I assure you - the context that I've heard "Rangers of Canada" was not used in a fond way. It was a statement to show how much they disliked their franchise and what they apparently stood for. However, if you would like to have illusions of grandeur of the Rags across the NHL, I'll give you that because that Rag Kool-Aid must be strong.
And the "often 5,000 people in the rink" is categorically untrue. I've been a season ticket holder since 1999 and have attended roughly an average of 36-38 of 41 games each season. Don't tell me that there are often 5,000 people in the rink because you believe what Mike Milbury says while working at NESN. That is complete Bullsh!t. The average across the board is about 9,000-12,000 depending on the opponent and the weather conditions. Yes, not great numbers at all, but please spare me the 'effin bullcrap that I hear about these attendance numbers from people that obviously don't go to the Coliseum except apparently during snowstorms while playing Tampa Bay.
One Stanley Cup won by an Edmonton team playing at the Garden. Can that categorically even be called a Stanley Cup win by a New York team? But hey, you're the one that brought up history being ancient history in referring to the Isles, which obviously points to the implication that the 4 cups in a row is old news.
And I take absolute objection about our fans being "the worst". Every team has it's frontrunners. You know as well as I do, the Rags have the advantage of playing in the city that is easily accessible while the Isles and the Devils play in areas that are easily accessible to those who care enough. To act like the Rag fans are the best in the world and that they never frontrun is lying to yourself. It's common knowledge that the Knicks and the Rags have a significant portion of their tickets sold to corporate sponsors because of the ease of accessibility of MSG. But you know what on top of that, the Rags have always had the advantage of having star players on their rosters to attract the fans. When the Isles turned it around with Yashin/Peca/Osgood - average attendance that year was in the 15,000-16,000 range. When the talent was gone, attendance went down, and when the results went downhill, the attendance went down further. With the Rags, even with the losing years, they always had the talent. Messier, Jagr, fricken GRETZKY, to attract people. So, you know - it's very easy for your seat to say how great and wonderful the Rags' fans are, but no one really knows how many "non-frontrunner" fans there are for the Rags. Leave it up that at least the Isles know the smaller population that shows up are fans that show up because they want to see the team - especially this year because there's nothing else promising. But it's hard to explain that to a Rag fan born with a silver spoon in its mouth. Tell me which fishstick message boards you're reading about our 5k nightly audience. I'm probably on most of them and I'd like to hear which one you're referring to.
When the Devils first arrived in NJ, you must not remember the constant losing seasons they had. What do you mean they never have a losing record? The Brendan Byrne Arena was as much of a ghost town as any during the 80s. When they were doing well, they were victims of inaccessibility which was the main reason for the Prudential Center. Their fans' attendance goes up and down but they rarely sell out - even in the playoffs. But yet you love to give the Devils every benefit of the doubt apparently since you can't stand the smell of fishsticks.
>The team has become an embarassment. I hate James Dolan, but Charles Wang
>makes him look like the model NHL owner. It's starting to look like the
>punishment for Wang's crimes are that he has to own the Fishsticks.
Wang kept the Isles from possibly moving after the Milstein/Gluckstern years. Regardless of what you think of any owner, any team with an owner that shows its vested interest like that - losing $20million each year, gets my respect. Rag fans wouldn't see past that, and I'm sure you must want to murder him since he kept the Isles in NY.
Edit: What do you think about Ken Daneyko and Ron Dugay both saying that they don't want to see the Isles go because there is way to much history there? I'm sure they only said that for the camera, right?
