Now that JJ, Jags, Jarda, Jaromir Jagr, the big guy formerly known as the Jagrmeister has gone East will the NY Rangers still play his favorite song Sweet Caroline after a victory? It's a nice tradition, I think they should.
It's a song written and performed by a hometown boy. And it's much more apropos than Kentucky Woman (Nashville maybe?). Someone please explain, how come the Boston Red Sox get away with playing it all the time in the middle of the eighth inning? It's a New York song you chowda' heads. However, if the Devils want to lay claim to Diamond's Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon they can have it. In Jersey they say, Martha and the Debbies have dibs.
So with a few Czech accents missing from the Rangers chorus, plus a heaping helping of goal scoring power gone too, there is going to be a big focus on the Solitary Man. Not the Diamond song, but our Swedish super goalie, Henrik 'The Prince' Lundqvist. Hank is still just a prince around these parts until he lifts the you-know-what over his head and skates around the Garden ice with it. Until then the kingship will have to wait. We can't have a premature coronation, the misses would not like that.
So a lot will be riding on the defense this year and the goal tending of Lundqvist. That other Swede, Markus Naslund (48 goals in 2002-03), could also add some harmony. However, the decade of the 50-goal scorer is no more (see below). Let's just hope the PA guy doesn't see the need to play Cracklin' Rosie too many times this season; after Rosie, Redden and the defense leave Hank out to dry.
For now anyway, we can all be singing: I'm a Believer as we wait for training camp to get underway. That was a great one that Neil handed off to The Monkeys, by the way. But, if the defense comes apart and the goals aren't there, well it will be a long season, but we'll always have our Red Red Wine.
Thanks Neil and thanks Hank. We are going to need both of you big time this year.
Some Stopper photos:
ICINGS:
Over at the 4th period former NHLer Chris Kotsopoulos touches on the lack of 50-goal scorers over the past decade.
He's also doing a count down "'til the blades of steel hit the ice at the Rangers training camp." And in his eyes Rod Gilbert is 'Mr. Ranger' over Mark Messier - Gibert is the best forward in Rangers franchise history, not Messier.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
New Rangers Theme Song: 'Swede Caroline'
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Just wanted to add a couple of notes. Boomer Esiason the former pro-football QB, who now has a radio morning show on WFAN, was talking this morning about how Rod Gilbert was his favorite player when he was growing up on Long Island.
Boomer wore Number #7 because both Gilbert and his favorite football QB Burt Jones wore it. And coincidently both men were very active in cystic fibrosis charity work before Esaison found out his son would suffer from the disease. He said Rod Gilbert was 'the man' for cystic fibrosis fund raising in the New York area for 25 years.