New York Rangers’ Story: Without the Rangers, I Wouldn’t be Alive
This month at Blue Line Station, we are publishing stories on how our writers became fans of the New York Rangers. This week’s story comes from John Williams. An editor here at Blue Line Station, John had a very unique path to his Rangers’ fandom. This is his story…
If it wasn’t for the New York Rangers, I wouldn’t be alive.
While that above statement might sound like a bit dramatic to some, in a very literal sense, it’s true.
I’ve been a Rangers fan since the day I was born. I have baby pictures of me in my little white Rangers jersey to prove it, too.
I was so cute back in those days. What the hell happened…
Anyways, like a lot of Rangers fans, the reason I began to root for the team was because of my parents and their love for the team; especially my dad. While that was similar to most other fans, the way my parents met was very different than the way most other Ranger-baby’s parents met.
My parents met at the Garden at a Rangers game.
Hence, my first sentence.
My First Season
I love my Rangers. Although the first sports team I ever followed closely was the Yankees–who I still love with a passion–when I started watching the Rangers play on a regular basis at the beginning of the 2005-2006 season, I fell in love. Of all the players I loved from that team–the Straka’s, the Kasparaitis’, the Colton Orr‘s of the world and pretty much the rest of that roster–the three that I loved the most were Michael Nylander, Jaromir Jagr and Tom Poti.
Nylander was a stud. He scored just under 80 points in his breakout season at the tender age of
More from Editorials
- Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
- Rangers’ Roster Chatter: Who’s Making the Cut and Who’s in the Penalty Box?
- These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly
- Filip Chytil Could Take Major Steps in the 2023-24 Season
- Looking forward to the upcoming season for Artemi Panarin
33. Jaromir Jagr was just the man, on the ice and off of it, and I’ll get into that a little more later. Tom Poti is the one of the trio I mentioned who most people would be puzzled by.
The reason I loved Poti wasn’t because of his on ice performance, but because of the life he had to live. Because he was allergic to peanuts.
Ever since I was three years old, I have had life-threatening allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. These allergies nearly took my life when I was a little kid. Although they have gotten a little bit better over time, when I was growing up they were so bad that I couldn’t be in the same room as them. They were as bad as a food allergy could be.
As a kid though, it’s really tough to go through life that food allergies. Tom Poti was a bit of inspiration for me as a guy who overcame it.
All of this leads up to the greatest day of my life.
Going to the Garden
Due to my horrible food allergies, my allergist always suggested to my parents not letting me go to sports games, due to peanuts and peanut shells being all over the place. It made a lot of sense since my allergy was airborne. But all I wanted in life was to go to a Rangers game.
One day I sat down at my kitchen table and wrote two letters, one to Rangers’ owner James Dolan and one to Jaromir Jagr. I wrote essentially the same thing in both of them, “is there any way that there could be a peanut free game?”
More from Blue Line Station
- Blake Wheeler’s Broadway Calling: Why He Chose the Rangers
- Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
- Rangers’ Roster Chatter: Who’s Making the Cut and Who’s in the Penalty Box?
- Jacque Plante Trade Tree Between the Rangers and Canadiens
- These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly
I also did this for the Yankees as well–those letters went to Steinbrenner and Mike Mussina, my all-time favorite Yankee.
While I did hear back eventually from the Yankees, they said they couldn’t do anything like that, but were nice enough to send me a lot of cool swag. The Rangers, however, had other plans.
After a decent amount of collaboration between people in the organization and my parents over the course of a year, I got a phone call from a member of the Rangers organization.
They asked me, “John, do you want to go to a Rangers game against the Montreal Canadiens?”
10-year-old John couldn’t even speak.
The Rangers gave me, my family and a bunch of friends a luxury box, away from all concessions so there were no peanuts or tree nuts anywhere around us.
For free.
I remember walking into the Garden for the first time on that Thursday, April 5, 2007. I was mesmerized by the history and the buzz of the most beautiful place on planet earth. As we were walking around, I remember seeing two guys in suits coming off the elevator. After they walked away and we got on the elevator, I realized; holy crap, that was Ron Dugay!
Live Feed
Eyes On Isles
I was five feet away from a former New York Ranger! I couldn’t even handle my excitement. When I got up to our box, there was a long, wooden thing on the marble counter top. It was a hockey stick. I remember telling the employee guiding us to the box, “I think one of the players must have left this up here.”
She turned to me and said, “no, your buddy, Mr. Jagr, left that here for you!”
I looked at the blade of the Sherwood stick to see the signature of one Jaromir Jagr.
Just thinking about it now gives me chills, as I stare at that stick, hanging above my closet door while typing this article.
If that wasn’t great enough, the Rangers went on to win the game 3-1 against Jaroslav Halak‘s Habs.
The Rangers had just clinched a playoff spot!
Petr Prucha–a favorite of me and my dad’s–Marek Malik and my new best friend Jaromir Jagr scored in the victory. And if that wasn’t all cool enough, Ron Duguay, Rod Gilbert and Gilles Villemure all came in our box for a visit. I was with hockey royalty!
I Will Forever Love This Team
One thing I have learned in my years of being a Rangers fans is they are going to disappoint you on the ice and in the front office at various points every now and again. It just wouldn’t be the Rangers’ way if they did anything the easy way.
But throughout all the bad times and all the good times, of which make you feel more elated and excited than anything else, the memory of that beautiful April night will always be with me for the rest of my life.
Which is why I will always love the Rangers with all of my heart.