It's time for a introduction as to who I am, what am I doing here, and what I aim to do. Especially if you haven't read ILWT ver. 1.0. No, it's not to make Talking Heads references or go on long screeds about currency.
My name is John Fischer and I am the writer for In Lou We Trust - a blog about the New Jersey Devils. The team is billing themselves as Jersey's Team this season and so the logo reflects that the Devils are the premier New Jersey Hockey Club. I suppose you could say I'm also a hardcore fan of the team, following them since the breakout years of the 1993-94 which ended with massive heartbreak; with massive glory to follow in the decade afterward - particularly in the form of three Stanley Cups: 1995, 2000, and 2003.
The original In Lou We Trust is still up on Blogger, which started 2 years and a month ago. I started it in my final year of Graduate School, figuring that if Blogger is going to state how easy it is to start a blog, even I could do it. Looking back, the hard part was coming up with the name - and boy did I come up with a good one.
Though I should point out that, no, I don't believe that Lou Lamoriello is a deity of any sort. God is God, and Lou is the general manager who raised and created a fantastic franchise built around defensive hockey, discipline, and character. If there's one man we as Devils fans can trust in making the most out of a situation, it's Lou. I can safely say, we trust Lou. Little did I know, my little Devils blog grew to get some attention along with fellow bloggers 2 Man Advantage and Interchangeable Parts, to being invited onto the radio by Rob Kowal (who helped convince me to get the domain name), to having words published on the NY Times website (most recently, here).
As far as how I got here, you have James Mirtle to thank for that; and I'm certainly thankful for Mirtle and the SBNation staff for helping with this move. Given that Tyler is a Devils fan, I hope I can rise up to the pressure. (That's a joke, sometimes I make them. Like a Jamie Langenbrunner slapshot, they tend to miss.)
Not bad for a rather wordy blog with a sometimes-analytical kind of focus. Overall, I'd have to say that I'm a fan who is optimistic in the team, has some perspective on the team's fortunes, and hopeful that the Devils can do better when they do poorly and continue to do well when they succeed. I'm not a stereotypical "OLD TYME HOCKEY!111" guy, given that I was 10 when 1994 happened; and I don't really care to forward to the past. Sometimes you may see some attempts of analysis, such as in how often the Devils shoot (or miss) or hit a player. I try to dabble in a bit of this and that.
Ultimately, this is a Devils blog. If it's about the game or the team, I'll not only have something to say about it (or something to say about what Gulitti's reporting about it) and will say it at length if you will. I certainly hope you all will enjoy reading the new ILWT, even if it is for a little bit. And remember that sometimes it's not about the journey, but the destination. In other words, if you're not a Devils fan now, it's never too late to recognize that you bleed Devils red and support the New Jersey Hockey Club.