Gulitti: Devils STILL a Mickey Mouse Organization

[HellOnICE]

http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice/comments/devils_owe_their_fans_an_apology_for_leaving_them_in_the_dark/

All these years later, the Devils are still a Mickey Mouse organization.

The Devils long ago put their on-ice reputation as a team in disarray

[ThreeCups]

http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice/comments/devils_owe_their_fans_an_apology_for_leaving_them_in_the_dark/

WOW!! Props to TG for doling out some much needed realism regarding this situation. I wonder how he will be viewed/treated by the organization now after thoroughly blasting them...

[CRASHER]

.... and there are days that TG shows his true colors

... the blame here is totally on PSE&G and NO ONE ELSE, it's their job... their equipment... THEIR FAIL

for all we know there was a Devils guy asking the PSE&G people for a status and getting no answer.... and less help....

sh!t happens... suck it up and deal with it

[Devils731]

I think TG is being way over the top. One bad instance does not mean the entire organization stinks. He highlights a prize to a season ticket holder as a negative, which is silly to me.

He seems just pissed off over not being in the loop last night, understandable, and is venting today. I don't see venting as wholly professional as a journalist though, should I take everything he writes with a grain of salt now? Because this certainly wasn't a reasonable article, to me, once he leaves talking about last night.

[metalfro44]

I have to agree with him, even if he went a little extreme for my taste. When they played in the Meadowlands the production value of the game was no better than minor league. Moving to the Rock, not too much has changed. Hopefully things will change due to this incident.

[Sickman]

The whole situation sucks. The way the game will have to be decided sucks but most importantly it sucks for the people who attended last night. From what people are saying who attended its pretty clear that things could have maybe been handled a little better but like 731 said, this article is a little bit over the top.

The Devils have their faults, we all realize that but he clearly has an agenda here. I mean this was a scathing read and he makes it seem like the team has never done anything right by their fans. There is no question that they can improve in certain areas but this was pretty raw.

[William]

MR GULITTI, pray tell what you wanted the Devils to do? I am sure you have been to many baseball games in your time and sometimes it rains. I never remember Bob Shepard getting on the public address system giving weather updates, do you? The Devils were put in a tough position last night and did the best they could. The organization tried for nearly two hours to restore the status quo but unfortunately could not. I like Mr. Lamoriello do not see the point on issuing a statement every thirty minutes that PSE&G are working on the problem. What is the point in stating the obvious?

Now in terms of how the team markets itself. I do not want us to turn into the Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, or the Nashville Predators who use hokey promotions to rope in fans. I want people at devils games because they love hockey not because of extracurricular influences.

my response

[titans04]

Good for TG calling them out and he's dead on.

[Devils Pride 26]

I heard from somebody that knows what they are talking about, and they told me the company that installed the lights used cheap wiring or wrap around the wires for the lighting in the arena.

[Weekes Head]

I have to agree with him, even if he went a little extreme for my taste. When they played in the Meadowlands the production value of the game was no better than minor league. Moving to the Rock, not too much has changed. Hopefully things will change due to this incident.

i really have to agree with this. all they really did was dump the same crap production the caa got into the rock. there may be more amenities for season ticket holders, but the general experience for any other ticket holder is pretty much exactly how it was at the meadowlands. the arena just isn't inviting to me, and yes, i've been to my fair share of games there. there are certainly advantages -- it's more accessible than the old arena and all, but the in-game experience flat out sucks. i don't know how to fix it either. i've been to games at other arenas and somehow they are able to really make their fans feel part of the game. how the heck do they do it?

in regards to the article -- it wasn't TG's place to flat out blast the organization like this, at least if he wants to continue to be a credible and reliable source for devils news and notes. i'd expect this from (N)Єverson, but not TG. i understand that this is his blog so he has every right to post what he wants, but as a journalist overall, he needs to be more objective and talk about what happened and why it happened, not his feelings on the situation.

Edited January 9, 2010 by RD

[msweet]

A lot of what TG wrote is true. As a blogger myself, this blog is about pent up aggravation and disappointment. It wasn't just this incident that made TG blow up. He's obviously been seething for years. And no one writes like this unless they care a lot. Kudos for him for not being afraid to let it rip. The Devils could make it difficult for him if they chose to.

That being said, he's a bit over the top.

[Random Poster]

Maybe Gulitti should go back to his Rangers beat if he wants to talk about a Mickey Mouse organization. Ranger Blue true and true, right Tom?

What a trash article. I'd respect his opinions and thoughts if he stuck to the topic at hand, but he went off into tangents and personal comments that we're uncalled for, IMO. It seems he wanted to write an editorial of the situation then the pent up stored anger came out and it evolved into a personal rant. That is unprofessional. Some might call it scathing journalism, but IMO, it's just an excuse to let loose personal rants and feelings. His objectiveness on the situation was tarnished by doing so.

I'm critical of this organization on a few levels, mostly on things that might not bother a good amount of the fan base as a whole, but i've lost all respect for this guy and his blog. Looks like Tom let loose some deep seeded frustration he's had stored up for awhile towards the Devils while covering them. Either that or he's a bit ass chapped he wasn't given some type of inside "scoop" for his blog/twitter account being a team beat writer.

Here's my favorites (and it was tough to choose just two as an example):

"There was some booing and eventually some fans threw a few hats and other items on the ice. Considering the circumstances, that was understandable behavior."

Yeah, Tom, it's understandable for fans to throw sh!t on the ice. It's NEVER proper behavior to throw anything on the ice for any reason. OK, hats during Hat tricks being a tradition aside, but that's really about it and as far as it should go. Throwing items on the ice is dangerous and uncalled for. For him to condone this behavior on any level shows me what he knows about the game and respect for it.

"Unfortunately, this is par for the course for this organization, which wonders why it can

Edited January 9, 2010 by SJP20

[William]

the music is sh!t though. the devils should come out to run like hell by floyd.

[Sickman]

the music is sh!t though. the devils should come out to run like hell by floyd.

That would be awesome. I think the Chicago Bulls used to come out to that song back in the day at some point during their dynasty years.

The music is awful but its really a mater of preference. Personally I'd love to see them steal the DJ from the Igloo. Whoever that person is does a great job.

Edited January 9, 2010 by SickMan

[JWomp]

Wow, TG was way out of line with that and personally I think he just made himself sound like a whiny little girl.

Really, what more could the Devils have done? It should have been pretty obvious what the problem was to anyone there sitting in the dark!

[Risky]

They should have said something to the fans.

The idea to broadcast the MSG feed was probably the simplest/best solution.

[njdevils2003champs]

That would be awesome. I think the Chicago Bulls used to come out to that song back in the day at some point during their dynasty years.

The music is awful but its really a mater of preference. Personally I'd love to see them steal the DJ from the Igloo. Whoever that person is does a great job.

Or the DJ from Joe Louis Arena.

[Devilsfan118]

Harsh perhaps, but deserved. A simple statement would've been wonderful.

I have to agree with him here: the most entertaining part of the night was when some fans in the lower level made the rink boys skate back and forth at least 5 times collecting hats. Harmless frustration. Now, when that idiot threw the soda bottle on the ice...that was too far. But as far as I'm concerned, throwing hats on the ice was hilarious.

But the devils really need to pick-up the effort on the entertainment during the commercials. I haven't been to many other arenas, so I understand I don't have a whole lot to compare to, but...so help me god...if I have to watch the stupid zamboni's race around the ice or the even more stupid cars racing around newark again, I might kill the poor soul sitting next to me. I think inserting the mascot into old movies is clever and classic, but...they need to create more energy! It could've been where I was sitting last night (and the fact the devils were down 3-0) but the arena was awfully quiet all night from the start. Having stupid little give-aways, or blasting f___ing hannah montana doesn't pump the crowd up. ENERGY. Learn how to create some for crying out loud.

[njdevils2003champs]

I think there should had been more communication about what the deal was but calling the Devils a Mickey Mouse organization is a little harsh, IMO.

[Bryan]

They should have said something to the fans.

The idea to broadcast the MSG feed was probably the simplest/best solution.

And this would have solve the majority of the communication problems. Here at home I knew way more than the fans in attendance, which was sad.

[Prucenterrules]

Wow, TG was way out of line with that and personally I think he just made himself sound like a whiny little girl.

Really, what more could the Devils have done? It should have been pretty obvious what the problem was to anyone there sitting in the dark!

+1. Its not like the Devils organization installed the lights, they payed a company to do that and that company fvcked up.

[JWomp]

And this would have solve the majority of the communication problems. Here at home I knew way more than the fans in attendance, which was sad.

It's not really sad, that's just usually how it is. For example, when a goal is under review, the people at home usually know way more about what's going on than those in the building.

[ThreeCups]

It's not really sad, that's just usually how it is. For example, when a goal is under review, the people at home usually know way more about what's going on than those in the building.

The difference is a goal review might be 3 minutes or so, while this fiasco was nearly 2 hours!

[NJDevs26]

+1. Its not like the Devils organization installed the lights, they payed a company to do that and that company fvcked up.

But Vanderbeek owns the building and is therefore responsible for it. Not to mention the Devils did a terrible job in keeping the fans informed, which is on them.

Gulutti was right in some of what he said but he really went too far in both his criticisms and how he went about it.

[langenmuffin]

I was there last night and I was lucky enough to be in a suite so when the lights went out we just popped open a bottle of wine and hung out (now, that being said, the tickets were given to me by a friend so he would get any compensation rather than it coming to me). We had the MSG feed in the suite and we had a general idea of what was going on, but anyone who didn't have access to that was pretty much screwed. At one point MSG switched to the Isles/Stars game... around 10:00 a friend sent me a text to let me know the game was canceled, a good 5-10 minutes before they made the announcement to the fans. It was really low-class to send the ice guys out to remove the nets before making the announcement to everyone in the stands. It was like a big fat F-U to the fans who stuck it out for that long.

It even would have been enough for them to get on the PA after an hour or so and let the fans know that they were still working on the problem. Some sort of update - even an obvious one- would have been nice. It felt as though they forgot we were there. It also left us wondering if they stretched it out as long as possible without an announcement to keep people buying food and drinks.

I can tell you first hand that TG is not far off on his assessment of the organization. We had friends in the suite with us who had never been to a Devils game and when they asked why no one was updating us I told them it was because Lou would be the only one to OK that announcement and everyone else it terrified to do anything without his say-so.

TG has seen a lot more than most fans see and he's not only speaking for himself but for many people who have been involved with the non-hockey side of the organization. Mickey Mouse may be a little harsh, but they're far from top-notch and last night didn't help at all.