In any case, it’s about time for another drink and, slightly disenchanted as you are with the crowd’s reception of your Daniel Boone bit, you might as well move along. Standing at the bar, you hear a conversation starting just to your right wherein two gentlemen are discussing the stories behind the names of various sports teams. One of them hypothesizes that the New Jersey Devils are likely so named because New Jersey is something of a hellhole. Oh, so very funny, but a gentleman never allows false facts to be bandied about, and certainly never allows a fine state such as New Jersey to be disparaged.
Maybe not so scary here, but I wouldn't mess with it in a dark alley...which are common in Jersey
What these ruffians apparently do not know is that the Devils are named after New Jersey’s official state monster, though no such position actually exists. There is a legend, running back to at least the 1800s of a flying biped with cloven hooves that haunts the pine barrens of New Jersey. The creature is credited with all kinds of mischievous shenanigans from killing live stock, to giving Napoleon’s older brother Joseph a scare while he was out hunting one day (he had an estate in Jersey). Commodore Stephen Decatur even claimed to have hit it with a cannonball to no effect. Any way you cut it, it’s an odd story.
“Sorry, lads, but couldn’t help but notice you talking about the Devils, and where the name came from.” Don’t worry if they give you a snide look of “well, what’s it to you, bub?” Remember, you’re fighting the good fight. “Turns out, the team is named after an old legend about the pine barrens, and this mythical creature…or cryptid, that lives there. You know, bat wings, cloven hooves, maybe breathes fire, that sortof thing. I guess it’s Jersey’s twist on the Jackalope.”
Yes, that will do nicely. If they seem like good, but misguided fellows, have a drink with them. If not, well, you’ve done what you set out to do. Grab your drink, and get back out there.
The Gentleman's Guide to Cocktail Conversation 