Butch Goring's Employer Assigns Him To Islander Broadcast Booth

New York Islander Fan Central | 9/08/2010 02:15:00 PM | |


Cablevision's Newspaper has reported Msg employee Butch Goring will also become the Islanders new color commentator, replacing Billy Jaffe in the television booth.

NYIFC Comments:
Butch Goring like everyone who appears on a hockey broadcast for the New York Islanders, Devils or Buffalo Sabres, is an employee of Msg regardless of what they do.

Butch Goring remains an Msg employee under contract to Cablevision-Msg, his salary is paid by Cablevision-Msg. He is not an employee of the New York Islanders.

Once again, I'm going to call this as I see it.

Msg/Cablevision just saved salary by eliminating a position (or Goring's studio replacement will be paid far less by Msg) and I suspect that was the plan all along from a company that replaced it's WNBA teams logo with that of a Casino to make extra revenue.

Charles/James Dolan's Newspaper/media people will report what they are told to report.

New York Islander management choices? About the same as when the Islander pre-game was pulled, or it was time to collect the full Metro Ice Challenge money from the same company, that ironically pulled Islander games off television long ago around the time Goring was coach.

No choice.

So now the former head coach Charles Wang allowed Mike Milbury to fire a decade ago, that drew very strong justified criticism at the time from fans/alumni, will move from the stands/Msg studio to the broadcast booth and will be discussing how Mr Wang's team performs during live play?

Only Msg knows if Rob Carlin will remain to do road interviews with head coach Scott Gordon.

A great deal is being asked of Butch Goring here, who has no background doing live game commentary in a broadcast booth or someone who paid his dues like Denis Potvin for years in such an assignment. Only he knows if he had the option to decline and remain employed with Msg.

Of course, Goring has a life filled with hockey experience beyond what can absolutely be strongly argued is a Hall of Fame career. He paid his hockey dues long before going to Anchorage Alaska, to coach the Aces after leaving New York, only to deal with another bad ownership after Howard/Ed Milstein, that did not live up to it's financial commitments. He then coached the Krefeld Pinguine to the DEL championship as head coach in Germany.

Of course, many recall Goring's brief time as Bruins head coach after leaving the Islanders as a player.

After what Msg did to sanitize Joe Micheletti's performance when he left the Islanders booth, this will not be easy for him, but as long as he is muted about his Msg employer his performance will not be an issue for them beyond salary.

So do all the savings on salary for Msg now mean a full post game for the New York Islanders or some programming?

If Sam Rosen can run downstairs and ask all the questions of Cablevision's coach, surely Howie Rose can finally start doing exactly the same and interview Scott Gordon as Deb Placey/Rob Carlin work the full locker room for every televised game, and not depart the air so quickly after the final horn?

Sorry folks, I think the world of Butch Goring, and felt he was treated terrible a decade ago after an excellent first season as coach where a team that won 24 games, played much better than projected.

I'm not the biggest Billy Jaffe fan, the team could be playing awful and be up/down by three goals and his commentary would reflect the scoreboard more than how the team was actually playing.

Bottom line, this has not been fair to Billy Jaffe, who did nothing on camera to not be rehired, this is not fair to Butch Goring, it's not fair to the New York Islanders or our fans.

Seems the only place it is good for will be Cablevision/Msg bottom line.

As I wrote after Msg/Cablevision announced Jaffe would not be rehired you have to make up your own mind about what some will actually now claim are the Islander broadcast partners, despite a record that obviously screams otherwise.

The media will not be giving that to you in Newsday about their own employees and what ultimately was their decisions.
*************************************
At this time there is no official confirmation from a team website Richard Park has signed in the NLA
with Genève-Servette in Switzerland. To the best of my knowledge their regular season opens Friday.




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