and the 1979 Ranger win, have been regarded as epic contests.
Historically, the Rangers' biggest rival has been the Boston Bruins. Since the Rangers' founding in 1926, they've been trying to beat each other's brains out -- frequently, not a time-consuming task. The Bruins have won 292 games, the Rangers 259, and there have been 97 ties.
There's been 10 Playoff series between them, but only 1 in the last 47 years, and the Bruins lead 7-3. The Rangers' 1st Playoff series was against the Bruins, in 1927, and they lost. They also lost to the Bruins in the 1929 Stanley Cup Finals, the 1939 Stanley Cup Semifinals, the 1958 Stanley Cup Semifinals, the 1970 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals, the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals, and the 2013 Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Rangers have won in the 1928 Stanley Cup Semifinals, the 1940 Stanley Cup Semifinals, and the 1973 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals.
Stuff. There are souvenir stands all over The Garden, including at the front entrance. The Garden's teams also now have the MSG Team Store open a block away at the Manhattan Mall at Herald Square.
I could make a joke about Ranger fans being illiterate. Actually, there are probably more books written about the Rangers than any other hockey team -- given the relative size of Canada, they may have more written about them than the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With "the Hockey Maven" himself, Stan Fischler, cranking out books at a Stephen King pace (despite closing in on his 88th birthday), it's as if there's always a new Ranger book available. A recent Maven effort, published in 2015, was in partnership with Rod Gilbert: We Are the Rangers: The Oral History of the New York Rangers. In 2000, slightly jumping the gun, John Halligan published a coffee-table book, New York Rangers: Seventy-Five Years.
There's not much available on specific eras in Ranger history. Colleen Aycock and Mark Scott (not the sportscaster who hosted Home Run Derby in 1960) wrote Tex Rickard: Boxing's Greatest Promoter. George Rickard was from Texas, made his money promoting big prizefights, almost singlehanded got the State of New York to drop its legal ban on boxing, built what became known as "the Old Garden" in 1925 for boxing, allowed the fledgling New York Americans to play hockey there, and, seeing the profits, founded a team that he, through the Garden corporation, would own, a team that was immediately nickname "Tex's Rangers." (And now you know why a hockey team in New York has a Wild West name.)
Eric Whitehead's book The Patricks: Hockey's Royal Family, published back in 1980 but available on Amazon.com, will tell you about Lester, and his sons Lynn and Murray (a.k.a. Muzz), who played or him on the Rangers' teams of the 1930s and '40s, including the 1940 Cup. It will also tell you how, even before the Rangers' founding in 1926, Lester and his brother Frank practically invented professional hockey as we know it (as a business, not just a game).
And for the 20th Anniversary of the one that will have to last a lifetime (it already has: 1940 to 2020 is 80 years), John Kreiser of NHL.com and then-GM Neil Smith wrote The Wait Is Over: The New York Rangers and the 1994 Stanley Cup. An update will be published this coming April 2, to mark the 25th Anniversary.
For Ranger videos, a DVD package of the 1994 Finals shouldn't be too hard to find. But that's about it. There was no 75th Anniversary team history DVD in 2001 (though that was the dawn of the DVD era), nor for the 80th in 2006. Maybe there will be one for the 90th in the 2015-16 season. Nor is there an official Greatest Games package from the NHL. That may be just as well, since about 6 of the 10 would probably be from 1994.
During the Game. A November 19, 2014 article on The Hockey News' website ranked the NHL teams' fan bases, and listed the Rangers' fans 11th, 5th among U.S.-based teams behind Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Minnesota: "Expensive to watch games at MSG, which doesn't fill up above capacity." (Most arenas don't.)
As for what kind of fans they are? Don't say I didn't warn you: A New York Rangers home game is one of the few occasions in North American sports where even a fan of a non-rival team, should he be willing to wear visiting team gear, can legitimately wonder if his safety is in question. Indeed, the worst example of fan violence I have ever seen (if not the worst actual fighting) took place during a Rangers-Devils game at The Garden -- and it happened just 1 row in front of me.
As for what kind of fans they are? Don't say I didn't warn you: A New York Rangers home game is one of the few occasions in North American sports where even a fan of a non-rival team, should he be willing to wear visiting team gear, can legitimately wonder if his safety is in question. Indeed, the worst example of fan violence I have ever seen (if not the worst actual fighting) took place during a Rangers-Devils game at The Garden -- and it happened just 1 row in front of me.
There were 4 men from the Czech Republic, each wearing the jersey of a different Czech player then on the Ranger roster: Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Michal Rozsival and Petr Prucha. They were visibly drunk even when they arrived. For nearly 2 full periods, they were drinking further, and yelling in Czech. At least one of them did have a grasp of English, the one on the aisle, clearly the leader. In situations like that, there's always a leader, one who's clearly first among equal jackasses.
They didn't give me an especially hard time, mainly because I was ignoring them. Being a Polish-American of my size, with some sense of Eastern Europeans (and some sense), I wasn't going to take on 4 big Czechs who were already 17 sheets to the wind.
But a couple across the aisle from them, also wearing Ranger shirts, stood up and objected to their drunken, obnoxious behavior. The wife was on the aisle, and the leader got up and pushed her down. That's right: He pushed a woman. Wearing the jersey of the same team that he was wearing. Ladies and gentlemen, a New York Ranger fan. The husband was no dope: Instead of taking on this Bohemian brute (or, perhaps, a Moravian miscreant) himself, he signaled to security, and the Czechs were ejected. (The wife was okay.)
The date was January 22, 2006, and the Rangers won, 3-1, as the Devils really didn't even show up. And I paid $130 for a $70 seat. You know what? Being able to tell this story about the depravity of Ranger fans "eating their own" is worth more to me than the win would have been.
"But, Mike," you might say, "those guys weren't New Yorkers. You said it yourself: They were there to cheer on the Czech players, not the Rangers. Real Ranger fans aren't like that." Oh no? I've seen most of the NHL's teams, and their fans, at the Prudential Center. The only teams whose fans I've seen stir up trouble are the Rangers and the Flyers -- and the Flyers, only once, and it was settled quickly.
Ranger fans are animals. Absolute animals. How can these people, the majority of them also Yankee Fans, be such great people from April through October, and be such bastards from October through April? I'd hate to see what happens if one of these Yankee/Ranger fans ever made it to Fenway Park. Considering that all bullies are truly cowards, I suspect that none would dare go alone.
Do these halfwits think they look like the band KISS?
No, they look more like rejects from the Joker's gang.
John Amirante sang the National Anthem at Ranger games from 1980 until his retirement in 2015. He died in 2018. But the Ranger fans usually shout through the entire thing, showing great disrespect for country and or singer. And yet, if one of these people sees an athlete "take a knee" during the Anthem, they'll get upset. Did I mention that Ranger fans are animals?
Just as the Knicks, in their early 1970s glory days, once had Dancing Harry at The Garden, the Rangers, for the last few years, have had Dancin' Larry. When the sound system plays "Strike It Up" by Black Box (with the uncredited Martha Wash singing lead), Larry Goodman, a middle-aged bald man, gets out of his seat in Section 407 (the former Blue Seats) and starts dancing like a madman. In a 2010 interview, he claimed to have been a season-ticketholder since 1988 and only missed 5 home games in that span. He claimed to have been doing this at games since 1996 and that, "The fans depend on me." (Gee, they haven't won the Cup since he started dancing. The Curse of Dancin' Larry?)
The Rangers' goal song was written especially for them: It is "Slap Shot" by Bad Apple. The most familiar Ranger fan chant is, of course, "Let's go, Rangers!" They may also chant, "Hen-REEK!" for goalie Henrik Lundqvist, although they have yet to figure out that one does not become a "king" until he wears a crown. One good thing about Martin Brodeur no longer being on the Devils is that their derisive "Mar...tee!" chant is gone, even though it's obvious to any objective observer that "MAR-ty's-BET-ter!" And their suggestion that Brodeur was "fat" as always stupid: What does it say about your team that a "fat" goalie is better than your thin one?
At the end of the game, if the Rangers win, the players will gather at center ice and raise their sticks to salute the crowd. If they lose, well, good.
After the Game. New York's reputation as a high-crime city hasn't been true in years. But that may not matter much at a Ranger game. As you are directed to one of the escalator towers at the corners, a process that will take a while, your wisest move is to observe the advice of the legendary football coach Paul Brown: "When you win, say little; and when you lose, say less." Or, as Kenny Rogers put it, "You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."
In other words, if the Devils win, accept your victory, get out, and don't taunt the animals; if the Rangers win, take your verbal (if slurred and incoherent) abuse, don't respond, and get out; and if they get physical, find security and report it. Never, under any circumstances, fight back, because you are hopelessly outnumbered. Let security handle it.
If this were a Knick game, there are dozens of bars around The Garden that are popular among postgamers that you could check out. But it's a Ranger game: If you live in New Jersey, get downstairs into Penn Station and get on the next available train to your area. If you came into The City by bus, get back to Port Authority. Do not fool around with this: You did what you came to do (see the Devils play the Rangers at The Garden), now get the hell out of Dodge.
If you're a fan of an NHL team not in the New York Tri-State Area, these bars have been known to cater to fans from the cities/metro areas in question:
* Anaheim Ducks: Unknown. Since they're a Los Angeles-area team, you might want to go where fans of most L.A. sports teams go, which is Taqueria St. Mark's Place, 79 St. Mark's Place. 6 Train to Astor Place. Be advised, though, that there could be Kings fans there.
* Arizona Coyotes: Foley's, 18 W. 33rd Street. B, D, F, N or R Train to Herald Square.
* Boston Bruins: Professor Thom's, 219 2nd Avenue. L Train to 3rd Avenue.
* Buffalo Sabres: Kelly's, 12 Avenue A. F Train to 2nd Avenue.
* Carolina Hurricanes: Brother Jimmy's, 416 8th Avenue, just across from The Garden. A, C or E Train to 34th Street.
* Chicago Blackhawks: Triona's, 237 Sullivan Street. A, C or E Train to W. 4th Street.
* Colorado Avalanche: Butterfield 8, 5 E. 38th Street. 7 Train to 5th Avenue.
* Columbus Blue Jackets: Iron Bar, 713 8th Avenue, off 45th Street. A, C or E Train to 42nd Street.
* Dallas Stars: Stone Creek, 140 E. 27th Street. 6 Train to 28th Street.
* Detroit Red Wings: Amity Hall, 80 W. 3rd Street. A, C or E Train to W. 4th Street.
* Florida Panthers: Slattery's, 8 E. 36th Street. B, D, F, N or R Train to Herald Square.
* Los Angeles Kings: Taqueria St. Mark's Place, 79 St. Mark's Place. 6 Train to Astor Place.
* Minnesota Wild: Bar None, 98 3rd Avenue. L Train to 3rd Avenue.
* Montreal Canadiens: Printer's Alley, 215 W. 40th Street.
* Nashville Predators: SideBar, 120 E. 15th Street. 4, 5, 6, L, N or R Train to Union Square.
* Philadelphia Flyers: Wogie's, 39 Greenwich Avenue. A, C or E Train to W. 4th Street.
* Pittsburgh Penguins: Reservoir Bar, 70 University Place. 4, 5, 6, L, N or R Train to Union Square.
* St. Louis Blues: Foley's, 18 W. 33rd Street. B, D, F, N or R Train to Herald Square.
* San Jose Sharks: Finnerty's, 221 2nd Avenue. L Train to 3rd Avenue. (Next-door to Professor Thom's.)
* Tampa Bay Lightning: Stillwater, 78 E. 4th Street. F Train to 2nd Avenue.
* Vegas Golden Knights: Unknown. They may not have decided on a place yet. Due to the Pac-12, Pacific Time in common, some of their fans go to Finnerty's. This may become a problem if a Sharks-Knights rivalry develops.
* Washington Capitals: Dorrian's Red Hand, 1616 2nd Avenue. Q Train to 86th Street.
* All Canadian teams: Your best bet is probably Manitoba's, 99 Avenue B. 6 Train to Astor Place.If you're visiting New York during the European soccer season, as we are now in, there are many places where you can watch your favorite team. The best "football pub" in The City, and, indeed, in the country, is The Football Factory, downstairs at Legends NYC, at 6 West 33rd Street, across from the Empire State Building, and 2 blocks east from The Garden. B, D, F, N, Q or R train to 34th Street-Herald Square.
Sidelights. This is where I discuss other sports-related sites in the metropolitan area in question, and then move on to tourist attractions that have no (or little) connection to sports. Since most people reading this will be from the Tri-State Area, I'll limit it to just The Garden.
There is a Madison Square, where 23rd Street, 5th Avenue & Broadway all come together. The 1st 2 buildings to be named Madison Square Garden went up across from it, opening in 1879 and 1890, respectively, at 26th & Madison.
The 1879 Garden
These Gardens hosted concerts, circuses, Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, the Westminster Kennel Club, and similar exhibitions.
The 2nd Garden hosts a few prizefights, including 2 for the Heavyweight Championship of the World: Jess Willard's only successful defense of it, over Frank Moran on March 25, 1916; and Jack Dempsey's knockout of Bill Brennan on December 14, 1920. It also hosted the 1924 Democratic Convention, which, under the old 2/3rds rule, went to 103 ballots before compromising and nominating John W. Davis for President, and he lost badly to incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
The 1890 Garden
The New York Life Insurance Company held the mortgage on the 2nd Garden, and in 1925 decided it wanted the land for its headquarters, which still stands on the site. The official address is 51 Madison Avenue.
But Tex Rickard, who ran the boxing promotions at The Garden, had made so much money (mainly off promoting fights of Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey, that he could afford to build a new Garden all by himself. He did so, at 49th Street & 8th Avenue. This building, now usually referred to as "the old Garden," became "the Mecca of Basketball" and "the Mecca of Boxing."
The 1925 Garden
And the fights it hosted included some legendary ones. Joe Louis successfully defended the Heavyweight Championship of the World there against Nathan Mann on February 23, 1938; John Henry Lewis, in the 1st Heavyweight Title fight between 2 black boxers, on January 25, 1939 Arturo Godoy on February 9, 1940; Johnny Paychek (not the later country singer) on March 29, 1940; Red Burman on January 31, 1941; Buddy Baer (Max's brother) on January 9, 1942; Abe Simon on March 27, 1942; and, in a decision that many observers thought should have gone the other way, Jersey Joe Walcott on December 5, 1947.
Louis seemed to have settled things by beating Walcott at Yankee Stadium 6 months later, then retiring. Ezzard Charles won what amounted to an elimination tournament for the title, then rendered the title undisputed by beating Louis, who came out of retirement because he needed money for a big tax bill, on September 27, 1950. Charles then defended the title against Lee Oma on January 12, 1951.
On October 26, 1951, an increasingly desperate Louis got back into the Garden ring to face the rising Rocky Marciano, who idolized Louis, but knocked out the hopelessly out of shape ex-champ. He visited Louis in his dressing room afterward, and both men cried.
Marciano never fought in the Garden again, and the old Garden hosted just 1 more Heavyweight Title fight. Muhammad Ali had refused to fight there because they insisted on introducing him under his birth name, Cassius Clay, because that was the name on his boxing license. Ali got it changed, and on March 22, 1967, he was introduced as Muhammad Ali, and knocked out Zora Folley. It was his last fight before being stripped of the title for refusing to accept being drafted.
But in 1951, the college basketball point-shaving scandal hit, and all the schools that used the old Garden as a secondary home court -- NYU, CCNY, St. John's, Long Island University and Fordham -- were hit. (Only St. John's would survive as a legitimate program, and still use the new Garden as a home court for games where ticket demand exceeded an on-campus facility.) The NIT suffered, and, while it's still held at the new Garden today, it was so degraded in the eyes of the public that the NCAA Champion became viewed as the National Champion. The Final Four has only been held in the Tri-State Area once since, in 1996 at the Meadowlands (Kentucky over Syracuse), and unless MetLife Stadium or Citi Field gets a dome, it will never happen here again.
The old Garden was torn down shortly after the new Garden opened, and a skyscraper called Worldwide Plaza is on the site now. Underneath, the 50th Street station on the Subway's C & E lines has a mural depicting events at the old Garden.
Unwilling to put Summer prizefights inside The Garden (due to the heat in those pre-air-conditioning days, as much as to the limited seating capacity), and also unwilling to pay the big rents charged by the Yankees for their Stadium or the baseball Giants for the Polo Grounds, in 1932, the Garden Corporation built the Madison Square Garden Bowl, a 72,000-seat open-air facility in Long Island City, Queens. It wasn't much: just a lot of aluminum benches in an octagon around a boxing ring. Nothing else could be held there.
It hosted 4 fights for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. On June 21, 1932, Max Schmeling was defeated by Jack Sharkey. On June 29, 1933, barely over a year later, Sharkey was stunned by Primo Carnera, the 6-foot-7 Italian known as the Ambling Alp. On June 14, 1934, Carnera was in turn knocked out by Max Baer. Soon, somebody (who it was depends on who's telling the story) yelled, "The joint is jinxed!"
The Bowl's reputation as "The Jinx Bowl" was certified exactly one year later, on June 13, 1935, when Baer was defeated by Jim Braddock, the Cinderella Man. After that, no one wanted to fight in the Jinx Bowl. Braddock waited 2 years before defending his crown, and went to Chicago where Joe Louis knocked him out at Comiskey Park.
The Garden Corporation gave up, and started paying rent on Yankee Stadium for big fights. The Bowl was demolished during World War II, to make way for a U.S. Army mail depot. Today, there's retail on the site, including the well-known auto dealership Major World. 34-60 48th Street, or 43-40 Northern Blvd. if you prefer. E Train to Steinway Street, then 8 blocks east on 34th Avenue.
Music legends buried there include Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and W.C. Handy. It's also where you can find Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, early 20th Century Republican political figure Charles Evans Hughes, New York's master builder (but also a big reason why the Dodgers moved) Robert Moses, diplomat Ralph Bunche, Civil War naval hero David Farragut, department store founders Rowland H. Macy and James Cash Penney, novelist Herman Melville, cartoonist Thomas Nast, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, journalism pioneer Nellie Bly, and Wild West figure Bat Masterson. 517 East 233rd Street. 4 Train to the end of the line, Woodlawn station.
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Every Devils fan should see his team play The Enemy on enemy soil at least once. But it is not for the faint of heart. Go to the game, see the game, behave yourself, and get out.
And remember: Never, ever mix it up with the Ranger fans. As I've said in my post about being a Yankee Fan going to Fenway Park, it's better to be an uninjured coward than a hospitalized tough guy.
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