For the Leafs, i’d like to add alot of their fans constantly make fun of New Jersey and Newark, saying it smells AND the fact that they constantly use “Martin Brodeur is Fat” jokes which Rangers fans use.

Interesting topic as it forces one to consider the actual reasons for strong emotions that are usually taken for granted. In a related note, I’ve recently been questioning my love of sports in general (I find it odd that so many find so much pleasure and pain from something they don’t actually participate in and have absolutely no control over. The pragmatist in me finds it all to be a great waste of time and effort… but I cannot yet help but to love and follow my chosen teams), and I think the gut-cinching hatred of a rival team goes sort of hand-in-hand with the ethereal nature of loving a particular team (for whatever reasons), or sports in general.

In all, I find that my dislike of a team is due in large part to their fans. On ice activities contribute of course, and it’s natural to dislike a team that seems to have your teams number, but for me, it’s almost exclusively about the fans. That’s part of why I usually pull for the underdog… I hate arrogant fans.

Speaking of arrogant fans, they are the main reason I hate the Rangers. I’ve been to more than a few games between the two teams and of all the games I’ve been to, they were all by far the worst experiences because of visiting Rangers fans being obnoxious, disruptive and obscene.

The last Devils/Rangers game I went to, and the last one I’ll ever attend, was several years ago (a 1-0 victory by the Devils in CAA) and the entire experience was ruined for me and my girlfriend by a group of visiting Rangers fans and their pre-pubescent children shouting their opinions about the sexual preferences of Devils players, and of their apparent distaste for people with those sexual preferences.

I’m no prude and I’ve got a foul mouth at times, but these 10 year old kids were making me blush.

Additionally, teams earn my ire by employing players I cannot stand, and Sean Avery about tops that list.

Throw in all the fatso jokes, general misrepresentations of the state of NJ by ignorant New Yorkers and their fanbase’s penchant for hypocrisy and being generally misinformed, and yet extremely vocal as if being louder means being righter, and there you go.

Plus, they have ugly uniforms.

I’ll have to give more thought to the rest. I hate the Flyers, but not nearly on the same level as the Rags. A lot of it has to do with who they employ more than anything.

Should I just copy comments directly or “clean it up” by organizing separate points? Let me know about that too.

I can think of a few (more) reasons why I hate the Rangers. One is kind of why I like the Yankees a little in baseball, but also like to see them lose. Too long have they tried to buy the team’s success. Maybe this isn’t so true any more, but once you get a bad taste for something, it’s hard to change. Next, I still have a 1940 button – chanting 1940 at Ranger games before 1994 was awesome. (Although I can still hear Sam Rosen – “Matteau, Matteau” – shudders – also another reason I can’t really like Mike Mottau – names are just too close). Finally, since I’m older than most of you here, when the Devils first moved to NJ, and it really hasn’t changed too much even being 3-1 in Cups, the Devils were always treated as second class to the Rangers. Home games against the Rangers having more Ranger fans than Devil fans just sucked eggs. I know that’s changed some recently, but there’s still waaaaay too many Ranger fans there for my taste. That why (even though I’ve been in PA for a while and don’t make it to too many games anyway) I still won’t go see the Devils play the stRangers.

Icelanders: I would change your final statement from “They haven’t been all that good in recent years” to “And they really do suck.”

And another “rival” although you can’t really say that because we hardly play them any more because of the unbalanced scheduling, but again, this goes back to the beginning, are the Oilers. Anyone who has been a Devils fan since day one like I have, can never like the Oilers much. Hey, I still don’t like Gretzky…

Another idea for the Fan Guide section. Devils Memories. I’m sure many, if not all of us here can point out a couple individual pieces of Devils history that mean just that little bit extra to them. Kind of like the one we all just experienced Thursday night….

PS, And I really did have one of those “I root for two teams” shirts. Although mine said whoever’s “playing” the Rangers :-)

Having lived in the Pittsburgh area I have more hatred towards the Pens than other Devils fans. Lately the rivalry is basically the Pens fans don’t like the Devils because of the “trap” and the Devils fans don’t like the Penguins because of Crosby and the arrogant/cocky fans. I think a good playoff series could easily heat up the rivalry. Right now Devils fans and Pens fans don’t really have a reason to hate each other though, unless you are like me and have tons of friends that are Pens fans.

In New Jersey, the most divided county as far as sports go is Mercer County – where I grew up. I grew up watching the Flyers, Rangers and Devils & Islanders on TV (hello Sports Channel New York). Most of my hockey friends were Flyer fans and for that reason, I have always hated the Flyers more than the Rangers. I usually rooted for both teams to tie when they play each other, but now just pull for both goalies get into a fight and get injured.

I Have a simular experience as Cherno^. I grew up in South jersey (2 miles away from the Flyers Skate Zone (the practice facility) and most of the area are Flyers fans. The reason I am a Devils fan because I got into hockey when i was real young, like 6 or 7 and when i was watching a Devils/ Flyers game the only concept I thought of was that I was from NJ and the guys In red and black were representing that. I knew I wasnt from Philadelphia so why root for the Flyers? Everyone around here will tell you “It’s because were south jersey.” All i can think of is so what! The Flyers do very little in showing support or recognition for south jersey a place where a majority of where their fans come from.
Besides that i have taken a lot of flack in the past for being a Devils fan in “flyers territory” Especially when I was in the 6th grade during the 2000 conference finals. I had managed to get into a couple scraps during the series. After the Devils won though and won the stanley cup I was able to defend my team each time some Ignorant 8th grader would say “devils suck”, I would usually respond with “Yeah it sucks winning the Stanley cup twice in 5 years, and you have not even seen a cup won in you’re lifetime” (Still hasn’t by the way haha.) Thats just a little insight on my background on the fueling of my hatred for the flyers.
As for the Rangers I pretty much Hate all NY sports team, The whole city has this arrogance that just from being Ny automatically makes you “bad azz” or something which bothers me. NY is pretentious and that song from Jay z is stupid and annoying… You know what else grinds my gears? Why is so damn dark in MSG? The Rock was better light on January 8th.

On the Toronto part about them being a rival I would probably swap them with Montreal, Its been a while up until last week when the maple leafs became an actual threat. The Canadiens now harvest two former Devils Gionta and Gomez, and the last game there was waaaay too many Canadien jerseys in the crowd. I really wanted to start a U.S.A chant (because of Parise and Langs being named captains ad all).

Go DEVILS.

P.S i find it kind of funny how no one gives a rats bum bum about the Islanders. They should sell that team to a Canadian buyer and move the caps into the Atlantic Division. Then put nashville in the south east (if they don’t have to sell soon) Hockey is on its last leg in the south.

I agree with WWZPD, though I would say “Central Jersey” because we did still get NY media. I think I still hate the Flyers more because I can use that line of not winning a Cup in their lifetime to my buddies and it STINGS them. As children of the 90s grow up too, this is becoming a useful rebuttal to young Ranger fans living in Jersey.

Here is a map I created of this divide . . . getting ready to head to the Garden.

Here’s the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11898551@N03/4335935540/

I can say there are few times ive clashed with islanders fans. Alhough I do have things to add. 1) They love to mock marty for the wife sister marriage 2) Talking huge amounts of smack after a win and becoming abmoxious to boot. 3) At Devil coliseium games I love it when the guy wearing a “gordon fishermans jersey” talks smack about the devs.Not a whole lot isnce i do have alot of respect for the team and what they have achieved in the past.

I’m impressed with the response and equally impressed that almost the first thing everyone thinks of are the fans.

Really highlights the importance of how individual behavior affects something a group/team/organization/place doesn’t really have any control over!

I’ll update this tomorrow with a lot of these. But I would like more suggestions about the teams themselves. Maybe there’s a game/season that is a cause to hate a team. Maybe there’s something about the organization. Maybe it’s just locality?

I grew up my whole life outside of McGuire-Ft. Dix, which is considered a part of the Philadelphia area and can only get Philly channels. The thought of Flyers fans living in New Jersey irks me a lot because I feel that the Devils are New Jersey and that if they love the Flyers so much they should pack up and move to Pennsylvania. That said, I don’t hate them on the same level that I despise Rangers fans for almost all of the reasons already mentioned. They have to be the most obnoxious and narcissistic fanbase ever existing (outside of the Cowboys and, as of right now, the Phillies).

What really gets under my skin about the Rangers and their fans is that despite the fact that they are one of the LEAST successful franchises in hockey (maybe even in all the big 4), their fans are pretty arrogant and also think they have a great “tradition”. How is it a great tradition when your team rarely even made the playoffs when there were only 6 teams and 4 of them made the playoffs? I believe the Rangers made the playoffs fewer times than any of the other team during the original 6 era. How is it a great tradition when your team has won the championship ONCE in 70 years? Yet they sell out their building. Personally I think Ranger fans are crazy to support that team with the product that has been given to them. Their loyalty is being taken advantage of.

OK, I’m just copying and pasting the reasons.

A lot of you immediately and first thought of the fans of other teams for the rivalry. Says a lot about how other people can affect a person’s perception of a team.

Now I need more reasons, but do keep them to the teams themselves. I got enough about the other team’s fans making the rivalry what it is. I’d suggest rivalry games, playoff situations, players, seasons, coaches, owners, arenas, etc.

Other than the fans, why I hate:

The Rangers

• They mock the Devils for their “boring” style or play and yet (attempt to) mimic them and hire away their players at every opportunity.

• MSG is billed as the Most Famous Arena in the World, and it’s a giant piece of crap. I hate watching games there (and in the Nassau Coliseum, for that matter) because the lighting is awful. I’ve been to one concert there in my life and it was enough for me to know that I’ll never go back.

The Flyers

• While the Devils (and Marty in particular) always seem to reach milestones against them, there were some noted (in my mind) Devils killers from Philadelphia who I grew to loathe for their habit of (un)timely goals: Gagne, Downie and Upshall to name a few

• The vehemence with which everyone from the GM on down to the fans who snidely name their blogs after their infamous bullyish moniker continue to deny and dismiss the team’s thuggish history as history, while building a team of players with thuggish histories (see: Carcillo, Daniel; Betts, Blair; Cote, Riley, LaPerriere, Ian; Emery, Ray; Pronger, Chris; etc.); though some wait until on the team to start, like the team’s reputation gives license to behave like a thug—a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts (see: Briere, Daniel; Richards, Mike; Carter, Jeff).

• Chris “Captain Elbows” Pronger. The man should have had his NHL playing privilege revoked around the time of the infamous leg-stomp on Kesler, but certainly before he was allowed to sign his most recent long-term, salary-cap dodging contract.

The Islanders

I just can’t get worked up about them. I actually usually root for them in a secondary team kind of way.

The Penguins

• One word: Over-saturation. Count me as one of the many tired of hearing about how great Crosby is and about the team as a whole. I get marketing and I know about growing the brand, but I’m awfully tired of their having to be involved in just about every nationally broadcast game and how sites like NHL.com will have stories up within seconds if Crosby so much as picks his nose.

• Malkin is one of the ugliest human beings I’ve ever seen. Mouth-breather.

• MA Fleury and many other players on the team aren’t nearly as good as most media outlets would have everyone believe.

• Lemieux and Jagr.

The Leafs

• Their team name contains a grammatical error

• Tie Domi, for obvious reasons

• Darcy Tucker and Mats Sundin, just because I don’t like them and never have

• The incessant coverage of what has been a consistently mediocre to bad team for as long as I can remember.

The Hurricanes

• Game 7

• Eric Staal’s physical appearance has always bothered me and it was only recently that I figured out why. He’s a pinhead. It’s probably just his pads, but his head always appears to be terribly disproportionate to the rest of his body.

• I think it was against Carolina in the playoffs on their run to the Cup in 06 when Brind’amour had been using his patented turned body face-off tactic (which I thought should have gotten him kicked from the dot) to great effect all series, and on a crucial center ice face-off against Madden with the Devils down by one and Marty pulled, Rod let Madden win so cleanly he scored on his own goal.

I’ll also never forgive Alfredsson for readjusting a defensive zone clearing attempt into a shot right at a forechecking Elias in the closing minutes of, I think it was, the Senators Game 5 clinch a few years back.

Rangers: With the Rangers, it goes back to the philosophy of New York teams, like the Yankees for instance: sign the biggest names in the sport and expect the championships to roll in easily. The only thing is that the Rangers haven’t won enough to prove that philosophy true. Also, it comes down to two central figures: Sean Avery and Glen Sather. Avery and New York were made for each other; the flashy style of Manhattan suits his mindset well, he is all about an extravagant lifestyle. Because of that, this makes him a really irritating human being (if you wanna call him that). As for Sather, he’s over the hill. He believes he can bring in big name talent just to recapture his magic in Edmonton. Everyone knows, though, that time has passed him by, only he doesn’t know it.

Flyers: They’re all about the thuggish image. Everyone, from the GM right down to the fans, believe that the ugly logo on their jerseys believe it’s a license to act like a thug and beat people up. Also, the endless touting of players as like they happen to be the second coming of Jesus (see Eric Lindros, Mike Richards).

Islanders: Red-headed stepchild syndrome. Annoying as hell to think about.

Hurricanes: They’ve always been a thorn on the Devils’ side in the playoffs.

Penguins: Prime example of overexposure. Get the attention of national media outlets and are assumed by so-called sports analysts that they are the be-all, end-all in hockey. One of these days, people are gonna get real sick of that. Also, Crosby dives and whines.

Leafs: What can I say, really? They’re the Rangers of Canada. Also, because of Tie Domi.

John – just to clarify on my comment on the Rangers lack of success, I was really only considering the “Original Six” era. During that 25 years, when 4 of the 6 franchises made the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers missed the playoffs 18 out fo the 25 years. Of the 7 seasons they made it, they only won their first series once.

In fairness, the Rangers did have more success prior to 1942, but in my view, that was a significantly less “organized” era in hockey. There were several teams that folded. I don’t want to be totally disrespectful to the teams of the “pre-original six” era, but there clearly was less quality competition.

Big question:

Is this satisfactory, or should I add my own reasons and additions?

If you want to add this.

I remember when I was wearing my devils jacket the fall of 94 by St Patrick’s Cathedral. A old man ranger fan thought it was nessicary to scream and shout profanity at me for wearing my jacket. So much so that my father walked over saying" He’s a kid you moron. Why dont you yell at me like that to my face and see what happens?" lol classic. There fan base is usally very abnoxious. Loves to start fights on most levels. I know a few good ones but for every nice ranger fan there are 30 who are not. Arrougant, living in the past, Yankee fan mind set with met fan stats and thinks 94 saved hockey.They also like Islander fans bring up the marty wifes sister marriage saying “hes a bad example for children” Yet I laugh at that one. Since there club got smakced with a sexual harrasment charge by a former Ice girl Courtney price They call us an embarresment to the sport. Yet I think taking 70 years to win a cup looks alot worse in my book.

Penguins.

I have a freind who is a penguin fan. His biggest problem with our team is “the trap” argument. I alwasy point outthat the trap has been gone since lock out.To keep calling us that is silly. the new rule changes were designed to free up scoring. You cant say we are a trap team at all these days.Not to mention he loves to call crosby “king Crosby”. when that phrases is used I always respond with Yep he is…king of crying and diving. I think most pens fans tody are banwagon boys and girls. I know for a fact there were far less 10 years ago.They love calling marty the old man and brining up the parking lot parties of the past as insults.

Flyers

I havent had too many run ins with them but I can say I agree with everything posted above about the fan base. I love how they say our fans are the worse. That amazes me since I dont recall seeing any devil fan throwing smoke bombs on the ice at the rock or during the continental years lol

I went with whatever I put together and if the mood so strikes me, I’ll update at as necessary.

Thank you all and next up: Why NJ.