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Things That Need To Change at New York Ranger Home Games
by Patrick Hoffman on 10/30/08 at 07:00 PM ET
Comments (4)
Having attended New York Ranger games frequently for the past six seasons, there are five things that I wish fans/the arena would stop doing during the games. You die hard Ranger fans may hate me for a few of them (one in particular) but believe me, it’s for the best.
1) Stop chanting “Potvin Sucks” a thousand times of game
Folks, this cheer has been around since the early 80’s when Denis Potvin nailed Ulf Nillson and knocked him out of the 1979 playoffs. Yes, it was a cheap hit and yes, Potvin deserves the wrath of Blueshirt fanatics but enough is enough. Ranger fans chant “Potvin Sucks” at least 10 times a game and what’s more, they do it every single game, not just when they are playing the New York Islanders or the Florida Panthers (broadcaster of the team). Ranger fans should save the chant for only those teams, not the Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators or Tampa Bay Lightning.
2) Dancing Larry needs a dance partner
If you haven’t heard of him already, “Dancing Larry” tries to get the team going in the third period by dancing to the 90’s hit “Strike it Up”. It seems he’s been doing it forever and while it’s fun and gets the crowd pumped up, it’s getting awkward watching a man dancing by himself. The arena needs to find a beautiful woman for him to grind with, something I’m sure most fans would agree with.
3) There is no need for a “Let’s Go Rangers” chant during the middle of the National Anthem
I understand that fans are pumped during the National Anthem as they are anxiously awaiting the puck to drop. However, this does not mean that they need to do a “Let’s Go Rangers” chant during the middle of it.
4) Rangers Trivia needs to stop being so easy
Whenever they have a fan attempt to answer a trivia question during a TV timeout, it always seems like he or she gets the answer right. This is because fans in the background and arena officials are helping him or her just so they can giveaway a free team “goody” bag, if you could even call it that. How about they make it harder by having an arena spotlight shine directly on him and requesting the crowd to be silent? Now that would be pressure packed!
5) Stop chanting shoot during the power play
If the Rangers’ power play wasn’t bad enough, the team has to hear its fans chant “shoot” every second. Yes, I claim to do this too but realized that it’s absolutely pointless. These guys know what to do with the puck and need to be a bit more patient.
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Tags: Denis+Potvin,
Comments
I had no idea about this. Kinda weird if you ask me, even if there is some history behind it.
Posted by Sp4r7an on 10/30/08 at 09:02 PM ET
as a hardcore rangers fan i agree with #4 the most.
i think the trivia is a joke.
however i disagree with your objections to homo larry. this is not some dave mathews concert where we need to watch to people grinind. the whole beauty of homo larry is that it is a passionate fan who one day decided to help get the garden rockin by dancing.
the potvin sucks thing i agree with, however there is some tradition to it which helps teach youngsters some history so that they know that hockey did exist in nyc before 1994.
my biggest pet peave as a rangers fan is that both the devils and islanders chant rangers suck for every single home game, no matter who they play.
chanting potvin sucks has something to do with the rangers, since the incident took place against the rangers.
But whether or not the rangers suck has nothing to do with the currently facing off against the isles or devils on that night.
Posted by miked051 on 10/31/08 at 08:44 AM ET
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#1 annoys me the most at games. I don’t mind it being chanted at every game, I think it’s a fun tradition even though I’d bet that at least 85% of the fans have no idea of the history behind it. But once a game is enough. During one game you hear “Potvin Sucks” 10 times and “Let’s go Rangers” 3 times…and that’s just wrong. Plus, you can hear this on TV, so it’s not like you have to be at the games to be annoyed by it.
The rest I don’t really care about, and I’ve never even heard #3 happen (though I go to only 5 or less games per year).
Posted by K24 from NYC on 10/30/08 at 07:09 PM ET