The Marty Night thread

[NJDfan1711]

On 1/24/2016 at 11:37 AM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Let's see if this works:

Brodeur's retirement "package" will slot under Stevens, and Elias' (can't see his number not being retired, hopefully next season) will be hung under Daneyko.  I threw some other pics of my cave as well (my Mets and Patriots stuff):

 

 

 

Sick man cave.  Did you build the bar yourself?  I have very similar bar stools in my garage by a bar I built myself, but it's nowhere near that (just don't have the space, or, honestly, the money, or more importantly, probably the carpentry skills, to further enhance it)

Are those seats from Shea stadium?  My father got my brother and I one seat each from Giants stadium before it went down.  It's #2 which is the day I was born.  I think they were like $250-300 each.

Also, how much did that Pacman and that other arcade game set you back?  I imagine games like that are pretty expensive.  I always wanted something like that, most recently maybe the Golden Tee golf games, but I think they cost in the thousands. 

Oh and how did you hang those TVs from the ceiling?  I have a small flat screen near my bar that's mounted on the wall and looks good, but suspended from the ceiling looks pretty sweet too.  Are that in a truss or load-bearing beam given that, I assume, that's a basement ceiling?

[Jimmy Leeds]

Sweet room CR.   I have some large banners I got off of a former poster here, Elias something or other. Don't know if I have the room for them. Have to dig them up

[Devilsfan118]

Damn that room is awesome!  If/when I own a home some day I want to do something like that!  

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

On January 24, 2016 at 1:51 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Thanks guys.  Got lucky in that the basement was about 90% of where I needed it to be when I moved in.  I had the one wall painted red (and two light sconces removed), had the DirecTV feed swapped from that wall to the other, had Best Buy install the second TV by the bar...and then it was just a question of handing up all of my stuff.  I had most of it in place within the first month (July 2012).  There's been additions/replacements and tweaks here and there since.  And the occasional spousal complaint.

Hey NJDfan1711...thanks for the compliments!  I quoted myself from the first page...the above post has some of the answers you're looking for.  The previous owner did much of the finishing (I did the bar lighting), but oddly enough, didn't really have much accessories or memorabilia (despite being a big sports fan himself, albeit of different teams).  He basically built himself a great canvas but never painted on it.  I was so busy with other aspects of moving into the house that I had others do the kinds of things I usually would've done myself (like install the ceiling TV mount).  This room is indeed my basement, but it's a walkout basement (sliding door to the left of the Pac-Man's Arcade Party game heads out to a pool area), so it doesn't really feel like a basement...more like another floor.

The seats are indeed from Shea...got them for $869 (the original going price for the seats when they were first offered).  The reds and greens were going for less, but I liked the idea of the blue and orange ones a lot more.  That was one of the "not approved by spouse" items.  She didn't see the appeal of them at all. 

The Pac-Man's Arcade Party was about $2700 IIRC (not going to sugarcoat it, it's definitely overpriced for what it is, though I love mine.  If you're handy, you could build something yourself for much much less).  It's a NAMCO product and has 13 games installed on it:  Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Galaxian, Galaga, Galaga '88, Dig Dug, Bosconian, Mappy, Rally-X, Rolling Thunder, Xevious, and Dragon Spirit.  It only has a 4-way joystick installed, so it's great for some games, and very bad for others (games like Xevious and Dragon Spirit were designed with 8-way play in mind).  I bought it mostly for the Pac-games, Galaxian/Galaga, and Dig Dug.  It's very well-made and has an LCD screen (in all honesty, these games actually look a little better on the old CRT screens they were designed to be played on, but the LCD screen does a fine job) and modern electronics.  Much less hassle than actually owning a true 70s/80s-style arcade game with aging internals, which as I've found with Space Invaders Deluxe, need a LOT more TLC. 

The Space Invaders was about $1200, and on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a cabinet shell and 10 being fully restored, I'd give it about a 7.5.  You very rarely come across anything higher than a 8 for that machine...most people who go beyond that level of restoration tend to hang onto them, or charge a lot more coin to part with them (well over $2000).  I had to wait several months before I could find the right background artwork (my machine came with an original Space Invaders background and not the Deluxe version).  The screen color overlay is actually upside down, but I don't mind that, so I've left that as is (most people don't even notice it).  I have a replacement bezel and instrument panel overlay, but the current ones are in good enough shape that I don't feel the need to swap them out yet.  I also have a backup chipset (in case I need to work on the chipset currently installed in the cabinet), but the backup only plays Space Invaders and not Deluxe.  The cabinet as a whole could use some paint refreshing...it's not in bad shape though, and with the way I have it set into the wall, you don't see much of it.  It's funny, when I was seven years old back in 1977-78, the original Space Invaders was the game that got me hooked on video games.  Back then I wondered what it would be like to actually own one...seemed like a pipe dream at the time of course.  It's actually a great decompression tool...kind of a nice 15-20 minute escape...yeah, I actually do play it!

Thanks for the compliments all...I put a lot of thought and love into that room and really enjoy hanging down there.    

Edited January 26, 2016 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[MadDog2020]

 

16 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

On 1/24/2016 at 1:51 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Thanks guys.  Got lucky in that the basement was about 90% of where I needed it to be when I moved in.  I had the one wall painted red (and two light sconces removed), had the DirecTV feed swapped from that wall to the other, had Best Buy install the second TV by the bar...and then it was just a question of handing up all of my stuff.  I had most of it in place within the first month (July 2012).  There's been additions/replacements and tweaks here and there since.  And the occasional spousal complaint.

Quote

 

Hey NJDfan1711...thanks for the compliments!  I quoted myself from the first page...the above post has some of the answers you're looking for.  The previous owner did much of the finishing (I did the bar lighting), but oddly enough, didn't really have much accessories or memorabilia (despite being a big sports fan himself, albeit of different teams).  He basically built himself a great canvas but never painted on it.  I was so busy with other aspects of moving into the house that I had others do the kinds of things I usually would've done myself (like install the ceiling TV mount).  This room is indeed my basement, but it's a walkout basement (sliding door to the left of the Pac-Man's Arcade Party game heads out to a pool area), so it doesn't really feel like a basement...more like another floor.

The seats are indeed from Shea...got them for $869 (the original going price for the seats when they were first offered).  The reds and greens were going for less, but I liked the idea of the blue and orange ones a lot more.  That was one of the "not approved by spouse" items.  She didn't see the appeal of them at all. 

The Pac-Man's Arcade Party was about $2700 IIRC (not going to sugarcoat it, it's definitely overpriced for what it is, though I love mine.  If you're handy, you could build something yourself for much much less).  It's a NAMCO product and has 13 games installed on it:  Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Galaxian, Galaga, Galaga '88, Dig Dug, Bosconian, Mappy, Rally-X, Rolling Thunder, Xevious, and Dragon Spirit.  It only has a 4-way joystick installed, so it's great for some games, and very bad for others (games like Xevious and Dragon Spirit were designed with 8-way play in mind).  I bought it mostly for the Pac-games, Galaxian/Galaga, and Dig Dug.  It's very well-made and has an LCD screen (in all honesty, these games actually look a little better on the old CRT screens they were designed to be played on, but the LCD screen does a fine job) and modern electronics.  Much less hassle than actually owning a true 70s/80s-style arcade game with aging internals, which as I've found with Space Invaders Deluxe, need a LOT more TLC. 

The Space Invaders was about $1200, and on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a cabinet shell and 10 being fully restored, I'd give it about a 7.5.  You very rarely come across anything higher than a 8 for that machine...most people who go beyond that level of restoration tend to hang onto them, or charge a lot more coin to part with them (well over $2000).  I had to wait several months before I could find the right background artwork (my machine came with an original Space Invaders background and not the Deluxe version).  The screen color overlay is actually upside down, but I don't mind that, so I've left that as is (most people don't even notice it).  I have a replacement bezel and instrument panel overlay, but the current ones are in good enough shape that I don't feel the need to swap them out yet.  I also have a backup chipset (in case I need to work on the chipset currently installed in the cabinet), but the backup only plays Space Invaders and not Deluxe.  The cabinet as a whole could use some paint refreshing...it's not in bad shape though, and with the way I have it set into the wall, you don't see much of it.  It's funny, when I was seven years old back in 1977-78, the original Space Invaders was the game that got me hooked on video games.  Back then I wondered what it would be like to actually own one...seemed like a pipe dream at the time of course.  It's actually a great decompression tool...kind of a nice 15-20 minute escape...yeah, I actually do play it!

Thanks for the compliments all...I put a lot of thought and love into that room and really enjoy hanging down there.    

 

It's a fantastic room CR, you should be proud. Love the retro gaming machines too. I grew up with Nintendo (got my NES as a gift from my parents for my 9th birthday, best gift I ever got as a kid lol), but I got rid of it a long time ago (something I regretted). Last year for Christmas, my sister got me one of those plug-in systems that plays retro games, and it's awesome... I have Tyson's Punch-Out, Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, Tecmo Bowl, Blades of Steel, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games, as well as several others. It's awesome playing those old games, they were a great part of my childhood.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Oh man...spent many hours with an NES, back in college (upgraded to a Genesis my junior year...Golden Axe and the early NHL titles were awesome).  Blades and Tyson were two of my favorites.  My childhood video gaming was spent playing on an Atari 2600 (1980), Atari 800 computer (1983...those games were excellent for the time period) and ColecoVision.  The kid across the street had Intellivision...great sports games for that time.  

I've owned just about every system at one point or another (only had a 360 from this past generation...still have it), but have no plans to get jump into the current generation.  More and more I find myself enjoying the "Golden Age" games more than current ones...there's only so many ultra-realistic racing sims and post-apocalyptic shooters one can play.  The "easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master" concepts of the past were so innovative and timeless.  The games of today are clearly far more technologically advanced, but so few of them will have staying power 10 or 20 or 30 years from now.

[RunninWithTheDevil]

Very excited. I know a few posters who are very excited too

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

 

Anyway, definitely excited for this night, but at the same time it feels kind of weird...it's one of those days that never really felt like it was ever going to actually happen.  As long as Marty's career was, for the many years and insane amount of games he played, it still went by so damned FAST.  I remember being there for Cup #1, turning 25 that day (I'll never have another birthday like that), and thinking how cool it was that we'd have this terrific young goalie on our team for a while...of course, there was no way to know back then that "a while" would mean "just about half my life, and more than half of Marty's".  He just did what he did for so long (and had such a ridiculously long prime). 

Clearly things have changed a lot with the franchise lately, much of it by sheer necessity:  new owners, new GM, some new policies/ideas, only one player left that most fans associate with the "good ol' days" in Elias, who is very obviously an aging shell of himself and at the moment almost feels like an afterthought, who will likely go out with a sad whimper (through no fault of his own, just another excellent player succumbing to Father Time).  When Marty's number is retired, it will truly feel like Marty's time and Lou's time and those Devils will finally be put away for good.  And I guess even now, logic be damned, I never quite saw that day coming. 

[Satans Hockey]

Definitely agree there CR. It's even crazy for me to even remember that there are tons of fans now who were too young or weren't born yet when we last won the cup in 03. Time flies

[NewarkDevil5]

3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

 

Anyway, definitely excited for this night, but at the same time it feels kind of weird...it's one of those days that never really felt like it was ever going to actually happen.  As long as Marty's career was, for the many years and insane amount of games he played, it still went by so damned FAST.  I remember being there for Cup #1, turning 25 that day (I'll never have another birthday like that), and thinking how cool it was that we'd have this terrific young goalie on our team for a while...of course, there was no way to know back then that "a while" would mean "just about half my life, and more than half of Marty's".  He just did what he did for so long (and had such a ridiculously long prime). 

Clearly things have changed a lot with the franchise lately, much of it by sheer necessity:  new owners, new GM, some new policies/ideas, only one player left that most fans associate with the "good ol' days" in Elias, who is very obviously an aging shell of himself and at the moment almost feels like an afterthought, who will likely go out with a sad whimper (through no fault of his own, just another excellent player succumbing to Father Time).  When Marty's number is retired, it will truly feel like Marty's time and Lou's time and those Devils will finally be put away for good.  And I guess even now, logic be damned, I never quite saw that day coming. 

Agreed. I definitely couldn't have imagined in 1995 (and especially after 1996) that my state's hockey team would go on to achieve what they did in the subsequent decade. I remember looking at Terry Sawchuk's shutout record when I was a kid and thinking that there was no way on earth that would ever be broken but praying that Marty could pull it off. I remember the goal against Montreal in the playoffs and thinking that'd be our year (until Bill Guerin's fat toe killed us the following series). I remember the goalie battle with Ed Belfour in 2000 that led to the "Marty's better" counter-chant to the Stars-fans' "Eddie's better" that they'd taunted Roy with in their Conference Final matchup. Then came the Conn Smythe miscarriage of justice in 2003. All throughout this time Marty's been the constant of the era. I have high hopes from the way this new era is beginning that perhaps we can make something of our redheaded new goalie and start a new era of great things to keep the tradition begun with Marty alive.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I remember when Marty got to around 300 wins, that people were first talking about him someday owning the all-time win record (he wasn't even 30 yet and wasn't showing any signs of slowing up).  It was impossible to rule out of course that he couldn't do it, but with Roy so far ahead of him it seemed like it would be very difficult.  It's the sheer number of games that Marty's played in that remains mind-blowing...yes, he ultimately hung on a little too long, but it's not like he had a decade of mediocre to crappy years after getting off to a great start.  He only really had two mostly bad years (his final two as a Devil...his Blues season was so brief I don't even really count it)...the two years before that saw him get off to awful starts, but he managed to recover and salvage both of those seasons (even helping his team get to the SCF in 2012).   

[Lateralous]

I'm kind of nitpicking here but I wish they had used the undersized leg pads on the statue that Brodeur wore for 90% of his career.   Those thigh rises on the statue are Luongo/Lundqvist-ish.  They're also boxy as hell which is something that he only went to the last few years. 

This is way off topic but the opposite color pads from around 99-2000 are still my all time favorites: 

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Lateralous

[DevsMan84]

17 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Oh man...spent many hours with an NES, back in college (upgraded to a Genesis my junior year...Golden Axe and the early NHL titles were awesome).  Blades and Tyson were two of my favorites.  My childhood video gaming was spent playing on an Atari 2600 (1980), Atari 800 computer (1983...those games were excellent for the time period) and ColecoVision.  The kid across the street had Intellivision...great sports games for that time.  

I've owned just about every system at one point or another (only had a 360 from this past generation...still have it), but have no plans to get jump into the current generation.  More and more I find myself enjoying the "Golden Age" games more than current ones...there's only so many ultra-realistic racing sims and post-apocalyptic shooters one can play.  The "easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master" concepts of the past were so innovative and timeless.  The games of today are clearly far more technologically advanced, but so few of them will have staying power 10 or 20 or 30 years from now.

I like reading this because it brings back memories for me too.  My first system was actually the Intellivision by Mattel.  For those who don't know or heard about it, it was basically the competitor to the Atari 2600 and the main advantage it had over the Atari was that the graphics and sound was a bit better than the Atari.  Still remember playing games like Atlantis (their version of Missile Command), Astrosmash (their version of Space Invaders), Frog Bog, Beauty and the Beast (their version of Donkey Kong) and Shark! Shark!.  Later my brother and I got he NES and my favorite games were Ice Hockey (liked it better than Blades of Steel) and Zelda 2.  Man those were indeed the golden days of games where the replay value for each game was through the roof.

[MDPucks]

Can I get a vote by acclamation that the next NJDevs.comcon should take place in CR's basement. 

[NJDEVS1730]

Man the Devils are really milking everything they can out of this Marty night, sending special emails out to STH about renewing but "locking in your approximate 1% price increase".

[DJ Eco]

4 minutes ago, NJDEVS1730 said:

Man the Devils are really milking everything they can out of this Marty night, sending special emails out to STH about renewing but "locking in your approximate 1% price increase".

Hey, it works. I usually wait until April/May to renew, but did it as soon as I got that email.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

NES Ice Hockey...I remember that!  3 vs 3, and you could have any combo of big slow guys, in-between all-arounders, or thin speedy guys.  I didn't play that one a ton. 

Space Armada was actually the true Intellivision clone of Space Invaders...Astrosmash actually started as an Asteroids clone and was called Meteor! (that code is still embedded in the Astrosmash cartridge...it was awful, hence the reason why the gameplay was changed.  It can actually be accessed by pressing the Intellivision reset button like crazy).  Fearing a lawsuit from Atari over the Meteor!/Asteroids similarities, they came up with Avalanche!, (a Space Invaders/Asteroids hybrid) that eventually became Astrosmash.

The general awfulness of Meteor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZpHkVChkug

6 minutes ago, MDPucks said:

Can I get a vote by acclamation that the next NJDevs.comcon should take place in CR's basement. 

I've had a couple of Super Bowl parties there, as well as some other bashes.  As you might suspect, 80% of the men at the parties find their way down there and don't leave.  The other 20% want to but don't want to get yelled at by their significant others.

2 hours ago, Lateralous said:

I'm kind of nitpicking here but I wish they had used the undersized leg pads on the statue that Brodeur wore for 90% of his career.   Those thigh rises on the statue are Luongo/Lundqvist-ish.  They're also boxy as hell which is something that he only went to the last few years. 

This is way off topic but the opposite color pads from around 99-2000 are still my all time favorites: 

 

Probably had to do with whatever photos the artist was working from.  He probably wouldn't even know the difference.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Are you still in Miami or are you back up here? 

I think there's been njdevs GTG/Meet & Greets here and there.  There were photos floating around here from one from about 7-8 years ago.  I've met some peeps from here, but not too many.  I've met Has, DaneykoIsGod (really wish he'd come back), iamtheprodigy, and Colin.  Also some guy named Andrew who was a big Elias fan (he doesn't really post anymore).  I've met a couple of others who've long since left.  Can't even remember their usernames.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

And something else...small thing, but I hope the Marty retirement mini-banners are of the same quality as the previous versions.  Compared to many of the other teams' mini-banner giveaways, the Devils' versions are FAR better-made and use much more robust materials. 

[MadDog2020]

Can I get a vote by acclamation that the next NJDevs.comcon should take place in CR's basement. 

I vote 'yay'. [emoji14]

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Maybe if this team somehow finds its way into the playoffs...

[DevsMan84]

31 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

And something else...small thing, but I hope the Marty retirement mini-banners are of the same quality as the previous versions.  Compared to many of the other teams' mini-banner giveaways, the Devils' versions are FAR better-made and use much more robust materials. 

I can imagine they will be and of the same design.  Would be annoying to have them being different than the rest.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Just now, DevsMan84 said:

I can imagine they will be and of the same design.  Would be annoying to have them being different than the rest.

Should be, and I expect that they will, but you never know.  I'll always wonder if the real Niedermayer banner was simply screwed up, and it was too late to do anything about it before the ceremony. 

[MadDog2020]

Courtesy of TG, the details of the weekend and the big night: http://fireandice.northjersey.com/mobile/fire-ice-1.174987/busy-schedule-precedes-martin-brodeur-s-number-retirement-on-feb-9-ceremony-begins-6-15-p-m-1.1499258

[mfitz804]

3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Should be, and I expect that they will, but you never know.  I'll always wonder if the real Niedermayer banner was simply screwed up, and it was too late to do anything about it before the ceremony. 

Not familiar with this,how was it screwed up?