Poll/Mailbag/Quick Hits

New York Islander Fan Central | 11/22/2008 04:08:00 AM | | | | |
With about four full days left in the latest poll we may not have a triple digit vote but we do have the best race ever in a poll with a tie at sixteen-sixteen as to what you would do with Josh Bailey in terms of whether he stays here or is sent back to Windsor?

Keep him with Islanders 16 (50%)
Send him back to Windsor 16 (50%)

I'm waiting until the final day to vote myself and have not made up my mind, he has to look like he can play at this level. For now I want to see the next few games and what he can do without Okposo.
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Usually I answer my e-mails directly instead of responding in the blog but Mike asks why I did not write anything on Msg NY/Hockey Night being cancelled given I discuss media here?

Mike,
My only initial thought is what this means for Butch Goring who I would like to see in a job with the Islanders and not the Cablevision-owned Garden but as long as he is on television like Howie Rose, Billy Jaffe they all are under contract to Msg with Mike Emrick, Chico, Steve Cangialosi, C.J Papa and anyone else you can name.

Only actual Islander employees are Chris King and Steve Mears calling games which is why Sherry Ross left the Daily News to call Devils hockey.

As for the rest I do not watch the Msg shows anymore and go out of my way to avoid it because of Msg's poor treatment of the Islanders for over a decade on a station that one year will show classic games before the opener and the next will not even allow live internet games from training camp. The team even had to fight for a pregame while the Devils received one with three side reporters while the latest Msg suit in President Michael Bair tells us what the Garden is going to do.

I'm glad the ratings were so poor that it was cancelled when my teams postgame show and the coaches press conference were cut off because Al Trautwig wanted to do another Ranger infomercial, I wish it were cancelled immediately.

Whatever MsgNY/Sportsdesk was it will be back in another format with a different name. Virtually all of what the Msg personalities contribute beyond the six broadcasters for three teams is worthless and over the last decade plus has only served to make hockey even more invisible.

My advice to all Islander fans is watch nothing but the pre-post games with the telecast and turn the channel when they shove High School Sports at us and do not watch one second of a Ranger game on Msg or help their ratings ever.

Do not ask the media any questions while Islander games are on a station called Msg Plus with some games on channel 51/199 that are not even advertised on the cable guide here in NYC as they tell us this is enhanced coverage?

Stop giving the other team a triple rating while our clubs games are buried on channels that are not good quality with only one Islander centric show. Folks like Neil Best will use it to make a case one team is more popular than another because it's been set up to help one club while hurting the other but it's not true.

Put eighty two Islander games on Msg with a full pre/post game and classic contests/shows year round while burying the Rangers on Msg+whatever with no programming or advertising for the next five years and then we will see who is more popular.

When Msg gives all four teams it owns tv rights (Sabres also) the exact same coverage and content space on television we can revisit it, until then no Msg.

Low ratings force changes, it's up to you.
Thanks.
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Steve asks what's the deal with the World Junior Championships?

I will be covering the World Championships like last year with a section on the main blog. It's too early to know who will be participating for the Islanders as most teams still have to have a camp and make final cuts for something that begins with invites in the summer.

Thanks for the question.
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Quick Hit:
The most funny thing I read this week was the same paper (Vancouver Province)here who ripped the Islanders was the only one who did not give Henrik Lundqvist the pass the local media did when he pulled himself with Iain MacIntyre writing " It must have been done telekinetically " as he tried claiming Ranger coach Tom Renney signalled him to the bench.

If DiPietro did this the media would have been all over him in a game against Robert Luongo for the rest of his career.
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This was Tuesday:

"Recently, we have had two supplemental discipline incidents involving direct elbow blows to the head," the memo from league disciplinarian Colin Campbell read.

"This is a play that we have been trying to remove from our game for a number of years. In one case there was no injury and in the other incident, the elbowed player received a concussion. Both players delivering the elbows had never before been involved in supplemental discipline.

"We cannot and will not tolerate blows to the head that are deliberate, avoidable and illegal," the memo read.




We better see the same standard held here or it's not worth wasting time talking about it any longer.

Love Chico Resch, always will but who is he kidding here?







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