The Islanders are Back; I May Be

Can I even remember how to work blogger?  I still get errors when I log on. 
Oh well... let's give it a shot since I seem to have 15 minutes to myself.

Isles are playing exhibition games and everyone including the fans are getting used to an entirely new routine.  So let me catch up.


Third Jersey:  Certainly it could have been better, but in the scheme of things it could have also been worse.  My complaint is that it's NOT just the jersey.  It was Yormark's attempt to rebrand the team as a sibling of his Nets.  There are all sorts of merchandise at the Brooklyn team store with the Islanders logo in glorious black and white.  It's void of our colors.  Maybe I wouldn't hate it so much if I didn't have an entire wardrobe of Blue, White and Orange.

Yormark:  The new head of the marketing machine for the Islanders was honest in telling SBJ that Gary Bateman told him the NHL isn't the NBA.  As this transition has been going on for a few years, I'm surprised he needed the Commissioner to remind him that.  But he will learn quickly how passionate hockey fans are and how we can turn on a dime if need be.  (His dime, the fans will make or break you Brett.)

Michael Grabner: Okay, who didn't see that coming?  But for Garth Snow to be able to trade him the half the Toronto Marlies team was pretty impressive.  Maybe the Leafs will find him a good eye doctor so he won't miss the net as much when he is dazzling teams with his break-away speed.

Brock Nelson:  He gave fans fits with his contract hold-out stance until the very last minute.  He better put-up numbers if he doesn't want that stance to come back and haunt him.  He did score against the Devils last night.

MSG Relents:  As I have stated year after year, nothing in Cablevision contract requires them to air pre-season games.  They air the Ranger games because they own them and they air the Devils games -- just to piss off Islander fans.  Just kidding.  But they have relented this year and are airing three.  Certainly the Evil Dolan Empire's change of heart to air an Isles/Caps game is a surprise and a nice change.

LIRR:    I DO NOT like the idea that the players will be taking the train to the arena.  Unless they are traveling with a security contingent.  Sure, it's early.  The youngsters aren't recognized yet.  But what about in December?  What if they're not doing well?  What if they are?  There are too many "What If's".  Get them off the train and get them proper transportation to and from the arena where they are protected.  What?  Are all of Jay-Z's Mercedes in the Barclay's underground VIP lot and there isn't room for anyone else?

Camera Angles:  For some reason, many fans on Twitter last night were complaining about the camera angles.  Hey!  You were lucky they had a camera... and a crew!  Remember, Cablevision didn't need to send anything, but they did.  Nice MSG desk for Shannon Hogan to report from and do between period interviews.

Press Meals: The Isles and the catering company of Barclays are in a dispute over pricing for press room meals.  I am not surprised at all.  Everything in that damn arena is overpriced.  I can only imagine what they want to charge the Isles for supplying meals in the press room.  Don't get me wrong, when I was there two years ago they put out a spread that was astounding.  But you could tell, that was going to cost big.  But does the press really NEED a free hot meal?  They can expense it if they are working for a paying outlet.  For the bloggers -- it's a nice perk.  The bloggers are the ones who do this for little or no money and everything comes out of their own pocket.  Personally, I was fine with the $1 hot dog and free coffee and popcorn at the Coli.  Although I was really miffed when they took away the cinnanuts. 


To Recap:  This is exceptionally hard for me.  I am trying to get back into the swing of what was such a large part of my life for years and I find myself only glancing at it.  I loved this team.  I loved that I was part of a contingent of people who covered them up-close-and-personal.  I had a real connection.  The connection is now just a few threads that I can either weave back into a rope or cut ties altogether.  This is a difficult choice.

Letting It Sink In

As yesterday was Mother's Day, I didn't even have a chance to raed the newspaper. Too many things going on with the family. I also wasn't ready for the New York Islanders post mortem reports. I also didn't write anything. If I couldn't read the obituaries, I sure as hell wasn't going to be able to write one.
I couldn't even go into the locker room for the post game interviews, it was too painful. I considered waiting on one of the padded folding chairs down in the exhibit hall for the coaches post game reports, but thought better of it when I wasn't sure if I could keep myself from openly weeping. I opted to buck the Coliseum traffic and listen to Chris King's post game report instead.

Yesterday morning it felt more the same way as it did when my own daughter's softball team went to the Pony Nationals in Virginia, but left empty handed after three days while other teams moved on. The hard work, the passion, the heart fell short and the ride home from Virginia was painfully long and quiet.
As Mark Herrmann said in his piece for Sunday's Newsday,

"At the intersection of hop and nostalgia, Islanders fans have grown to love the current team in a way not seen around here for many years."

It's so true. Which is what made the over time loss that much more painful. We wanted it for them, they wanted it more.
In Mark's article, there is a photo of "Sign Guy" in the stands holding up his last sign of the season. "It's Our Time Now!" He really thought it was.
When I bumped into Lou on the concourse after the game, we talked about how this team is just so close to making it happen again: the magic that was the New York Islanders. They're only a few pieces away.
So maybe next season Lou can make a new sign that says, "Okay, NOW, NOW this is OUR time!"
October can't come fast enough.

Brooklyn Trend

Borough President Marty Markowitz (or however you spell it) must have been smiling from ear to ear knowing that "Brooklyn" was trending all over the news feeds this week. Then tonight I noticed a commercial that said Jimmy Kimmel was going back to his roots -- back to Brooklyn. It must be the new "thing" to do. Maybe he'll have John Tavares on one day. With the loss of the Islanders, there is much speculation about what will happen to the Hub in Uniondale. There is also some rumbling about reasons no deal could be made. This comment was on a recent post of mine, but because there was no name attached to it, I didn't repeat it.

Relax Dee. Enough of the ‘Tic feakin Tock’ stuff. There will be no hockey this season and the Islanders have a fight on their hands with Hofstra as the Pride continue to negotiate behind the scenes for parcels of land at the NVMC site for future grad school expansion.

Tonight on Twitter my ex-blog box buddy BD Gallof talked aobut his upcoming article that discusses some very interesting issues.

BDGallof: Next week expect info on ToH, Hofstra, words from politico of LI now that #isles leaving & more as we autopsy what went wrong in Nassau

I like how it is called an "autopsy" considering a really thought of it as a death in the family.

Where's Dina?

Well, now that the Islanders school assembly program is over, Dina has a little more time on her hands so this weekend she decided to go to Boston to be the Islanders fan that she is.

Spending the weekend in Boston is always great fun. Being able to watch an Islanders game at TD Bank Center makes it even better. It's an amazing arena to watch a game. No matter who is playing.

Dina must have felt that way since she decided to see the Celtics play there on Friday night as well. So decked out in (presumably) her green Bailey t-shirt, she cheered on her favorite hockey team to a well fought 2-1 loss.

I don't have any photos of her at the game, since she refused to oblige me. But I'm sure she made her Islanders presence known in that very loud arena on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Another afternoon game awaits us today as the Islanders take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 3 pm today on MSG Plus. I was surprised to see there was a pre-game show yesterday, so I'm guessing there is one today as well.

Dear Boys In Blue & Orange: Hope you received the memo. ;o)

Islanders Vs. Rangers in the Big Apple

I had toyed with going to this game.... for about a nano-second. I've never been to MSG for a hockey game, but I seriously don't think I could handle it.

So our last place Islanders will take on the struggling Rangers in a mid-week match-up. This could get ugly, or it could be boring.

I love this quote from the Game Preview on the Isles main site:

The Islanders will try to keep the Rangers from getting back on track. Over the past nine games, the Rangers are 1-6-2 and are falling fast in the Eastern Conference standings. Once atop the Eastern Conference, the Rangers are now just five points ahead of ninth-place Carolina.

But the Rangers have won three out of the four games they have played against our hapless Islanders. Let's see if they can make that TWO of FIVE and continue the Rangers downward spiral.

Question at hand is always: Who will be in net? But the question is ALSO; Who will be BEHIND THE BENCH? With the outcry for Renney's head, it would seem plausible that the Rangers could make a coaching change today just before the game. After all, this is an organization that traded Brian Leetch on his birthday... by phone. So, anything is possible.

Look for Live Chat with the Blog Box tonight. Details to be announced on participating sites.