One final blog which will be my last word on the Islander/NHL new policy on reporting injuries.
I'm going to go all out to exclude it from NYI Fan Central Comments at this point.
I know it's not popular to point this out but someone does have to write this and hopefully some of you consider my viewpoint.
The New York Islanders do not trust the media covering this team to do a fair and honest job for them so they are protecting themselves by telling the media less.
Can you honestly blame them?
Forgetting another NHL team now owns the paper that will not even give our team television coverage, a pregame show or even internet live preseason games this is something that goes back a long time with Mr Botta in April 2006 ripping Newsday reporting during Alan Hahn's tenure.
There are a history here of problems.
Remember our 25th anniversary of the first cup on 5/24/05?
Newsday gave it nothing and only after the fans ripped the paper was some token coverage presented the following Sunday with a few words from Mr Hahn's poorly edited book.
We all know where Newsday stood when DiPietro made the all-star team or Al Arbour night came along with the core of the four, all we got was silence or a negative article questioning the motivation behind the event first and foremost.
These are the same folks who are upset the Islanders will not give them specific injury information?
We have a beatwriter who clearly never understood the urgency a team with only blog in a newspaper needed far more coverage, he could not even compete with his counterpart or be bothered. All you got were excuses that longer blogs made up for less blogs.
If you owned this team would you consider that fair and want to go out of your way to tell these folks more if you did not have to by league rules?
On top of that we have a bunch of sidebar reporters who go over the top negative at almost every opportunity starting with Mark Herrmann. Many of these folks pop up once a year from guest amateurs, Wallace Matthews, Johnette Howard who out nowhere rip on every aspect of this franchise with some of the information an outright lie as Ms Howard recently demonstrated.
Beyond that you have Mr Rieber and Mr Baumbach always ready to insult the club for virtually anything which Mr Botta told you to ignore recently?
Maybe the New York Islanders decided to stop ignoring it and simply tell these folks less.
If someone treated you this way how willing would you be to speak with them much less tell them more than you have to?
I would tell them only what is required by NHL policy.
I did not read the Newsday staff abuse the garden in print several times a day
for their media policies here that went a million light years beyond anything the Islanders could think of doing by simply not disclosing injuries.
When Charles Wang or Chris Dey hire security to start clearing interviews and questions we can revisit that one.
I understand our fans frustration because we are caught up in the middle and with the media having space/blogs to rip the club combined with your lack of information and the teams record does push you to their side automatically.
Having written that there are two sides to every story, I'm telling the other side.
The list of negative coverage simply to incite reaction along with outright incorrect headlines (that were quietly retracted) has done more than it's share of damage as it spread to other publications in North America and hurt this teams perception in every corner.
Islanders at best have been mediocre for several years, but they do not deserve what's been written to this degree, not even close.
Meanwhile the same media people killing this team in print will be just as quick to point out the fans staying away.
I know in this news media/internet climate a lot of folks are all about what the Islanders can do for them, never the other way around. It's about connections, access, friendships, scoops and a lot of what can everyone do for me next?
I have experienced some of this since I started NYIFC and prior, you discover who your real friends are and who is simply using you because they always want more.
NYIFC takes the toughest road, it's not popular but it is the right thing to do which is why this blog is here and what I promised on day one.
I cannot speak for the Islanders on this policy, I can only give you my speculation as an outsider and I have.
Someone had to.
Thanks for reading.