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Devil of a Time
With the acrimonious departure of the New Jersey Nets for neighboring Brooklyn, and with the NFL’s Jets and Giants calling New Jersey home in fact but not in spirit, the New Jersey Devils are now the state’s only professional sports franchise that actually is proud to be from where they’re from. And the team certainly wants you to know it. “Jersey’s Team” banners greet you as you step out of Newark Penn Station or pull off the interstate, and the Devils’ marketing campaign in 2012-13 was all about making sure that everyone knew that this was the Garden State’s team.
The Prudential Center, or “The Rock”, opened in 2007 and seats 17,625 for hockey. It’s also home to Seton Hall University basketball, and (temporarily) the New York Liberty WNBA team while Madison Square Garden’s ongoing renovations are finished.
The Rock reminds me somewhat of a medieval castle surrounding a peasant town. That is not intended as an insult – the Prudential Center is an impossibly tall, mighty looking building as out of place in the surrounding area of burned-out tenements and dilapidated thrift shops as an actual castle would be. Newark, as you may have heard, is not the nicest city in America. But the Prudential Center is a glorious building inside and out, gritty and urban compared with the old Continental Arena’s parking-lot and swamp wasteland, and is a fitting home of Jersey’s Team.
What is FANFARE?
The FANFARE scale is our metric device for rating each stadium experience. It covers the following:
- Food & Beverage
- Atmosphere
- Neighborhood
- Fans
- Access
- Return on Investment
- Extras
Each area is rated from 0 to 5 stars with 5 being the best. The overall composite score is the "FANFARE Score".
Food & Beverage
5
The Devils' ongoing commitment to their home state extends to the food selection available at games. The popular "Taste of Newark" and "Beers of Newark" stands highlight local restaurants and microbreweries, and there is a wide selection of other food available as well, at reasonable prices. If you have club seats, there are popular lounge areas behind those seating areas on the main concourse, though admission is restricted to those with club tickets. Any stadium that goes above and beyond the standard arena fare gets points in my book, and any one that highlights local businesses at a reasonable price deserves full marks in this category.
Atmosphere
4
Like all single-tenant buildings, the Devils have had an opportunity to truly make the Rock their own, and it shows. All seats are red and black and the Devils logo is everywhere. The scoreclock is an excellent setup with multiple HD boards, and they're used together to great effect at many points in the game (i.e. the multiple scoreboards work together as one screen). The atmosphere is also helped by the old-school steepness of the arena tiers - compared with most modern arenas, the Rock has very steeply-pitched seating areas so you really feel like you're looking down on the action from on high. The impressive height of the building, coupled with needing to fit on a city block accounts for some of this, but it's terrific to see regardless of the reason.
The red brick exterior architecture also fits in with red brick tenements in downtown Newark, which was once known for its brickmaking.
Neighborhood
2
The area immediately surrounding the arena is better now than it was some 20-30 years ago, but Newark became synonymous with "urban blight" during the race riots in 1967, and things are still pretty rough. The police maintain a strong presence on gameday protecting the cars of suburbanites and guarding the short walk from Newark Penn Station for PATH commuters, so your gameday experience should be fine. The Brick City Bar & Grill and the Dinosaur BBQ occupy historic buildings right nearby and are highly recommended for a pre- or post-game meal, but apart from a few other hardy outposts, downtown Newark around the Rock is not particularly pleasant.
Fans
4
Like fans throughout the Northeast, Devils fans are real hockey fans with a deep-seated knowledge of the game. The atmosphere at the Rock is electric when the team is doing well, and the local rivalries with the other New York-area teams are palpable even when they aren't playing (The "Rangers Suck" chant is never far from being heard at any Devils game). Devils games don't always sell out - they draw better at the Rock than at their old arena, but there are still usually empty seats unless it's a local rivalry game. The Devils fans that come are excellent - it's just a pity there aren't more of them.
Access
4
The Prudential Center is easily reached by car, with two interstates and the NJ turnpike all nearby. Parking in the area is ample. If you're on public transit, the PATH train can get you to the game from the World Trade Center stop in downtown Manhattan in 22 minutes. Amtrak, NJ Transit and Newark Light Rail can also get you there.
As for access within the arena itself - for some reason, they built the team store on ground level, with no access from the seating area! If you want to go shopping, the only way to get to the store is to leave the ticketed area after being checked by security, and then re-clear security with your ticket stub again once you've finished your shopping. It's almost an unforgiveable oversight.
Return on Investment
4
Tickets are reasonable compared with other New York area teams, and are usually available unless the Devils are playing the Rangers, Islanders or Flyers. Stubhub usually has good tickets for lower than face value as well.
Extras
4
The Devils are a classy organization committed to old-time hockey - they are famously one of the few teams in the NHL never to have worn a third jersey if you don't count their occasionally wearing 1980's throwbacks - and the Prudential Center fits well into that. The on-ice workers wear stylish Devils jumpsuits while cleaning the ice during TV timeouts, which fits the blue-collar Jersey ethic perfectly.
The arena is a palace, with wide, sweeping concourses with city views, steep seats looking straight down to ice level, excellent unique food, and lily-white banners celebrating the team's history. In our entertainment center-saturated age, one common flaw of many NHL buildings is ignoring local flavor and team history. The Devils have both, in spades. Even the Boss has a permanent home at Devils games - Jersey's most famous son, Bruce Springsteen, has his music played at each home game. It's a nice touch and it truly cements that this team belongs to Jersey and to Newark, just as the Prudential Center belongs only to the Devils.
Final Thoughts
Inexpensive by New York standards, tickets are easy to get, easy access on transit, a lovely new building with a great atmosphere. If you're a neutral fan with time to only see one game while in the New York area, the Devils experience is by far the most "normal" of the three, and the building is the nicest.
Crowd Reviews
The Devil Made Me Do It
Total Score: 3.86
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 4
- Neighborhood: 4
- Fans: 4
- Access: 3
- RoI: 4
- Extras: 3
Upon entering the Prudential Center (aka "The Rock"), the first thing you'll notice is the wide-open spaces in the 2 1/2 year old arena. The concourses are very spacious, while still offering a large selection of food and beer vendors. There is even an open view of the ice/floor on one end of the mezzanine level, which gives it almost a baseball park feel.
Soon to Be Jersey's Only Team
Total Score: 4.43
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 5
- Neighborhood: 3
- Fans: 5
- Access: 4
- RoI: 4
- Extras: 5
In a few months, the New Jersey Devils will be New Jersey’s only major professional sports team. Of course, the New York Giants and Jets, as well as the New York Red Bulls, all technically play in New Jersey, but they still carry the name "New York." The New Jersey Nets will be moving to Brooklyn for the 2012–2013 season, leaving New Jerseyans to rally solely behind their hometown Devils.
Formerly the Colorado Rockies, the Devils moved to Jersey in 1982, calling the Meadowlands home. The team moved into the $375 million Prudential Center in Newark prior to the 2007–2008 season. The Devils are known for putting out a competitive team every season. New Jersey finished with a winning record each year from the 1992–93 season to the 2009–10 season, which is a record in any professional sport. The team made the playoffs every year from 1996–97 to 2009–10 and has won three Stanley Cups in its existence (1995, 2000, 2003).
The Prudential Center is a state-of-the-art entertainment destination that seats 17,625 fans for hockey games. Nicknamed "The Rock" based on Prudential Financial’s symbol, the stadium represents the many cultures of the Newark community. The arena has two main concourses as well as 76 luxury suites. In addition to serving as the temporary home for the Nets, the Seton Hall University basketball teams play at "The Rock."
Entering its 30th season in New Jersey, the theme of the Devils being "Jersey’s Team" has been celebrated this year. Come next year, it will be Devils or bust for many Jerseyans.
Newark's Pride & Joy
Total Score: 3.71
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 3
- Neighborhood: 4
- Fans: 3
- Access: 4
- RoI: 4
- Extras: 3
Newark really did itself well by building this beautiful downtown arena. The Devils' new home compared to where they used to play (in the Meadowlands) is 100 times better. Don't let the city name and location intimidate you as it is completely safe, rather easy to get to and in an area that is developing. Just a terrific building all around. Really nice to see the local touches, like the NJ High School hockey jerseys in the concourses and the Newark food stands selling local delicacies. Now, the atmosphere is nothing to write home about and the Devils and their fans haven't exactly made this a very intimidating place...but again it's an improvement over their old building. Prudential Center is a great place to check out a hockey game.
Great arena
Total Score: 5.00
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 5
- Neighborhood: 5
- Fans: 5
- Access: 5
- RoI: 5
- Extras: 5
Easily the best arena in the NYC Metro area, and a true representation of the Newark renaissance
Find out what to look for when you are shopping for a hard drive
Total Score: 0.86
- Food & Beverage: -1
- Atmosphere 4
- Neighborhood: 2
- Fans: -1
- Access: -1
- RoI: 1
- Extras: 2
What to Look for in a Hard Drive That You Are Purchasing?
When you are going to buy laptop hard drive, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you, guys?
Gateway!!!lol
Find out what to look for when you are shopping for a hard drive
Total Score: 1.57
- Food & Beverage: 2
- Atmosphere -1
- Neighborhood: 3
- Fans: -1
- Access: 2
- RoI: 1
- Extras: 5
What to Look for in a Hard Drive That You Are Purchasing?
When you are going to buy laptop hard drive, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you, guys?
Gateway!!!lol
Find out what to look for when you are shopping for a hard drive
Total Score: 2.00
- Food & Beverage: 2
- Atmosphere 3
- Neighborhood: 3
- Fans: -1
- Access: 2
- RoI: 3
- Extras: 2
What to Look for in a Hard Drive That You Are Purchasing?
When you are going to buy laptop hard drive, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you
Find out what things you need to consider when you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive for your computer
Total Score: 2.43
- Food & Beverage: 2
- Atmosphere 1
- Neighborhood: 4
- Fans: 1
- Access: 1
- RoI: 5
- Extras: 3
Things to consider when shopping for the best hard disk drives
If you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive, you're going to have your work cut out for you, especially buy laptop hard drive online. Finding a reliable hard drive to purchase is not going to be as easy as 123. You may have to spend some time looking around on the Internet and doing some comparison shopping so that you can find a hard disk for sale that will satisfy your expectations and meet your needs as well, before you make a determine you can just know about the laptop hard drive cost in the field. Using a laptop means that you're going to need enough space to store your files, install your software and do everything that you want to do on the computer. There a lot of things to consider when you purchase a new hard drive for your laptop. Below, you will find with some of these things are and why it's important to shop around for hard disk drives for sale so that you can find the precise laptop hard drive that you want to buy.
1,Look for a hard disk drive that has enough space to meet your needs
Knowing how much space you need on your hard drive can be a difficult thing. Often times, people don't think they need much space but then they come to realize that they needed more than they originally thought. For instance, some people think that they just need to purchase a hard drive that is going to cover their files. For instance, if they have about 10 gigabytes of files, they may purchase just a 20 to 40 gigabyte hard drive. The problem with this is that you are not accounting for the operating system. If you plan to run an operating system like Linux or Windows on the computer, then you need to purchase a hard drive that has enough space to properly run the operating system and store your files. There are other things to keep in mind as well, for instance, what software are you going to be putting on the computer? Software can take up a lot of space on a computer, especially games and software that is very complex. These types of software titles can get up into several gigabytes of space, so you need to have a big enough hard drive to accommodate for these applications.
2,Remember that it's okay to go over what you need but it's not okay to go under
Of course, you can easily see there are so many laptop hard drive for sale online, when purchasing a hard drive, it's okay to purchase more gigabytes than you actually need, just like me, I love installing lots of games, so I bought a big sony laptop hard drive in advance. However, if you were to purchase less gigabytes than you actually need, this is not going to be okay because you won't be able to do the things that you want to do on your computer. Be sure to shoot for more disk space. Keep in mind that installing a hard drive on a laptop can be more complicated than installing a hard drive on a desktop computer. You also need to accommodate for the installation costs when you're going to have a company install this for you. Look online and do some comparison shopping so that you can find the best laptop hard drive for a price that makes sense for your budget.
Need more info about laptop hard drives or purchasing, please go harddrivestore.org
Thank you, useful.
Thank you, useful
But to be frank, it doesn't tell in detail what should we do to choose a best one, agree?
I don't think it's good to buy a new hard dirve, why not change the laptop? Lol.
Find out what things you need to consider when you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive for your computer
Total Score: 3.29
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 5
- Neighborhood: 1
- Fans: 2
- Access: 1
- RoI: 4
- Extras: 5
Things to consider when shopping for the best hard disk drives
If you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive, you're going to have your work cut out for you, especially buy laptop hard drive online. Finding a reliable hard drive to purchase is not going to be as easy as 123. You may have to spend some time looking around on the Internet and doing some comparison shopping so that you can find a hard disk for sale that will satisfy your expectations and meet your needs as well, before you make a determine you can just know about the laptop hard drive cost in the field. Using a laptop means that you're going to need enough space to store your files, install your software and do everything that you want to do on the computer. There a lot of things to consider when you purchase a new hard drive for your laptop. Below, you will find with some of these things are and why it's important to shop around for hard disk drives for sale so that you can find the precise laptop hard drive that you want to buy.
1,Look for a hard disk drive that has enough space to meet your needs
Knowing how much space you need on your hard drive can be a difficult thing. Often times, people don't think they need much space but then they come to realize that they needed more than they originally thought. For instance, some people think that they just need to purchase a hard drive that is going to cover their files. For instance, if they have about 10 gigabytes of files, they may purchase just a 20 to 40 gigabyte hard drive. The problem with this is that you are not accounting for the operating system. If you plan to run an operating system like Linux or Windows on the computer, then you need to purchase a hard drive that has enough space to properly run the operating system and store your files. There are other things to keep in mind as well, for instance, what software are you going to be putting on the computer? Software can take up a lot of space on a computer, especially games and software that is very complex. These types of software titles can get up into several gigabytes of space, so you need to have a big enough hard drive to accommodate for these applications.
2,Remember that it's okay to go over what you need but it's not okay to go under
Of course, you can easily see there are so many laptop hard drive for sale online, when purchasing a hard drive, it's okay to purchase more gigabytes than you actually need, just like me, I love installing lots of games, so I bought a big sony laptop hard drive in advance. However, if you were to purchase less gigabytes than you actually need, this is not going to be okay because you won't be able to do the things that you want to do on your computer. Be sure to shoot for more disk space. Keep in mind that installing a hard drive on a laptop can be more complicated than installing a hard drive on a desktop computer. You also need to accommodate for the installation costs when you're going to have a company install this for you. Look online and do some comparison shopping so that you can find the best laptop hard drive for a price that makes sense for your budget.
Need more info about laptop hard drives or purchasing, please go harddrivestore.org
Thank you, useful.
Thank you, useful
But to be frank, it doesn't tell in detail what should we do to choose a best one, agree?
I don't think it's good to buy a new hard dirve, why not change the laptop? Lol.
Find out what things you need to consider when you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive for your computer
Total Score: 1.57
- Food & Beverage: 5
- Atmosphere 1
- Neighborhood: 4
- Fans: -1
- Access: -1
- RoI: 1
- Extras: 2
Things to consider when shopping for the best hard disk drives
If you are shopping for the best laptop hard drive, you're going to have your work cut out for you, especially buy laptop hard drive online. Finding a reliable hard drive to purchase is not going to be as easy as 123. You may have to spend some t
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Edison Ale House (map it!)
51 Edison Pl
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 643-5560
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edison-Ale-House/135634683177763
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Nice review; nice photos
Jim - I particularly like the photo of the state of New Jersey.
Newark? Who knew it could be so visitable? I'll have to make a stop next time I'm back east.
I'll root for the Devils over the Rangers any day (grew up as an Islanders fan).
by megminard | Feb 13, 2012 09:25 PM
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