If the Devils really wanted to be Jersey's team, they'd skate out wearing jean jackets and spend the next 60 minutes arguing over where to get the best pizza and whether Tony bit it when "Don't Stop Believing" cut to black.

Instead, the New Jersey Devils appear content with making "Jersey's Team" part of their marketing push and confirming their love of the Garden State by disparaging the disloyalty of their former arena-mates, the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

The Nets, you see, have their hearts set on moving to Brooklyn in ... well, they probably never will, but it's healthy to set goals. Meanwhile, they've decided to continue their slow slicing of ties with their current home by taking the words "New Jersey" off of their road uniforms.

So the Devils, who moved out of the former Continental Airlines Arena in 2007 for their new digs in Newark, decided to take a shot at their NBA neighbors with the billboard above, which is located on New Jersey's I-78.

From the Newark Star-Ledger's editorial blog:

It's the latest gotcha in an intramural feud with the Nets, who continue to commit silly personal fouls against the state while playing in a decaying -- and competing -- arena the Devils want closed. But motives aside, the Nets deserved the dig. 

The Devils are sort of, kind of Jersey's Team. Truth be told, the Philadelphia Flyers are South Jersey's team, and there are as many New York Rangers fans as there are Devils fans in North Jersey. But hey, unlike the Nets, Jets and Giants, the Devils are willing to let their Jersey freak flag fly ... catching all the comedic grief that comes with it.

While we're on this topic, a question for the readers who are in cities that share NHL and NBA teams: Where does your hockey team currently rank in that pecking order?

Catching up? Falling back? Hopelessly and eternally a second-class citizen? Or are you one of the few sports cities where the NBA takes a backseat to the NHL?