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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - When New Jersey's pro sports teams
win big, there are no ticker-tape parades or big-city homecomings.
Instead, in what sounds like another New Joisey joke, the
celebrations are held in the parking lot of the Meadowlands, the
sports complex where Jimmy Hoffa's remains are said to be buried in
concrete near Section 107 of Giants Stadium.
This year, the parking lot could be especially busy: Hockey's
New Jersey Devils and basketball's New Jersey Nets are both playing
in their respective championships.
The Devils face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the Stanley Cup,
which began Tuesday night with New Jersey winning 3-0. And next
month, the Nets will go up against either the San Antonio Spurs or
the Dallas Mavericks for the NBA championship.
The two simultaneous contenders could give a big boost to the
collective self-esteem of the Garden State, a place that is often
overshadowed by New York City to the north and Philadelphia to the
south and subjected to countless wisecracks about mobsters and
toxic waste.
In a measure of just how low New Jersey's self-esteem is, Lisa
DeRiso, 38, who grew up near the sports complex (her father runs
the Hot Dog House just across from the Meadowlands), said the
playoffs could "put us on the map." (As if New Jersey were not on
the map already.)
Both the Nets and the Devils play at the Meadowlands'
Continental Airlines Arena, set amid the swamps of northern New
Jersey in East Rutherford, population 8,000. (That's Exit 16W on
the New Jersey Turnpike, the universal landmark for locating all
things New Jersey.) In fact, New York sportscasters refer
derisively to the Meadowlands as "The Swamp."
It has been nine years since two pro teams that shared an arena
reached the finals in their respective sports: In 1994, the New
York Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and the Knicks, their co-tenants
at Madison Square Garden, lost the NBA championship.
And in the six previous times in 50 years that co-habitating
teams have vied simultaneously for championships, never once have
both teams won.
Ho Young Kim, 48, a florist in East Rutherford, said the Nets'
and Devils' success could take New Jersey out from under the shadow
of Manhattan's skyline. The big city is about 10 miles east of the
Meadowlands.
"New Jersey always sounds like it belongs to New York City.
Maybe because of this it's going to be more independent," Kim
said.
YankeeNets, owners of the Devils and Nets, want to move the
teams from their 21-year-old home in the Meadowlands to a new arena
in Newark, a move that some say could generate more excitement for
the teams by giving them a larger city to call home.
The NFL's New York Giants also play at the Meadowlands. But that
doesn't make some New Jersey residents happy the way the Nets and
the Devils do.
"At least they're `New Jersey' teams, not like the 'New York'
Giants," said John Prongay, a maintenance worker at the arena.
`New Jersey' Devils, `New Jersey' Nets - New Jersey."
For all the excitement, few people actually expect the jokes
about Superfund waste sites and gangland rubouts to go away because
of one successful sports season.
"The Jimmy Hoffa stuff, you know, that's just New Jersey,"
said Jim Cappelluti, 48, who grew up in Jersey City and now owns a
deli in Kearny. "Jimmy Hoffa in the Meadowlands, Frank Sinatra in
Hoboken, Tony Soprano on TV. So, it's always going to be that
way."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - When New Jersey's pro sports teams
win big, there are no ticker-tape parades or big-city homecomings.
Instead, in what sounds like another New Joisey joke, the
celebrations are held in the parking lot of the Meadowlands, the
sports complex where Jimmy Hoffa's remains are said to be buried in
concrete near Section 107 of Giants Stadium.
This year, the parking lot could be especially busy: Hockey's
New Jersey Devils and basketball's New Jersey Nets are both playing
in their respective championships.
The Devils face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the Stanley Cup,
which began Tuesday night with New Jersey winning 3-0. And next
month, the Nets will go up against either the San Antonio Spurs or
the Dallas Mavericks for the NBA championship.
The two simultaneous contenders could give a big boost to the
collective self-esteem of the Garden State, a place that is often
overshadowed by New York City to the north and Philadelphia to the
south and subjected to countless wisecracks about mobsters and
toxic waste.
In a measure of just how low New Jersey's self-esteem is, Lisa
DeRiso, 38, who grew up near the sports complex (her father runs
the Hot Dog House just across from the Meadowlands), said the
playoffs could "put us on the map." (As if New Jersey were not on
the map already.)
Both the Nets and the Devils play at the Meadowlands'
Continental Airlines Arena, set amid the swamps of northern New
Jersey in East Rutherford, population 8,000. (That's Exit 16W on
the New Jersey Turnpike, the universal landmark for locating all
things New Jersey.) In fact, New York sportscasters refer
derisively to the Meadowlands as "The Swamp."
It has been nine years since two pro teams that shared an arena
reached the finals in their respective sports: In 1994, the New
York Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and the Knicks, their co-tenants
at Madison Square Garden, lost the NBA championship.
And in the six previous times in 50 years that co-habitating
teams have vied simultaneously for championships, never once have
both teams won.
Ho Young Kim, 48, a florist in East Rutherford, said the Nets'
and Devils' success could take New Jersey out from under the shadow
of Manhattan's skyline. The big city is about 10 miles east of the
Meadowlands.
"New Jersey always sounds like it belongs to New York City.
Maybe because of this it's going to be more independent," Kim
said.
YankeeNets, owners of the Devils and Nets, want to move the
teams from their 21-year-old home in the Meadowlands to a new arena
in Newark, a move that some say could generate more excitement for
the teams by giving them a larger city to call home.
The NFL's New York Giants also play at the Meadowlands. But that
doesn't make some New Jersey residents happy the way the Nets and
the Devils do.
"At least they're `New Jersey' teams, not like the 'New York'
Giants," said John Prongay, a maintenance worker at the arena.
`New Jersey' Devils, `New Jersey' Nets - New Jersey."
For all the excitement, few people actually expect the jokes
about Superfund waste sites and gangland rubouts to go away because
of one successful sports season.
"The Jimmy Hoffa stuff, you know, that's just New Jersey,"
said Jim Cappelluti, 48, who grew up in Jersey City and now owns a
deli in Kearny. "Jimmy Hoffa in the Meadowlands, Frank Sinatra in
Hoboken, Tony Soprano on TV. So, it's always going to be that
way."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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