When Chris Botta dropped a hint about his ‘next venture’ on his NYIPointBlank blog last month, I was hoping beyond hope that it would include a high profile job with the league itself. I prayed it would be an NHL job and crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t include basketball. I’ve already lost one of my favorite writers to basketball (Alan Hahn), and I really didn’t want to lose another one.
I checked the blog faithfully waiting to see what was next. What is next (on 9-25-08) didn’t come from his own writing, but from a press release I received at my desk at work yesterday afternoon from the Islanders announcing the new alliance between the team and the best PR guy in the business.
As fans, we all know there was no one more in tune with every aspect of this team and the organization. Perhaps his honesty and ability to be open got him in some hot water now and again, but we all respected him for being able to deliver good news and bad with a style all his own that some how made it more palatable. His passion for the sport and professionalism are undeniable. The cherry on the sundae? -- he can be damn funny too when he wants to be.
Twenty years is a long time -- in numbers. But it goes by in the blink of an eye. You wake up one morning and realize you’re not the same person you were before. With luck and hard work, you only get better and make more of an impact on the world around you.
Be prepared. Botta’s impact will be felt though out the league. You can count on it.
(I still would have loved to see him standing next to Gary Bettman at a press conference. Guess I’ll have to settle for him being a guest on the Commissioner’s radio show this season. ’Cause you KNOW that’s gonna happen! I guarantee it!)
All the Best, to THE Best, good luck CB!
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