In the even-Democrats-can-make-dumb-suggestions category, I offer you a New Jersey Dem who is spearheading an initiative to change the name of the state’s beloved hockey team.
What chance do the New Jersey Devils give a proposal that would rename the pro hockey franchise as something a little less demonic?
Think hell freezing over.
“I can assure you the Devils name will never change, and I think there are more important things to be thinking about than something that will never happen,” team CEO Lou Lamoriello said. “It’s who we are and what we want to be.”
The devil imagery is precisely the problem for Assemblyman Craig Stanley, who takes issue with a satanic symbol representing the state’s National Hockey League team.
The Essex County Democrat is leading the charge to retire the name ‘Devils’ after 23 years and three Stanley Cup championships and replace it with a name chosen in a statewide competition.
“This is an age where symbolism is very important,” said Stanley, whose resolution to rename the team is to be introduced in the Assembly next month. “With the team coming to a new city, Newark, I thought it was a good time to do it.”
Stanley, in addition to being a state lawmaker, is also a deacon at Newark’s Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church. He said he “cringes” at the sound of the team’s name, and laments the fact that Devils’ merchandise “is based on the actual demonic devil.”
Not that it really matters, but that last part isn’t true. The name was picked by fans in 1982 and was inspired by the mythical Jersey Devil, which, as legend has it, terrorized local Pine Barrens dwellers in the 18th-century.
And, to help highlight what a ridiculous waste of time this is, I thought it might also be worth noting that the New Jersey Devils aren’t even playing right now, because labor issues have led to the cancellation of the NHL’s season.
I’ve been to Newark. The city has bigger problems than the name of a hockey team that can’t even take the ice. You’d think the community’s state representative would realize that.