April 1^st, 2015: Camden, NJ – At an impromptu press conference outside the new “Venue at Camden” field in Camden, New Jersey, Hitmen officials announced the move of the franchise’s AA squad official.  The Bergen Cliff Hawks are now the Camden Consigliere.
After news last off-season about the team’s restructuring of the franchise, this move comes as no real surprise.  New Jersey’s AA affiliate moves Bergen south across the state to Camden, which some believe is an odd choice.  Camden has historically been a very seedy part of New Jersey.  Less than a decade ago, Camden was still in contention as the nation’s most dangerous city, an “honor” bestowed upon the city in 2003, 2004, and again in 2009.  The city was labeled so based on crime statistics in murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and auto theft.  Matters only got worse as the police force was reduced in following years.  Although the city has still been in contention for this label as nation’s worst since 2009, they have not held the top spot since.  One journalist commented that Camden is “the physical refuse of postindustrial America“.

Many New Jersey locals have stated that they do not like the idea of driving to Camden in order to catch the minor league squad in action.  With the potential loss of ticket sales because fans’ safety fears, one must wonder if this was a wise decision by owner Michael “Szef” Czosnyka, who has made it perfectly clear many times that money is all that matters to him.  To make matters worse, when officials were asked about how these fears would be addressed, they explained that no additional security would be present at the Venue and that fears of any potential hurt or wrong being done to any fan were unfounded.  Despite this, my talks with fans has me thinking they aren’t reassured.

“I am not going anywhere near that stadium!  Guess I will have to upgrade my satellite plan so I can get every game on the ol’ tube now…” – Luke Gerts, Bergen NJ

“They couldn’t make the tickets cheap enough for me to want to take my son there anymore.  Watching Bergen play used to be one of my son’s favorite things to do. Guess we will have to go watch Hoboken play now…” – Chris Johns, Trenton NJ

Moving past the fear for safety, let’s look at the team’s changes.  Departing from the old amber and green of the Bergen colors, the Consigliere are sporting a black jersey with hunter green pinstripes with a solid black ball cap.  Continuing with the clean and classy fashion set by the major league squad, Camden will sport a simple “C” logo topped by a bowler hat on its left breast.  The cap logo is a double-C, and the undershirts are now white collared with hunter green sleeves.  

The term “consigliere” was made famous by the mafia novel The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, which was later popularized by the movie series by the same name.  A big favorite of owner Czosnyka, apparently.  According to the book, the consigliere is the advisor of the mafia boss.

Many believe that the franchise’s transformation will continue next off-season with plans for the AAA squad Chilltowners to relocate and change their nickname to “Dons”.  We will have to wait and see…