Apparently Jim Baumbach is questioning why Charles Wang is not able to open up the teams books as he offered to in his recent interview with Newsday if given league permission here and cites a NY Times article from July 2003 by Richard Sandomir in the Times here that I was researching while investigating how much Smg receives from the Islanders where Mr Wang tells all about the Islanders finances.
Mr Baumbach among many things he would never ask about Cablevision/Dolans and how they intend to pay for a 500m Garden renovation or be given City approvals questioned how an NHL team could lose this much revenue and that he can't just take those losses at his word and proof is required.
Of course I included all the documented reports of the Rangers losing 25-40 million a year for him in that era as proof a pro sports franchise can and has sustained those kinds of heavy losses.
No doubt Mr Baumbach will be ignoring any reports of the Rangers losing money now or in the past and will not be questioning his employer or asking for the Rangers books.
NYIFC has posted the articles on Ranger financial losses several times from the Post, Daily News, Washington Times and Arthur Levitt and are available on request for all interested parties.
Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap on Saturday's 2-0 loss with comments from head coach Scott Gordon on how the Islanders could not even consider letting their defenders pinch with Rick DiPietro talking about how he felt during the game and what's ahead for him.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Scott Gordon sounded a lot like Ted Nolan when he started talking about not scoring at five on five and that his players had no depth to their attack because he could not get his defense involved.
Newsday: Mr Logan's second article was on Scott Gordon changing his mind about using a forward on his powerplay because of Doug Weight's vision and passing ability along with some repeats from his pre-game blog on Bergenheim and Mitch Fritz.
Los Angeles Times: Pete Thomas has a few words on the Islanders Mandarin broadcasters having trouble translating certain hockey words and phrases into the Chinese language.
Newsday: Media reporter Neil Best has an article with comments from Msg President Michael Bair trying to explain Cablevison-Msg double standards in hockey television coverage with comments from Islander president Chris Dey along with former VP of communications, Chris Botta.
Mr Best after a disclaimer he receives his paycheck from Cablevision did his Ranger dance claiming his favorite team is more popular than the Islanders but did point out Msg is not keeping it's promise of expanded coverage it made last season when it changed the name of it's Fsn station to MsgPlus.
NYI Fan Central Comments: I suppose if I owned Cablevision, kept two teams off television for months and spammed my product every single day I could come back to the public and tell everyone the team I own is more widely popular through my paid employees.
Of course it does not make it so, but it is a good way to control perception.
Rangers have been a media joke in terms of local television ratings for years and are virtually ignored in their own market come playoff time against major market clubs and that's with a lot of Islander and Devil fans watching.
Msg pays their hockey competition to limit exposure, control ratings and perception, in the process they damaged their own product.
No shock the latest President of Msg is defending a double-standard that intentionally drives down ratings so they can throw it back at the public as justification for limiting game coverage, Mr Bair made it sound like because Msg showed a team produced program (Isles-Illustrated) it was an excuse not to do a pregame.
In other words you can only have one or the other.
Mr Bair outright lied about beefing up Islander coverage on MSGNY, this team did not receive a single update from Moncton until the team returned to New York and that was from ITV with week old highlights after we all knew they would not even allow live Internet for games which Mr Best did not touch in his article.
Already we are starting to see the same double-standards in their newspaper with the signs and spin already there with the Rangers having no business getting a Newsday backpage much less equal coverage to the Islanders on any day.
I guess Lou Lamoriello did get more things from his renewed television contract than John Spano long ago.
In the end only thing Msg does is hurt hockey's exposure and their own product in the process.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps the Sound Tigers home opener with comments from Mike Iggulden, Yann Danis and head coach Jack Capuano along with what's new at Harbor Yard here and a preview of Sunday's game here against Philadelphia at 7pm.
Newsday: Anthony Rieber in his Newsday blog decides to tell us about the Newsday/Cablevision ownership, how honest the paper and his blog will be but then tells us the Knicks are simply still not a good team, the Rangers still don't get enough bang for their buck but only the Isles are a laughingstock and we're going to keep writing it in Newsday in what he calls honest commentary until it's no longer true (in his view) or the club moves.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Where I come from honesty is not a double-standard where it is selectively applied to your favorite teams and not all teams.
Not too friendly from the only paper that is supposed to provide full-time coverage from Mr Rieber who only shows up to play the shock jock game on the Isles and insult them.
So Mr Rieber wants us to buy from him under Cablevision we will receive honest coverage but then he tells us the Knicks are not a good team and does not throw the laughingstock label on them with a half a column about all the comical decisions they have made under his new boss?
Did he write that with a Cablevision employee sitting next to him needing approval before it was posted like Alan Hahn and several writers needed approval from Msg security NY Observer before interviews with Knicks players last season?
I guess that would not help Mr Rieber's job status writing the Knicks are far from simply a bad team but a disgrace and arguably one of the biggest laughingstocks in New York sports history thanks to his new boss.
The Rangers with one cup since 1940 that have done virtually nothing more than the Isles in the postseason (and finished only two points ahead of the Isles a year ago with the Isles winning both season series) that spent ninety million on two centers who could not play on the first line are not a laughingstock after missing the playoff for seven years in a row while the Isles who have been to more playoffs in the last six years then both Msg franchises combined are a laughingstock?
No folks, the Isles are hardly a good team at this time but things are not that bad either that they merit this constant assault from Newsday writers/bloggers. If they stayed healthy and got anything from their veterans they likely would have made their fifth playoff in six years even with the lack of scoring.
It's hard to take coverage like that seriously in what reads like more like a Cablevision resume than what Mr Rieber calls honest coverage but Isles fans are used to this kind of poor treatment from a staff of writers who are not fans of this team who do not beat up any of the other clubs like this regardless of record and seemingly go out of their way.
The Mets change managers the Isles take a beating from a Newsday writer. The paper changes hands the Isles take another beating from Mr Rieber. Isles make a coaching change Wallace Matthews jumps off baseball to bash the club. Al Arbour comes back, has a great night Jim Baumbach writes something negative. DiPietro starts the All-Star game our beat writer cannot be bothered blogging. Isles go to Newark Mr Herrmann talks about the clubs viability. Guest amateur writers blasting the club.
It seems the only time Newsday can treat our team like a big market team is when it's time for someone to come out and insult them.
No wonder a lot of our fans just tune the club out. You take this kind of unfair coverage too long you don't want to be bothered or just accept it.
This is the paper that most of the North American media relies on for New York Islanders perception with the phrase according to Newsday attached to almost everything as a disclaimer.
Not good.
Only thing Mr Rieber does here is make himself look like a laughingstock with a double-standard in reporting that is disgraceful.
Islanders website: Recaps Wednesday's open house with comments from Garth Snow, Chris Dey, Ted Nolan & Bruno Gervais.
Newsday: Katie Strang attended the open house and has Garth Snow's comments on what he's looking for at the draft.
Globe & Mail: Tim Wharnsby has an article on the 1975 Islanders with comments from Lorne Henning and Clark Gillies.
Sean Bergenheim did not play in Finland's 3-2 overtime win vs US at the World Championships on Wednesday. Finland lost a 2-0 lead in the final minutes before winning in overtime after the US tied the game.
Finland's semi-final game will be on Friday.
NY Times: Jeff Z. Klein is doing a live blog at the times and lists Bergenheim on his lineup sheet but he's not playing.
NYI Fan Central Comments: The Times has been all over the WC but barely cover the three local teams or provide blogs to supplement New York Islander coverage?
Apparently the budget allows for Dave Caldwell to cover Pens-Flyers.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio is blogging on the AHL playoffs, providing some Utah coverage for the Finals, the WC and reports Islander prospect Luciano Aquino's Ft Wayne Komets won the Turner Cup in triple overtime coming back in the series.
Ft Wayne Journal-Gazette: Justin A. Kohn has blanket coverage and blogs on the Komets Championship.
NY Times: Richard Sandomir also questions Cablevision's ability to be objective as the owner of Newsday and writes about Garden media policies in the past restricting writers and content.
