DINO COSTA Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 (edited) As long as we're taking care of some off-season house cleaning, I want to encourage any Devils fan out there to refute the claims, whenever running into a Rangers fan who likes to take heart in the alleged guarantee that made Mark Messier a legend of epic proportions - to not only Rangers fans - but to the boot licking Rangers media dorks who have perpetuated this myth since it allegedly happened. The skinny is this: IT NEVER HAPPENED THE WAY IT WAS REPORTED. NEVER. HAPPENED. The facts: Heading into Game 6 of the 1994 ECF, with the Rangers down 3 game to 2, with the Devils having all the momentum on their side going into that game - reporters circled around the Rangers Captain after their last practice before Game 6. The question? "Mark do you think you guys will win Game 6?" The Answer: "Yeah, I do". No bravado like; "Yeah I do, we'll win, I know we'll win, in fact I guarantee we'll win." Now the above line is what Rangers media, the Rangers organization, and the Rangers fans like to make you think is what happened. Not even close. Messier was asked if he thought the Rangers would win Game 6. What was he gonna say, "no I don't think so?" Or; "Well I hope so?" Or; "probably not...maybe if we're lucky?" That'd be like someone asking Scott Stevens prior to Game 6 if he thought the Devils would win the game. What would Stevens have said? "I hope so?" Or; "Maybe?" Please shout down any Rangers fan or any Ranger media lackey you may run into who likes to proclaim that Mark Messier made a stone cold guarantee lock, that the Rangers would beat the Devils in Game 6 - IT NEVER EVER HAPPENED. GUARANTEE YOU SAY? ONLY 1 GUY in the HISTORY OF NY SPORTS CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM. Three days before the game, Namath responded to a heckler with the now-famous line: "We'll win the game. I guarantee you." His words eventually made headlines across the country, but were dismissed as mere bravado by most observers. NY JETS 16 COLTS 7 Now THAT, was a GUARANTEE. Edited July 13, 2009 by DINO COSTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils731 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Ya, I'm not worried about it either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DINO COSTA Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 (edited) Ya, I'm not worried about it either way. This has always bothered me, because the media has misrepresented this story from the outset. Messier never even used the word Guarantee, and if someone could ever show me the exact quote where he did say that, then I'll apologize and move on. FROM WIKIPEDIA: First, down 3-2 in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the rival New Jersey Devils, Messier confronted the New York media and publicly guaranteed a Game 6 victory, a feat comparable in New York sports history to Babe Ruth's called shot and Joe Namath's Super Bowl III guarantee, and backed up by scoring a natural hat trick in the third period which helped the Rangers erase a two-goal deficit. The Rangers went on to win the series. Someone show me an exact quote - I cannot find it anywhere. You would think that if Messier BOLDLY proclaimed a Guaranteed Victory, that the exact quote (like Joe Willie's) would be emblazoned somewhere on a plaque (probably at MSG) for all to see. Edited July 13, 2009 by DINO COSTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Why discuss this the media already ran with the story made up or not, it's history !! BTW the Rangers won. Next subject please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revan Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I hate the Rangers and Messier is one of my most hated athletes behind Avery and Gomez probably, so I'm pissed about anything he does, too. But the fact is, what is so famous about this "guarantee" is not only the fact that he said they were going to win (in this or other way), but that he made it hapen with a hat trick in the 3rd period. Had the Rangers won, but he hadn't scored a goal, I doubt the story would have been made this popular. Besides... This is NY media. This is the Rangers. This is their first (and ONLY) Stanley Cup in 54 years from 1940. No wonder they make a huge deal out of it, no matter if it really is THIS huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Oh well. We get enough 1994 references everyday from MSG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AEWHistory Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 This has always bothered me, because the media has misrepresented this story from the outset.Messier never even used the word Guarantee, and if someone could ever show me the exact quote where he did say that, then I'll apologize and move on. FROM WIKIPEDIA: First, down 3-2 in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the rival New Jersey Devils, Messier confronted the New York media and publicly guaranteed a Game 6 victory, a feat comparable in New York sports history to Babe Ruth's called shot and Joe Namath's Super Bowl III guarantee, and backed up by scoring a natural hat trick in the third period which helped the Rangers erase a two-goal deficit. The Rangers went on to win the series. Someone show me an exact quote - I cannot find it anywhere. You would think that if Messier BOLDLY proclaimed a Guaranteed Victory, that the exact quote (like Joe Willie's) would be emblazoned somewhere on a plaque (probably at MSG) for all to see. This is an intriguing thread. I'm an historian myself.... I teach military history, but one of my areas of research is how the present becomes the past, and how the perception of this transition compounds into a 'past' that we come to accept. Really interesting. There's an article on Waterloo that I'd started to write some years ago before my health took a dive that is along these lines. This interests me as well. Would anyone mind if I were to run with this at some point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prucenterrules Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Oh well. We get enough 1994 references everyday from MSG. +1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 The skinny is this: IT NEVER HAPPENED THE WAY IT WAS REPORTED. There's a saying: "Newspapers are the first draft of history." Now, if you can go back in time and change all those NY Post headlines proclaiming a Messier guarantee, fine. Otherwise, this is just more NJ fan hand-wringing over the Rangers, the type that proves that no matter how inferior that franchise is to ours, for some moronic reason they will ALWAYS be in some of you people's heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I don't care about Messier. We should have stopped him in that third period. We let up when we had a foot to their throat. We allowed the myth to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Diablo Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I don't care about Messier. We should have stopped him in that third period. We let up when we had a foot to their throat. We allowed the myth to happen. this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section 110 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Dino - with all due respect to your journalism work, let's stick to the present and future. We all know what happened that year, and in '95 and 2000 and '03. Lest we start to uncover the failures of the Avs vs. Detroit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglejelly Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Mark who? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yort44 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Mark who? Mark "I Wear A Dressier" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepperkorn Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I have to be honest -- I have no problem with DINO here -- but I feel like I'm being set up to get barraged with requests to select his blog as one of my favorites -- or to be asked to "vote for Dino" in some web vote. I'm pretty happy with our own puckdaddy But these posts are fine and stuff. I'm not offended... just keep it that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrydevil Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Guarantee or no guarantee, the guy delivered. I don't like him either but I know greatness when I see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DINO COSTA Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 (edited) Guarantee or no guarantee, the guy delivered. I don't like him either but I know greatness when I see it. I have no problem with the greatness aspect - what bothers me is how history records that game as one where he made a no doubt about it the Rangers are gonna win thing. The Rangers aren't in my head - far from it - I recognize completely what hockey franchise in the NY Metropolitan area has been the most dominant over the past 20 years - and they don't play on the land that the Indians sold to us - and they certainly don't play on that sand bar either. Look it, discount my post all you wish to for those who find it objectionable on whatever level - but when I'm talking with a Rangers fan the other day, and that fan makes reference to a guarantee that never happened, over a team that I grew up with, I'm not going to just nod my head in affirmation and admit to a scenario that never really took place. Frankly I'm surprised that so many who have responded to this post simply wave it off as something that is alright simply because the result of the game may allow for the myth to be perpetuated. Yes the Devils had their skates firmly on their necks that night, in fact, I'm certain that many will remember the look on Messier's face with about 14 minutes left in the 3rd period that night, and his look was one of resignation and defeat. Yes Messier went on to have a great 3rd period - as did the Rangers team, yes the Devils let one slip away. No, Mark Messier never guaranteed all of that would happen. Edited July 13, 2009 by DINO COSTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daneyko_booster Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 When they asked Marty about the guarantee one time recently, he said "He made a lot of guarantees." Whether or not Messier used the word guarantee in 94, I personally guarantee that he went on to make all kinds of subsequent guarantees about making the playoffs, which never happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrydevil Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 When they asked Marty about the guarantee one time recently, he said "He made a lot of guarantees." Whether or not Messier used the word guarantee in 94, I personally guarantee that he went on to make all kinds of subsequent guarantees about making the playoffs, which never happened. Poor Patrick Ewing. He never got one right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDog2020 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I have only this to say on the matter: fvck Mark Messier. That is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneykoIsGod Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 When they asked Marty about the guarantee one time recently, he said "He made a lot of guarantees." Whether or not Messier used the word guarantee in 94, I personally guarantee that he went on to make all kinds of subsequent guarantees about making the playoffs, which never happened. +1 The "guarantee" isn't the thing that bothers me the most about Messier, but it is a part. A little piece of me dies every time I hear someone say Messier was the greatest leader of all time. He wasn't even the best leader of his time. Steve Yzerman FTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils Pride 26 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I'm still waiting for him to take the Rangers back to the playoffs, circa 2003? Nobody EVER talks about that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrydevil Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I'm still waiting for him to take the Rangers back to the playoffs, circa 2003? Nobody EVER talks about that one. We certainly do! I'll tell ya, those were fun days for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsfan26 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 (edited) Otherwise, this is just more NJ fan hand-wringing over the Rangers, the type that proves that no matter how inferior that franchise is to ours, for some moronic reason they will ALWAYS be in some of you people's heads. What do you expect when the sports media here is constantly drooling all over the Rangers and their arrogant fans are right here among us? I mean the Devils games are on a TV channel called MSG+ and a radio station that is a Rangers lovefest when they talk about hockey. The Devils are basically the ugly step-brother when it comes to the media's portrayal of the local teams, so of course people here will always be throwing jabs at the Rangers. You can't just ignore them like you can with the Penguins because they aren't being shoved into our heads every day. Edited July 13, 2009 by devilsfan26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DINO COSTA Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 (edited) Otherwise, this is just more NJ fan hand-wringing over the Rangers, the type that proves that no matter how inferior that franchise is to ours, for some moronic reason they will ALWAYS be in some of you people's heads. What do you expect when the sports media here is constantly drooling all over the Rangers and their arrogant fans are right here among us? I mean the Devils games are on a TV channel called MSG+ and a radio station that is a Rangers lovefest when they talk about hockey. The Devils are basically the ugly step-brother when it comes to the media's portrayal of the local teams, so of course people here will always be throwing jabs at the Rangers. You can't just ignore them like you can with the Penguins because they aren't being shoved into our heads every day. I like this guys passion. I'd put myself in a Devils foxhole with this guy any day of the week - as we took on all those Rags fan pussies :burn: Edited July 13, 2009 by DINO COSTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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