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What is wrong with our fanbase


William D'Aquila

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The Devils lost last night, but it wasn't the result of a structural flaw, or because the team is too slow as many have quipped in the past. Their undoing was the result of mental lapses, which can be addressed, and Cory Schneider's subpar play. Goal 1 and 3 are inexcusable for a goaltender that is supposed to be in his prime.

 

Our biggest weakness last year, which was our inability to score is no longer present. The Devils last night scored a SHG and two 5 on 5 goals. These are positive stats despite the overall outcome. Defensively we are a work in progress, but 4 of 7 defenseman on the roster are under 23 years of age. Nights like this are to expected, but they should decline the deeper we get into the season. 

 

Perennial whipping boy Stephen Gionta played well last evening, and is well suited for a 4th line wing role. Salvador is an issue, but he won't be scratched for two reasons. First, no one else on the roster plays a similar style to his, and two, he has a lot of cachet because he is the captain.  

 

Nights like this will be common till around game 35 or so. After that the Devils will play .600 hockey going forward and make the playoffs as long as long as Cory plays to his capability.

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Haha, I expect this to go over very well, but I think one of the issues is that a lot of the Devils fanbase are also Jets and Mets fans and so they are used to institutional failure on a large scale.  They bring the baggage with being a fan of one of those perennial loser franchises over here and panic about every little thing going wrong because as a fan of one of those teams they've seen it all go wrong.  The Mets and Jets haven't been bad over the last 20 years - they've had periods of being bad certainly, but the Mets went to a World Series and were two runs away from going to another one.  The Jets went to two AFC championship games and had a pretty good run in the late 90s.  They just haven't gotten over the top.

 

The losing in the last few seasons has also made people come to expect losing as a matter of course.  They don't really understand it had a lot to do with goaltending and that those goaltenders responsible are gone.

Edited by Triumph
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Haha, I expect this to go over very well, but I think one of the issues is that a lot of the Devils fanbase are also Jets and Mets fans and so they are used to institutional failure on a large scale.  They bring the baggage with being a fan of one of those perennial loser franchises over here and panic about every little thing going wrong because as a fan of one of those teams they've seen it all go wrong.  

 

Couple that with a very large 30 & younger crowd who aren't used to the Devils losing, and losing this much. There was always an expectation (bordering on entitlement) of winning. 

The Devils were like a safety blanket for so long, no matter how bad your other teams were faring. 

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Tri:  would be mildly interesting to see what other pro teams Devils fans root for.  I'm not sure if the Mets/Jets link you suggest exists really does...and even if it did, I'm not sure how much Mets and Jets frustration is seeping into their Devils' rooting lives.

 

Jets have been better over the last 17-18 years than they're often given credit for, but it's the colossal, often unforgettable nature of their failures that lead people to believe that they're constantly going 3-13 or 4-12.  I've talked about it in the Jets threads, but they've been largely competitive the last two decades.  The Mets are basically competitive for 4 or 5 years, then irrelevant for roughly the same period of time.  They're not 20-straight-losing-seasons bad, but their ownership, which often comes off as out-of-touch, incompetent, and amateur, doesn't help matters.

 

There's a large contingent of the Devils fanbase that has no patience whatsoever...everything has to happen right now, or else.  Some fans are already souring on Cory, which is insane to me.  Like the OP alluded to, this is a work-in-progress...Lou actually has some young homegrown defensemen to work with!  No more dipping into the FA pool for the Tallinders and the Volchenkovs (though he may have to go that route again to find a Salvador-type next season).  What Severson has done to date is terrific, but these guys are going to take some lumps here and there.  Yes, it would be nice if there were more young forwards with scoring potential.  The predictable has happened (Cammalleri and Havlat missing games due to injury), so at least Boucher's getting another look...who knows for how long though. 

 

And yeah, a lot of either newer and/or younger fans just kind of unconsciously assumed that making the playoffs was going to continue to be a sure thing seemingly forever, and they're still adjusting to the fact that the Devils aren't a playoff automatic anymore.  Maybe the 3-0-0 start unfairly raised expectations, though there were clear red flags in all three of those games that suggested the Devils hadn't suddenly become an upper-echelon team.  I think they are what they are...a bubble team that will delight some nights and frustrate others.  A 90-95 point team, depending on how things break.   

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Haha, I expect this to go over very well, but I think one of the issues is that a lot of the Devils fanbase are also Jets and Mets fans and so they are used to institutional failure on a large scale. 

 

 

Hahaha... Hahahaahaaa... Hhaaaaa ahahahahahahahhhahahahahaha!

 

Edited by Pepperkorn
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Nothing.....this fan base is no dumber, or smarter, or classier or more sophistiacted than any other franchises......most sports fans are total brainless idiots about their teams, and think three beers and season tickets make them the be-all and knowi-all when it comes to running or fixing their team.....its just now that the Devils are in a down swing....the idioicy is more obvious.....that's about it.....

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A lot of this fan base is young and extremely spoiled. If you think it's bad over here, go read what some of the loons on HF post. It'll make your brain hurt.

 

As one of the younger fans, this is exactly it- my generation of fans and below have a skewed notion of success in sports. I'd be curious to see a breakdown of fandoms on NJDevs like CR mentioned. I feel like it'd be a roughly 50/50 split between Giants/Yankees fans who are used to recent/lifetime championship success or the Mets/Jets fans that tend to have a gloom and doom perspective on sports. Someone should set up an NJDevs sports census google poll

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Couple that with a very large 30 & younger crowd who aren't used to the Devils losing, and losing this much. There was always an expectation (bordering on entitlement) of winning. 

The Devils were like a safety blanket for so long, no matter how bad your other teams were faring. 

 

I can attest to this. I'm only 27 and losing has been such a strange and unexpected feeling. I taught myself only late last season to take hockey now with a grain of salt or you'll end up stressed out and angry a lot over the course of the year.

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I agree with Crasher - well, except those major wackjobs asking to ditch the new owner because of the food choices and goal song change  :wacko:

 

That's just part of the stupidity of the fan base :)

Anyone who bitches about the food now, should jump in the blue box in my pic and go back to the Meadowlands :lol:

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As its been pointed out, this fanbase is largely spoiled and expect a contender year in and year out. Considering the pedigree of our GM and some of our players, I don't think it's wholly unwarranted or even expecting too much in certain respects. However, I think there's a tendency to overreact when games like last night occur especially when there have been problems that have been building up over the last two season. Luckily, these games are rare and at some point you just got laugh it off and brush it off. It's a long season that will have ebb and flows, but ridiculous kneejerk reactions are commonplace for virtually every team that have had at least a little bit of success over a period of time after debacles like last night. Last night is over and its back to being positive that they can bounce back tomorrow night. It's when the really bad play of last night becomes commonplace that I will attempt to armchair QB the franchise. Brush it off, move on. Beat the Jets.

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Haha, I expect this to go over very well, but I think one of the issues is that a lot of the Devils fanbase are also Jets and Mets fans and so they are used to institutional failure on a large scale.  They bring the baggage with being a fan of one of those perennial loser franchises over here and panic about every little thing going wrong because as a fan of one of those teams they've seen it all go wrong.  The Mets and Jets haven't been bad over the last 20 years - they've had periods of being bad certainly, but the Mets went to a World Series and were two runs away from going to another one.  The Jets went to two AFC championship games and had a pretty good run in the late 90s.  They just haven't gotten over the top.

 

The losing in the last few seasons has also made people come to expect losing as a matter of course.  They don't really understand it had a lot to do with goaltending and that those goaltenders responsible are gone.

 

This board is the exception. Jets and Mets fans are mostly Islander and Ranger fans. if you ever go to Rag games you'll see a lot of Jets stuff. If you go to Islanders games 90% of the football gear is Jets.

 

As a fan of the Jets and Mets I'm more secure in my Devils fandom and you always have 3 Cups and a few finals trips to fall back on that's why nothing that can happen to the Devils (other than a move) for the rest of my life will ever make me tear my hair out like I do for those other teams. The Devils have literally given us almost a lifetime worth of championships. The Jets and Mets have voids to fill. This Devils are still in a grace period.

 

Still if you're a 40+ year old sports fan living on long island...to you the Devils and forever away and you're not a fan. Just like to us sometimes it seems like the Isles might as well be playing on Rhode Island

 

Didn't we have a few central Jersey oddball Devils/Phillies fans that posted here too?

Edited by '7'
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This board is the exception. Jets and Mets fans are mostly Islander and Ranger fans. if you ever go to Rag games you'll see a lot of Jets stuff. If you go to Islanders games 90% of the football gear is Jets.

 

As a fan of the Jets and Mets I'm more secure in my Devils fandom and you always have 3 Cups and a few finals trips to fall back on that's why nothing that can happen to the Devils (other than a move) for the rest of my life will ever make me tear my hair out like I do for those other teams. The Devils have literally given us almost a lifetime worth of championships.

 

Still if you're a 40+ year old sports fan living on long island...to you the Devils and forever away and you're not a fan. Just like to us sometimes it seems like the Isles might as well be playing on Rhode Island

 

Didn't we have a few central Jersey oddball Devils/Phillies fans that posted here too?

 

I don't think this board is an exception.  I think more Devils fans are Mets fans than Yankees fans and are more Jets fans than Giants fans.  Typically if you like the Giants and Yankees you'll like the Rangers too.

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did you just start a threat this past week about ousting our new owners over some stupid goal song?  seems childish yes

 

A threat involving our new owners?

 

No, i started a thread involving the President of the Prudential Center who  panders towards a family friendly atmosphere when a great deal of the sport involves a large amount of physical contact and some violence.

 

And another thing, the thread I started had nothing to do with Rock N Roll part 2, and is related to the fact that people like Sundstrom pay 14 grand a year for tickets and have been cut off from free food, and that the Devils have basically adapted surge pricing to take advantage of the large number of people who want to see us play against our biggest rivals. 

Edited by William D'Aquila
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I don't think this board is an exception.  I think more Devils fans are Mets fans than Yankees fans and are more Jets fans than Giants fans.  Typically if you like the Giants and Yankees you'll like the Rangers too.

 

Devils fans by and large live in NJ though. And the Giants and Yankees rule the NJ suburbs. I think Devils fans are mostly Giants and Yankees fans

 

Plus you have plenty of Devils fans who are just flat out not interested in either football or baseball (or both) No everybody is a 3 or 4 sport person. Plenty of hockey fans hate baseball because of the pace of the game.

 

I think there are plenty of Yankee/Giants fans, but that "old guard" was probably not so keen on the Rangers because of their lack of success since forever. Plus hockey is still a blip on the radar to those sports.

Edited by '7'
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did you just start a threat this past week about ousting our new owners over some stupid goal song?  seems childish yes

 

My first thought, exactly.  Thank you.

 

this. A million times this.

You are what's wrong with our fan base.

 

I'm still not convinced William isn't a troll.  This is the second time he's made sweeping generalizations about how bad our fanbase is, yet he's the one mostly contributing with garbage comments and posts like this.

 

Devils fans are passionate.  All fans are FANATICS.  Nothing's wrong with our fanbase.

 

Also - way to generalize our fanbase by a few posters on a message board.  A+ effort.

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My first thought, exactly.  Thank you.

 

 

I'm still not convinced William isn't a troll.  This is the second time he's made sweeping generalizations about how bad our fanbase is, yet he's the one mostly contributing with garbage comments and posts like this.

 

Devils fans are passionate.  All fans are FANATICS.  Nothing's wrong with our fanbase.

 

Also - way to generalize our fanbase by a few posters on a message board.  A+ effort.

 

Keep drinking the kool-aid, I will be having the Lou-Aid.

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Since it's near Halloween, I think it is fitting to call this roster Frankenstein.  Lou has been playing catch up due to poor drafting(forwards), FA departures, and a defection. The roster as assembled has very little rhyme or reason other than finding pieces that fit the team's "style" of play that were available at the time of surgery.  However, Lou has done an admirable job under these conditions, the players have performed nearly as well as they can as whole, and PDB has managed the team to be competitive despite issues(goaltending rotation, roster of middle 6 players).  Is this a team that was "built" to win the Cup? Hell no...but in this "it is what it is world", all parties have performed well. It is gonna take some time to right the ship back to the dominant Devils everyone is used to seeing. If the Devils weren't trying to grow the brand, etc., I could see the owners last summer saying, let's tank it up this season.  Maybe they should have or maybe they are...November could bury this team.

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All fan bases are now more demanding. Comes with territory of high costs and entertainment demand.

It also comes with social media being a thousand times more prevalent than even 5-10 years ago and everything involved (boards, Facebook, Twitter, etc) tends to bring out the 'radical' element of all fanbases.

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My first thought, exactly. Thank you.

I'm still not convinced William isn't a troll. This is the second time he's made sweeping generalizations about how bad our fanbase is, yet he's the one mostly contributing with garbage comments and posts like this.

Devils fans are passionate. All fans are FANATICS. Nothing's wrong with our fanbase.

Also - way to generalize our fanbase by a few posters on a message board. A+ effort.

Nah billy boy has been here a while
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