Below is a paragraph from our yet-to-be-titled book. This is from my chapter on sports' loyalties in New Jersey.
In Monmouth, which is roughly at the same latitude as Mercer County, the fans are decidedly more North Jersey/ New York. The roads and transit lines whether bus, train or ferry, make the county easily accessible to New York City. Mercer’s transit links it with both cities, but the closer commute is to Philadelphia. Cable and media affect these two counties as well: In nearly all Mercer towns, the local network channels of Philadelphia and New York are on all of the cable plans and while this is mostly true in Monmouth, in some parts of that county, like in Hazlet, there are no Philadelphia channels (Comcast/ Cablevision). The main newspapers in these counties cover mostly all of the teams, but the Times of Trenton and Trentonian in Mercer give slightly bigger headlines to the Philly teams and the Asbury Park Press in Monmouth gives headlines to the boys of New York. And Dunkin Donuts should take note; there are areas in these counties that do not fit the norms for sports’ loyalties. Princeton and West Windsor seem to have more Devils and Rangers’ fans than Flyers, just walk into Dick’s Sporting Goods on Route 1 and look for jerseys. In the panhandle of Monmouth, there are plenty of loyal Flyers’ fans that loathe those northern teams. These central areas of the state showcase the intense rivalries nicely, and many have a 50/50 split of fans. Theo’s Tavern in Hightstown would be a good place to stop the next time the Giants play the Eagles. Pick a side of the bar and cheer loudly.
2 comments:
Maybe you don't want to "go commercial," but how about some tee-shirts? We bought one from "Where's My Exit?" for our exit number on the Parkway, and have received a lot of favorable reaction when wearing it out-of-state.
How about some tee-shirts?
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