Lighthouse or Moving Trucks?

So the Town of Hempstead and the Lighthouse Project are playing a nice game of politics. Basically blaming each other for the holdout in the redevelopment of the Nassau Mausoleum and it's surrounding shitty area. One thing is for certain though, that Kate Murray and the Town Board are the bad guys here no matter what. I'm not saying this because she is inherently evil, but because there is no way for the Town to put a positive spin on their side. I mean it's been a good decade of political red tape and bullshit and I understand why Charles Wang and the rest of the people involved with Lighthouse Project are frustrated. Nassau County sucks. I know, I work for them. There are so many different governing bodies in the county it's ridiculous. Between the County itself, the different townships, villages, incorporated villages, community groups, and corporations with a lot of pull that nothing ever happens. This is why Nassau County sucks. At least in Suffolk the government has a history of corruption and the person with the highest kickback got things done.

Anyways, I mention this because the future of the New York Islanders is still in question on Long Island. I know there is now offers on the table from interested parties in Queens and Brooklyn, but to me that's not Long Island. Those are boroughs of New York City. Long Island is Nassau, Suffolk, and Peconic County. Oh right, Peconic County doesn't exist... yet. Now the question is what happens if the worst possible scenario happens and the Islanders move? Do I still cheer for the franchise in which I have had season tickets to for 3 seasons now and have watched/ gone to countless games during my 28 years of being alive? Or do I move on to a different franchise? If so, which one?

Obviously if the franchise was to move the best possible situation for myself and many other Long Islanders is if the team moved to a more centralized and easier accessible area of the island in Suffolk County. This would most likely never happen for no other reason than people in Suffolk County don't like to have anything built out here that would improve the community... other than more Wal-Marts of course.

Now if the team was to move to Queens, Brooklyn, Hamilton, Quebec, or any other municipality my answer is simply going to be a big fuck you to the franchise and at that point I'm becoming a free-agent fan. I know Hamilton and Quebec are understandable for me not to continue to follow the team, but for me so is Queens and Brooklyn. I know Queens is right next door to Nassau, but for anyone who has ever driven on the LIE during rush hour west of exit 39 you know that your commute gets, in a word, prolonged. Sure, you have the option of the LIRR, but then you're a slave to the train schedule and possibly delays that you have no control over and are stuck on the train for. Also, Queens is NYC, not LI. Then there is Brooklyn which has no easy or convenient way for people out on the island to get to. And once again, Brooklyn is NYC. If the team was to move into NYC they may as well just change their name to the New York Americans (NY's original professional hockey team).

This would leave me to then figure out which team would then get me has a fan... more on that later since I have a game at the rotting arena to go to... at least Tavares hasn't disappointed yet. Unlike Dwayne "I Can't Stop a Puck in a Shootout or Penalty Shot" Roloson.

I Need Hockey To Come Back.... Quick!

Well it's about a month til NHL Preseason starts and the dog days of summer have hit. No real news going on in the hockey world or at the very least no real news that really has an impact on me. I usually have baseball to watch, but the Mets aren't doing too well with their Double AA team playing in the MLB due to the majority of their opening day roster being on the disabled list. So that pretty much made my August to do list pretty lifeless. Not to mention baseball is pretty boring sport to begin with. If it wasn't for the ability to drink and people watch during the game it'd be real boring. Anyway, I digress. Since there is really nothing going on in the hockey world, I've been filling any down time in my life with some NHL 2009 on XBox 360. I still don't have fun on the game playing above Rookie level since it's just a defensive battle (Which the New Jersey Devils have proved time and time again makes for boring hockey). I basically just play my Franchise mode in which the Islanders have won 4 of the last 5 Stanley Cups and randomly screw around on Be A Pro mode, but that isn't much fun since I made myself a Stay at Home D-man/ Enforcer.

Needless to say, I can't wait for September 15th when the NHL Preseason is fully underway and NHL 2010 is released on Xbox 360. After that the next key date is October 3rd where the Islanders actually open their season at home against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburg Penguins. I'm not expecting much for this season, but it's gotta be better than last year. The other key dates for me this upcoming hockey season are November 6th when I'll be in Vegas to watch some ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers vs. Bakersfield Condors action and then in March I'll be heading out to California to watch the Islanders take on the Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings. I'll probably head out to a Rag$ game at the Garden and a Devils game at the Rock at some point too. Well that's it for now... back to playing some NHL 09.

Las Vegas Flying Elvises

So the NHL just approved a sale to a group that is willing to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona. Good for them, but if the old ownership couldn't make money there, why does this group think they can? Or is there a "Major League" type of scam that is going on here? You know, they have a clause in their contract with the city of Phoenix that states if the team finishes dead last x amount of times or fails to draw in x amount of fans to games that they are allowed to pack up the team and move. Now I know since I'm an Islanders fan I shouldn't be judging other teams financial statuses, but I am so fucking deal with it. The Islanders are in their current situation because of past poor ownership situations and Nassau County bureaucratic bullshit. There is a large fan base on Long Island and all they need is a winning season or two and some of those bandwagon Rag$ fans from 1994 will return to being bandwagon Isles fans. In Phoenix (like Atlanta and Nashville) the amusement of having a professional hockey team in waning. I'm not saying there isn't actual hardcore hockey fans in Arizona (one of the places I'd consider moving to when I retire), but there apparently isn't enough. Not that hockey can't succeed in the Southwestern United States though, since Dallas seems to do well and the California teams all have a decent fan base. The difference is though that Dallas and Anaheim have won a Stanley Cup in the past decade, San Jose has had plenty of good seasons in their history, and LA had some guy named Gretzky for a while. Apparently The Great One doesn't draw quite as well as a coach as he did a player. So the key for the Coyotes may just be to have a few exciting seasons to cure their monetary woes, but if that doesn't work and then it's time to pack up and head to...

And head to the desert oasis of beautiful Las Vegas. Vegas is home to pretty much everything but a professional sports team (and is also another place I'd consider moving to when I retire). Obviously Vegas' population is probably around 50% full time residents and 50% seasonal residents/tourists. So that may be a tough sell for the NHL, but I know I for one could always use another excuse to visit Vegas if the Islanders were to come to town. Not to mention Anaheim and Los Angeles is within driving distance. Las Vegas already has a minor league franchise in the Wranglers and they usually have one preseason game there involving the Kings that sells out. So even if the team wasn't that great the arena would still be drawing in the other teams fans from around the US and Canada. And until our economy went into a bipartisan shitter, Las Vegas was one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Not to mention there are these things called Casinoes that generate a lot of revenue. I already have my choice of a name for the team, the Las Vegas Flying Elvises. It just rolls of the tongue nicely, not to mention it's been my fantasy team name for years now. So let's go Islanders and let's go Flying Elvises!

More Goalies!

And the Islanders continue their off season acquisitions by signing yet another goaltender. This time it's former Flyer foe Martin Biron. They signed him to a one-year deal which reeks of Garth Snow's usual business offer in trying to help someone get back on track on the island, just to have them leave. The main thing I get from this deal is that DiPietro is nowhere near ready for the season. Last I heard he has yet to even skate on his surgically repaired lower body. So now the Isles technically have DiPietro, Roloson, and Biron at the NHL level, two second round draft choices, and another goalie down in Bridgeport. I think that they have enough depth there, but I could be wrong. Look what happened to St. Louis last year. I just hope Snow and Co. get their act together and get an enforcer to protect the young players on the team soon. Well, this helped with my offseason hockey fix for at least one more day. The madness of no hockey should settle in shortly though.

Tavares Saves and Everyone is Fleeing Jersey!

Well, I for one am fully stoked. John Tavares is officially a New York Islander. I will say that I was slightly disappointed that the organization actually did what the fans wanted. Hear me out on this. The Nassau Coliseum had between 8,000-10,000 fans there for the draft party. Most of whom had a few drinks in them (not that the Coliseum's management helped with that since only Doolin's Pub in the basement was open to serve beer). I figured, while sitting in my usual section of 315, that I was gonna hear something along the lines like "The Islanders trade their First Overall Pick to Toronto for Olaf Kolzig and a bag of pucks" or "With the Number One Pick the Islanders choose Brett Lindros, Jr.". Then after this announcement someone, probably from section 315, was gonna yell "LET'S TEAR THIS PLACE APART!!!" and an all out riot would commence. People from the Islanders and the Coliseum would be fleeing in terror while the fans fast track owner Charles Wang's plan for a new building by destroying the current one. Obviously this didn't happen and the fans are happy for now. It's the least we could get after a dreadful season. Let's just hope Tavares and the rest of the team can keep the fans happy. He already did a good job saving the Coliseum.

So apparently unless your first name is Martin and your last name is Brodeur you do not want to play in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils lost Brian Gionta, which is really no surprise cause it was obvious he was gonna get overpaid from somewhere and that somewhere being Montreal which gave him a $25 million contract over the next 5 years. The Devils also lost Michael Rupp and John Madden to free agency as well which is frightening since these two players seemed to be core players of the franchise. It can't all be about the money for all of these former Devils. Lou Lamoriello must have somekind of loyalty from his players. I mean it seems to work out well in Detroit, which is the only other consistent contender in the NHL in the past decade. There must be something in the water in Newark that makes everyone flee that ridiculously awesome arena. My main question being a non-Devils fan is this; when is Zach Parise going to be an UFA? And are the NY Rag$ not going to have enough room under the salary cap to not afford him? Well on the bright side the Devils did manage to sign one free agent... Yann Danis. I guess with as much playing time as he's gonna get behind Brodeur it didn't matter who they signed to fill that role. I guess the moral of the story seems to be that no matter how you clean the place up, it's still Jersey.

And coming back full circle to the Isles... I'm currently watching episodes from the first season of "30 Rock" and I noticed a nice shout out to the Isles. It's a conversation between Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and her boyfriend Dennis.

Dennis: I wish the place would've burned down with me in it.

Liz: Why, what happened?

Dennis: My Islanders lost tonight.

Liz: Doesn't that happen a lot?

Well hopefully that conversation can be a thing of the past. At least on the brightside the Islanders still get some notice on national television (also see the NBC show "Life").

Goal Celebrations and Cheap Shots

So apparently some around the NHL and it's fan base are upset over the way Alexander Ovechkin celebrates his goals. Especially his 50th goal celebration for the 2009 season (if you haven't seen it go check it out on YouTube). Quite frankly I'm fed up with all the complaints about basically nothing in the league and this fits under the category of a big nothing in my book. This is hockey people. The players are basically responsible to keep each other in check. If the players don't like these kind of actions then they should make it known the traditional way... on the ice. I'm not saying that someone should do a cheap shot at Ovechkin since I personally enjoy his entertaining style of play, but it may be worth a roughing penalty if you think he's being unprofessional in his celebrations. Once he starts up with one of his 50+ celebrations a season go up to him and confront him. What does "confront him" mean? Get in his face, shove him down to the ice, give him a love tap across the shin pads, etc, etc. Obviously you don't wanna Hollweg or Downie the guy by hitting him from behind or with a high elbow since that is just ridiculous, but express your feelings none the less on the ice, not in the media. If the players started to use the media as an outlet we'd be left with a league full of Sean Avery's or even worse, it would turn into the NFL.

Speaking of cheap shots... this seems to be the issue the league is not treating in the right way. Now I know we all know the basic arguments in this issue and mine is one of the more popular ones (amongst fans and former players anyway). Everyone has seen the hits from behind, the high elbows, and the eye gouging at this point in time and most people would agree they're all a bit on the unsavory side. My solution to this is simple... get rid of the fight instigator penalties. It's plain and simple that even with the two referee system that the officials can't catch every single action on the ice, but the players can. The reason why we're having this spree of dirty plays is the fact that the guys just can't go out there anymore and take care of the problem players without getting an extra two minutes, a misconduct of sorts, and most likely a suspension and fine from the powers that be in Toronto. I know what some of you are thinking... "fighting is barbaric and it's not good for the children. Would somebody please think about the children!!!" and to you I say stick a puck in it and go to some Disney on Ice. More on the fighting issue at a later date. Well til next time I hate this place and I hate all of you. So step up or step off.