Each NHL team’s most famous superfan
By Cody Rivera
New York Rangers: Liam Neeson
For 41 nights out of the year, fans of the New York Rangers pack themselves in Madison Square Garden, wearing their red, white, and blue gear and cheering on the beloved home team. And then every once in a while, there is a fan in the seats who possesses a very particular set of skills…skills that he has acquired over a very long career.
That’s right. Irish actor Liam Neeson, the star of the movie Taken (arguably one of the greatest movies ever made) and its two sequels, is a fan of the New York Rangers. He can frequently be seen attending Rangers games at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
However, if it wasn’t for his son, Neeson probably wouldn’t be as interested in the Rangers as he is today. He claims that he’s just a simple Rangers fan, but his son is the real Rangers fan.
“He’s constantly telling me the rules,” Neeson said during an interview with MSG Networks, “because I still haven’t gotten them. The number of years I’ve been coming here to support the Rangers, I still haven’t quite got the rules down yet. But that doesn’t stop me being a fan.”
Leeson went on to say in the interview that it absolutely blows his mind seeing all of the fans filling up Madison Square Garden every night.
“[Madison Square Garden] is one of the iconic spaces for sports, for concerts, for circuses in the world,” Neeson said. “When I come here, I always feel I’m part of a community. There’s 20,000 people. And it’s interesting coming from Ireland and Europe where we have trouble organizing sporting events. But you come to Madison Square Garden in the center of a city, 20,000 people come, the game is over, the concert is over, and suddenly 20,000 people disappear. It’s fantastic.”