To give a bit of history.....prior to the 2013-2014 NHL season, the Devils were sold to new multi-billionaire owners. The fans couldn't have been happier. For years, there have been rumors that the Devils were going to be the subject of relocation (in reality, those rumors have been around since 1995, but anyway...). The new owners have comitted publicly to pumping more capital into the team and to increase the brand's notoriety. Excellent. Maybe one day, they can fill the arena on a Tuesday night game against the Florida Panthers.
Until last season, Rock & Roll, Part II by Gary Glitter has been the team's goal song, aside from one failed attempt at a change about 7-8 years ago. It was a team tradition going back to the days when they were the Colorado Rockies, and really galvanized the crowd, especially during the playoffs.
(NOTE: for those concerned about Mr. Glitter's criminal history and the possibility that he gets paid any time this track is used, court rulings long ago have prevented him from collecting any royalties from his music.)
Around 2007-2008, the crowd interaction during the goal song changed somewhat noticeably.....
Your opinion as to how "appropriate" the chants are has merit, regardless of which side you're on. If you find that the chanting is all in good fun and just part of how fans enjoy giving the other team and their fans a good ribbing, you're right. If you find that the chants are vulgar, juvenile and show poor sportsmanship, there's a lot of validity in that too. I fall into the former camp, and I'll explain why:
Yes, we all know the connotations of the word "suck", and the same for "you suck". For most of us, in this particular area, it's an edgier substitute for the word "stink". For some others, it's usage insinuates that the other team performs acts of fellatio. However, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that when the crowd unites in that chant, it's the former, mainly because I really don't believe people sit around at a hockey game - especially a playoff game - thinking endlessly about oral sex (ok, maybe occasionally...).
For me, as a diehard fan, I enjoy creating a hostile environment for the other team. I fondly look back on the days of going to games at the old Yankee Stadium. No team felt safe coming into that building, and the fans united in making them uncomfortable. If you walk into the new stadium today, it has all the ambiance of a mildly-interesting table tennis match.
But I digress......and please note - this behavior should never be directed at opposing team's fans. I realize it can be often, but those situations should be dealt with individually. I know as I've been on both ends of that in the past. If you go into an opposing team's house and root for your team (without being a jerk, of course), you shouldn't be subject to abuse by the home crowd. If you are, go tell security and get the idiots thrown out.
OK, let's get back to the main topic.
Last year, the Devils announced that the goal song would be changing. It was discovered at a season ticket holder's meeting that this move was part of the new regime's initiative to create a more family-friendly experience at the Prudential Center.
To say the transition was completely botched is an understatement. I understand - most would say "it's a goal song, who the hell cares?" Well, apparently Devils fans care.
At the first home game of the 2013-2014 season, the team unveiled the new goal song - "This is Our House" by Bon Jovi. Here's how the fans reacted:
I'm sure Damien Brunner was thrilled to hear boos after his first goal as a Devil.
Shortly thereafter, the team scrambled to fix this mess by presenting fans with three options for a new song and an online vote. Of course, R&RP2 was not an option. The winner of the poll was The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army". Not a bad choice, if they used the original. It's been used by soccer teams around the world for years, and quite effectively. Instead, they used a techno version of the main riff with artificial "Let's Go Devils" chants piped in to drown out the "You Suck" chants fans were adding in (you didn't really think they wouldn't, right?). I couldn't find a good video of it, and frankly, you aren't missing much. Funny enough, since the Devils had great difficulty scoring goals last year, it wasn't played very much.
Now today, the team has announced their new goal song - the NHL's first ever fan-created goal song.
The cheesy video aside, it really isn't bad at all. However, it just begs this question for me - why make it a priority to come up with something to galvanize the crowd in attendance after every goal, when something that does it very well has been in place for almost two decades?
I really don't have an issue with changing it - in the end, it's just a goal song and not a big deal in the grand scheme of it all. My issues are the reasons behind the change and how they went about it - to me, treating the fans like children because they were behaving like children, and because "DEAR GOD, WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???"
I hate to simplify it like this, but people in general just don't know how to have fun anymore. Every child has probably heard the words "you suck" at a very young age, and most likely heard it from their parents. It's just a word, and I'll never understand why people are scared to death of words. Besides, I heard a lot worse by the time I was five - I know this because the nuns called my parents into school one day because I apparently said the "F-word" in kindergarten. I think I turned out OK....
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