I also graduated college since the Rock opened.
Thank you Devils for allowing me to get an education. Without you, I'd be working at McDonalds.
President Obama was elected after the Rock opened.
The Devils obviously played a role in electing the first African American president too!
I seriously ****ing LOL'd at this.
While it digresses a little bit from the actual, specific topic: I think the NHL needs to reconsider its charitable efforts some as a whole. Everyone knows the NFL has a very strong and visible partnership with the United Way. I think it would be outstanding if they (the league) took it a step further and really put forth a serious effort to not only try and install hockey in these places (which the Devils have actually done an excellent job with) but to also address the fact that when it comes to a lot of these problems, the youth is
always the target.
If you look at most gang members, a majority of them found themselves wearing colors by the time they were in middle-school in some places. The only way that is even appealing is when you have no hope and no opportunity and more importantly, no other role models. Will it save a city? No. But a strong, concerted effort to use hockey as a positive outlet for these inner-city kids that is affordable and/or free wouldn't be a half-bad idea, would it? We have some of the nicest, genuinely philanthropic athletes in all of sports when you think about it. However, it's largely disorganized in that everyone does their own thing.
Point being, bringing businesses and fancy **** doesn't help the people struggling, crime and the root therein. Feeding businesses located in a very specific area/perimeter isn't necessarily helping the community at-large, which has also been an issue the city has taken public if I do recall.
It may not work, hell, it might bear very little fruit. But I think that, of any league in sports, the NHL actually tends to have the greatest sense of community. I'd rather see arenas holding events on non-event nights just for the community, investing in local projects even by just advertising it for free and again, maybe opening free clinics for hockey to youth's in these areas (based on income threshold or something).
If any of you ever knew someone who ran with a gang, by the time they're mature enough (literal mental age speaking), almost all of them would tell you that they'd trade it in for just the HOPE of thinking they had an actual chance to do something else. If we (or the league) just invested a bit into these problems in our cities, imagine what that does to promote the product and to also help cities around the country having some SEVERE problems with crime and murder (Chicago, LA, Newark, etc). It's not about the nice stores and the cool bars and restaurants that might not be affordable. Sure these places exist, but they're not even aimed at the locals, they're aimed at tourists. If we want to revitalize Newark as a whole, it needs more than the window-dressing so tourists see it differently. That's a small part of "revitalizing."
I'm not taking away from the Devils on this, I know they actually do run a program. It's just my sentiment in whole. I don't
see more than business and businesses only solve so many problems when 1 to 2/3 of a city is impoverished or close to it. All we effectively made was a small area that was predominantly safe to begin with, more attractive that still relies on outsiders to sustain itself. Newark needs more and considering they could have potentially saved our ass from moving or a worse location, we owe it as gratitude. They helped fund this whole endeavor in part.
So to boast or embellish when **** is still as bad as ever, is what I find so egregious. Sorry, I don't believe the hype and JVB was borderline criminal with how he conducted **** with the city sometimes.
