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Glenn Healey's Newark comment


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My letter to the Devils PR department...

To whom it may concern,

I want to make you aware of the following. Yesterday , Wednesday 24 Oct, I was listening to the Hockey Night In Canada Radio show on the NHL Home Ice channel on Sirius/XM. It may have been a re-air from the morning or live, but I heard this at 4:25pm.

The radio crew were on the phone with Glenn Healey. They were discussing the Islanders move to Brooklyn. Discussing how the move is away from their fan base, the question was posed to Mr. Healey: Who will be going to these games in Brooklyn? His answer was, "All those people who don't want to get robbed in Newark." The hosts laughed hard, but more in shock of that comment. But Mr. Healey thought was was hilarious.

This is a national show on satellite radio that paints a negative picture of the Devils and your premiere arena to people who are too far to see for themselves how great the area is. This comment was unnecessary, incorrect, irresponsible, and quite insulting.

A comment like this is just as damaging as Barry Melrose's stupid witticism. Please research this for yourself and address as publicly as it was made. The state of hockey is pretty bad right now, and this is just salt in my wound.

Thank you.

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That's funny considering the area around the Brooklyn arena could be considered just as bad if not a lot worse then around the rock.

No way. Obviously transit hubs attract sketchy people, but I lived a few blocks away from where the Barclays Center is now, and that's a much safer area.

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Meh, I can't get worked up about that one. There will always be jokes about Newark. I doubt a whole lot of listeners heard Healy's comment and thought "Geez, maybe I'd better not go to a Devils game, I might get robbed!" Healy made a joke (he's known for being a pretty funny guy) while hanging with the guys...the kind of joke people make when letting their hair down a little. I don't think people take a joke Healy made as some sort of gospel. It's just not that big a deal.

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Meh, I can't get worked up about that one. There will always be jokes about Newark. I doubt a whole lot of listeners heard Healy's comment and thought "Geez, maybe I'd better not go to a Devils game, I might get robbed!" Healy made a joke (he's known for being a pretty funny guy) while hanging with the guys...the kind of joke people make when letting their hair down a little. I don't think people take a joke Healy made as some sort of gospel. It's just not that big a deal.

Yeah I think we have better things to be worked up over then a little joke.

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I still highly recommend you send this to the Devils PR people.. Some here may not care, but I can tell you the team staff does.. They spend a lot of time an effort on promoting the arena in Newark.. Call or email them and find out who you should send this to

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A comment like this is just as damaging as Barry Melrose's stupid witticism.

Eh not really. Melrose made his joke on a national network right after the arena opened - and thus more suceptible to innuendo, plus it came when people actually were somewhat paying attention to hockey since it was (gasp) playing games. Healy's nonsensical dig came after the Devils have already been established in Newark for five years and when probably fifty people - almost all of them Isles fans - were listening to the hockey channel on a pay radio network. Nobody's going to take that seriously who already didn't have preconcieved notions about Newark anyway, especially after Melrose's very public flap.

Just bombard Healy's twitter with info about eleven playoff sellouts and not one incident during the playoffs if you wish and be done with it.

Edited by NJDevs4978
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Are you going to get mugged going to and from a devils game in Newark? Highly unlikely.

However the fact is that anything short of a Giuliani style crime reduction in the city overall the perception and reality is that Newark will be looked upon and perceived as a dangerous city. It will take a further reduction of violence city wide as well as a couple of generations to shake the perception.

This is a major overreaction and his comments were in jest.

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Are you going to get mugged going to and from a devils game in Newark? Highly unlikely.

However the fact is that anything short of a Giuliani style crime reduction in the city overall the perception and reality is that Newark will be looked upon and perceived as a dangerous city. It will take a further reduction of violence city wide as well as a couple of generations to shake the perception.

This is a major overreaction and his comments were in jest.

Giuliani isn't the sole reason for the NYC crime drop around 20 years ago. Crime rates were already on the downturn, significantly so, even before Giuliani came around. Giuliani didn't make the crime disappear, he just pushed it further underground and further out of the way of the eye's of those that matter.

As for the comment being in jest, I understand, but c'mon, Newark isn't that bad and you never hear anyone say, "hey, don't see the Caps play, you might get shot in DC" where you don't even need to walk to another street to get from nice area to hellhole, all you need to do is keep walking down Pennsylvania Ave.

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It was a joke, let's let it go.

Everybody knows Newark is a dump, but they've done a nice job keeping the dumpiness at bay in the area that immediately surrounds the area...but nobody in their right mind would ever venture outside of that. The station itself is hideous...families do not want to walk their children past crackheads changing their socks or rambling to themselves incoherently.

The Islanders will not be poaching any fans from us by going to Brooklyn.

Edited by '7'
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7, maybe not now but in the future they'll (1) be taking up the little media space we got from the ny papers (2) taking the tourist hockey fan $ away from us (3) instantly become the second nhl team in the area (4) competing for the casual fan who lives in the city (5) competing for the corporate wall st business. Basically, having them in Brooklyn adds a lot of competitive pressure to what is supposed to be the Pru's strength.

I know I sound like chicken little, so I hope these effects aren't nearly as bad as I'm making them out to be.

Edited by devlman
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7, maybe not now but in the future they'll (1) be taking up the little media space we got from the ny papers (2) taking the tourist hockey fan $ away from us (3) instantly become the second nhl team in the area (4) competing for the casual fan who lives in the city (5) competing for the corporate wall st business. Basically, having them in Brooklyn adds a lot of competitive pressure to what is supposed to be the Pru's strength.

I know I sound like chicken little, so I hope these effects aren't nearly as bad as I'm making them out to be.

Hey I mean I'm nervous too.. If there's one thing NYC loves it's a winner.. If the Islanders get good for a while you can bet the big city sponsors will want to attach their names to that.. And if we don't have an owner committed to keeping the team here around when our current lease expires, it could be bad.. JVB gets a lot of flack but how many other million/billionaires in NJ are passionate Devils fans? No matter how you look at it, the Devils are probably never going to be a lock to stay (like the Rangers, Yankees and Giants are)

I still don't get why those same NYC sponsors have more trouble doing the same for a team with New Jersey before it's name.. We are part of their market, we go into their city bringing our money to it, and we willingly support their NY teams but they can't support back

Edited by Colin226
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