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DEVIL INSIDE


El Diablo

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I have been a devils fan since '82 - i lived on long island but didn't care about the islanders or their cups, the rangers i could never root for - besides, how could you not like the devils away jerseys (it's like Christmas all year) - the early years were tough as a fan, but you knew the team would improve - Gretzky is still an a@# for call the club a mickey mouse organization. All in all, it's a great ride and I look forward to more Cups in the future

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Grew up "down the shore" in Neptune. I remember in the spring of 1987 I caught a Devils-Flyers afternoon game on WOR Channel 9 and was interested in the sport and thought it was cool that New Jersey had a team (I was already Giants and Mets fan). Devils came close but missed the playoffs that year (a normal occurance back then) but got further hooked on the sport with the bizarro Islanders-Capitals Game 7 4OT game.

That September my parents bought me an old-school green & red Devils jersey for my birthday, Devils games started to be broadcast on Sports Channel (now FSNY), and I convinced my Dad to take me to see the Devils-Edmonton Oilers game on Halloween Night. The Devils of Muller, MacLean, Driver, Cirella, and Cheverier beat the Oilers of Gretzky, Messier, Anderson, Coffey, Kurri, and Fuhr 6-5 that night and I was completely hooked. That Devils team was the one that had the Cinderella run after Johnny Mac's OT goal in Chicago.

In the years since I moved outside of Hartford as a teenager, outside of Boston in college, and outside of DC after that. I've seen the Devils play at MSG, Hartford, Boston, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, and Carolina but have always returned to the Meadowlands to catch one or two games a season. I've also caught NHL games in Tampa and Uniondale.

Went to college at UMass so I've seen many NHL'rs (including the Devils Pandolfo, both Gionta's, Clemmenson, Madden, both Parise's, Frank Doyle, and Zajac) play college hockey.

Edited by mdsieve
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
in 1997, when i was 6years old,. i saw Scott Stevens hit an other player and i was so impress by him..So i ask my Dad: Which team this guy plays for?He said:Oh, New Jersey Devils.

so.i started to follow my beloved Devils :D

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In 1993 the hockeycard era was huge in Sweden. I was a 9 year old kid and I loved the hockeycards and fell in in love with the hockeyplayers and hockey in general. One player caught my attention more than any other and his name was..Martin Brodeur. :)

At that time Marty was a young kid and an upcoming star. I know I did everything in my power to get a hold of every Martin Brodeur card there was. After that my love for him grew, and so did the love for the rest of the team. I've been a die-hard since the 94-95 season, a season they happened to win. So that made it even more clearer for me...

Next season I'm planning to travel to New Jersey and USA for the first time ever to watch the Devils play in their new arena. It's been a dream of mine for a very long time!

GO DEVILS!

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  • 1 month later...

my dad's a devils fan so i followed his lead. he actually used to be a rangers fan growing up in the 50's and 60's until they traded away all of his favorite players. then when the rockies moved to jersey he became a devils fan.

i, on the other hand, have been a huge devils fan and hockey fan in general. i was at the game in '95 when they won the cup and used to have season tickets when i lived in north brunswick, nj years ago. i moved to the harrisburg, pa area when i was 10 and that's when i started to play hockey. since, i've been to a few games a year. now i'm 19 and a sophomore at temple university in philly so when the devils come to town it's always fun to be the only devils fan amongst my friends.

we plan on making trips up to the rock in newark this year. thank god for the train system from philly to newark!

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Great thread! I started watching the Devils in 1985. We still had the Jets and I had met Chico Resch through a mutual friend. I have enjoyed watching the tradition and commitment that has become the Devils. I have taken a great deal of "trap-flack" from co-workers and friends over the years but they have quickly given up as they know I will defend the team regardless of what they say.

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I became a Devils fan in a sort of weird way. Back in 1993-94, I was working as a temp with this other guy who was a big rangers fan. I wasn't really into hockey then, and his constant talking about hockey got me interested. He invited me to go with him and his friends to a rangers-Devils game at MSG one evening. Now, I'd watched a few games here and there, but I'd hadn't been to a live game in years.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing - and I'm not talking about the game. Several fights broke out in my section alone all instigated by obnoxious ranger fans starting with Devils fans. I remember the Devils scoring at one point, the Devil fans going crazy, and then three ranger fans jumping two Devils fans from behind. The people I was with were loving it and they were egging everything on.

I went to one more game hoping what I saw the last time wasn't going to be the norm - but it was. I wasn't turned off from hockey - just from ranger fans (and by extension, the rangers).

So I was thinking - I'm from and love NJ, I really should be watching the Devils. So I started watching Devils games on TV and became a huge fan of Daneyko especially. Also (as if it needs to be said) watching the god-like play of Brodeur and the hits Stevens was dishing out was what hooked me totally.

But I guess overall it was how the Devils functioned as a team - not just individually - and especially defensively. I loved the way they would just stifle every other team's attempt to even get near Brodeur. And when they did - forget it. But what the hell am I doing wasting time saying that here?!?

So yeah... that's how I became a Devils fan. Kinda long winded I know but that's it! And it sucks living out in southern CA not being able to see them play in person AGAIN for this upcoming season, but I want to get tickets for my wife and I to fly out for the opening game at the new arena (and yes, she's a Devils fan too!)

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Nice topic...my first Devils game was on my birthday in 1992 against the Hartford Whalers...I still have the 10th Anniversary wrist sweatbands to prove it! Remember that night like it was freaking yesterday...

It was my best friend since 3rd grade, his brother, his dad and yours truly. We piled into his dad's old ass Chevy conversion van...yes, the kind with the ladder in the back and curtains in the side windows...and schleped on down to the Brendan Byrne for some kick ass hockey. I didn't know jack about hockey, the Dev's, what the hell a puck was...nothing! After that night, however, I was hooked for life!

I believe the Devs won that night, but I'm not 100% sure...either way, me and my friend still talk about that game...good times...

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This is a cool thread. Living in very south Jersey (deep into Flygirls territory) it is nice to have a place to talk Devils and how we all became fans. I remember first coming to like hockey watching the US win the 1980 Olympics and then immediately becoming a Devils fan in '82 since they were the first Jersey only professional sports team that I can remember. From there it just got better and better..the acqusition of Brodeur, the Stevens years, the Cups...what a great ride. Nothing gives me more pleasure as a fan than making fun of all the Flyers fans I know (unfortunately I work in PA near Philly). Year after year we are better and it drives them NUTS. Can't wait to catch a game at the Rock--I can take public transportation Whoo Hoo!

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  • 2 weeks later...

When my aunt started dating my uncle back in 94-95 he would come over and watch the Devils games so i started watching the games with him and was hooked instantly. :evil:

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  • 3 months later...

My whole family rooted for the Rangers and of course I had to be different. My Uncle was working for the Meadowlands at the time and he brought me to my first game when I was around 6, so 1985. I remember running around Brendan Byrne like a maniac all the way up top and I thought it was the coolest thing. I think I was the only person at the game. Ever since that day Hockey and the Devils became my biggest obsession. THANKS UNCLE LEO!!!!

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Before the 1994 debacle, there was 1988. We got through Round 1, Round 2, and then the next thing you know there we were in the Final 4. It was only the Boston Bruins that stood in our way from what would have been our 1st trip to the big Championship dance. I was all but 8 years old, however I remember it as if it were yesterday. The series went the full 7 games, and in the end the Devils fell 1 victory shy from the Stanley Cup Finals. The hook was the aftermath, on almost every news channel in Jersey AFTER the game that got me addicted. Seeing coach Jim Schoenfeld verbally abuse referee Don Koharski, screaming obscenties and yelling, "Have another doughnut, you fat <<bleeping>> pig!" The incident resulted in a suspension for Schoenfeld, and a life long fan in me. From that moment on I remember saying to myself, this team has to win the Stanley Cup.

Edited by Beezer34
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Wow, I never got around to posting in this one. Might as well now!

December 1985 really did it for me. I used to watch games on TV, but while it was fun it just seemed sorta random. Then Dad got tickets to the Devils through work, and I got to see them beat Vancouver 4-1, Chico in the net. I was a Chico fan and a Devils fan from then on out, and even at 17 I could see that you won't really 'get' the game until you see it in person . I also started to listen to far away games on AM radio at night, and for some odd reason started following the Red Wings. Maybe just to say that hey, here was a team worse than the Devils. This of course made the '95 Finals a little ironic! One reason I dug the Devils is because they wore the New Jersey name, unlike the Jets & Giants. A true Jersey team.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started watchin hockey when I was 6 livin down near philly, so I only saw Phailures games, and I started out as a Phailure fan. Cable was all but non existant, and they for damn sure weren't gonna show any hockey games, especially devils games. Anyway, it wasn't until 90 that I realized Jersey had a team. The rest is history after that.

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  • 1 month later...

My family is originally from south jersey, but i grew up here in kansas. So my dad had told me about the devils but back then all we got to see if any hockey was the blues. So when the 94 conference finals were on it was my first time seeing the boys. I was 7 years old and was hooked!!! sure the rags won....but the very next year the boys won the cup...so i got to see it all unfold within a year. :evil:

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  • 2 months later...

I was born near Los Angeles, but moved to NJ when I was 2 and when I was 9 I saw my first hockey game on TV (my mom thought hockey was too violent so it took a while to see my first game). It just happened to be the Devils beating Detroit in Game 4 of the 95 Finals to win their first Stanley Cup. With that game, I was hooked and have been a diehard Devs fan ever since. My only exposure to hockey before that were the Mighty Duck movies.

P.S. I consider myself lucky because I've been to a Stanley Cup Finals game (NJ vs. ANA 2003 Game 3 in ANA) and I've had my picture taken with the Stanley Cup on FIVE separate occasions. That, on top of the fact that my favorite team in my favorite sport has won the Cup 3 times since I've started watching hockey.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've never been what you would call a "sports fan" I don't know all the players life stories. I can't recall stats from a decade ago. I don't remember each player to score a game winner in any given year. In fact, I really started watching sports regularly within the last 6-7 years. I have always liked the Devils, however. Born in NJ, my dad took me to a game when I was pretty young (I believe it was a Devils Islanders game at the Brendan Byrne arena. I think the Devils won. I still have the ol' red and green mesh cap, and pennant that he bought me from that game and I look at those items like a badge of honor, for being a part of a growing NHL super power. I am drawn to the Devils, mostly because of 1995 when beating the Red Wings seemed impossible and a scrappy team from NJ that had only been in the league for a little more than a decade had showed they had what it took to bring down goliath.

I went through a few years of not watching regularly and randomly keeping up with my team through newspaper articles and on ESPN, always aware of the Devils no matter where my life and interests took me. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to watch the 2000 cup run because I was obsessed over a dumb girl in college and she pretty much ruled my life. I turned on the TV to see the Devils had actually won the Dallas Series and embarrassingly enough I had no idea how great that Cup run was. (Believe me I wasn't going to let that happen again) Long story short, I have a better girl now (my poor hockey widow wife who puts up with my Jersey buying, Brodeur-worshipping, Devils watching ass) and I think I have been a better fan since.

The Devils were always there for me, and even now that I live in Atlanta, I still go to every Thrashers Devils game and try to fly home to the Rock whenever I can.

Plus, the Devils have the best logo and color scheme in all professional sports. Being a graphic artist, that holds a lot of weight as well.

LETS GO DEVILS!

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  • 1 month later...

Everyone asks me how living in Ohio I became a Devils fan and it's the same for all of my teams... when I picked a team to follow I chose one of the worst teams going so I could follow the team on the rise to the top. Go back about 20-25 years and you'll see... Packers, Indians, Devils are my teams for my sports (NFL,MLB,NHL) and I almost pulled out the triple crown in 1995. Packer won the super bowl, Devils as you well know won the cup, and the Indians made it to the world series but lost in 6 games (damn Braves).

Since then the Devils have been consistently the best for their relative sport, but the Packers have had a few seasons going deep into the playoffs including another superbowl loss to the Broncos. Indians have had the talent, but have fallen flat in scoring (sounds like the Devils eh).

So I don't go by geography but rather the sheer enjoyment of finding an underdog and riding the transformation into a powerhouse. It's been fun. B )

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