Mr Botta, Newsday's Islander beat?

New York Islander Fan Central | 5/10/2008 08:55:00 PM |
What else do you want me to write folks on the departure of Mr Botta, a very good man who did an excellent job will be missed.

Greg Logan got it right on the impact losing this man will have in the media industry for this franchise.

I could post articles on Pat Calabria or even former pr director for eight seasons Greg Bouris or Jill Knee who was with the club for fifteen years if you would like some past history on this subject. We all know Mr Botta was one of the writers of the Islanders 25th anniversary book entitled " Pride and Passion " among several publications he has been credited with over the years.

If Pat Calabria can go from Newsday to the Islanders VP of communication spot I cannot think of anyone better to become the club's new full time beatwriter for this team at Newsday then Mr Botta. I'm sure Mr Logan would like to cover a team he has some passion for and obviously that's not the New York Islanders.

Regarding Mr Botta's departure I could speculate for pages but that would not be fair on my part or to my readers because I do not know a thing nor is it any of my business. This is a hockey blog, not a gossip blog.

It's one thing for me to praise/criticize an organization in terms of player decisions, how they work out and conduct themselves on the ice during games. The standings/stats tell a good part of that story for itself. Same thing with the comments and articles. The quotes and writer speculation are first hand comments so it's fair to talk about it here.

How things work inside an office is something completely different.

It's like someone writing about how a player conducts themselves in a lockeroom who is not part of the club. I am not there so I do not know.

Michael Peca said long ago when he was captain unless you are in the room everyday or a player tells you something you just do not know anything about what goes on internally.

Mr Botta was honored earlier this year by the club, he wrote about it and the Islanders did not issue a release then and no one would have known if he did not blog about it at that time nor did Mr Logan do an article/blog on it. I have no idea if this is how Mr Botta wanted things now or if the Isles decided to handle in this way and frankly it's not my business.

All I know is a good man who seemed to love this franchise and did a great job is no longer in the organization and this fan will miss him. I never met him but his passion for his job always came across in the quality of his work.

Wherever he goes that organization will be richer for it. The NHL would also be an excellent destination for Mr Botta as Frank Brown was hired from the Daily News by the league office.