The other day I got into a discussion at the bar with someone in response to a post I put up last week about the NY Islanders being moved to Quebec. This guy claimed he was an Islanders fan (but strangely he was wearing a Bruins shirt). I could see this guy had good fandom, but was unable to get his point across and stay focused due to his consumption of half a bottle of Canadian Windsor and six National Bohemian beers; so he just wanted to argue. The conversation went as follows (I did record this on my phone, and there was a lot of incoherence, so I’m going to just pick out the highlights):
Drunk Guy: Whaddya mean the Islanders should move? (I should mention that he chimed into a conversation I was having with a friend of mine that started with discussing the Jets)
Jay Platt: Just what I said. The team is a joke and they’d be better off in a place where people actually appreciate hockey.
DG: But Quebec? F*ck them.
JP: (gives blank look)
DG: They had their shot and couldn’t keep a team. They blew it. That’s not the Islanders fault.
JP: Atlanta had two teams, so did Colorado, and now Winnipeg. Do you know why the Nords even moved?
DG: Because they’re a bunch of French a**holes.
JP: (mild laughter), wait the team was all French a**holes?
DG: No, the country. Quebec is a bunch of French a**holes.
JP: Okay bud. First Quebec isn’t a country as much as they would like to think so, it’s a Canadian Providence. Secondly they actually moved because of financial distress due to the NHL lockout and Canada’s economy at the time. If you’re going to talk to me at least make a f*cking point. Besides, what’s your hard-on with the Islanders?
DG: They’re my first love. I’m from Long Island.
JP: Me too, where abouts?
DG: Bethpage
JP: Nice, I’m from Shirley. So what’s up with the Bruins shirt? Did you break up with your first love?
DG: Nah man, I still love the Islanders, they’re just tough to watch. What’s with the Jets hat?
JP: I like the Jets, hence the hat. So if your first love is so tough to watch, wouldn’t you want to see the best for them? Moving the Islanders to Quebec would be the best for the franchise and for the NHL as a whole.
DG: Not to Quebec. They can turn it around in Long Island.
JP: Are you out of your f*cking mind? Management has run that team into the ground. It’s a shit run organization that doesn’t even have a real arena.
DG: What’s wrong with Nassau Coliseum?
JP: In comparison to other arenas in the league it’s like a double-wide trailer. I haven’t been there in over ten years and it was a sh*thole back then and they haven’t done anything to improve it. If it blew up, that would be an improvement, and no one would care.
DG: Why were you there?
JP: A Nickelback show, but that’s not important.
DG: You like Nickelback?
JP: No, it was a joke, no one should like Nickelback, but back to the Islanders, no one should like them either.
DG: The coliseum isn’t a trailer park. It might be old but do you know how many memories Long Islanders have? Oh, they are going to build a new arena for the team. Once they build a new arena the team will turn itself around. Even if they don’t build an arena I read they might move the team to Brooklyn or Queens. At least they’ll stay in New York, which is where they belong. It’ll keep them out of Canada.
JP: I had a lot of good memories in my first car. It was a 1984 Chevy Cavalier, in high school. I had a ton of great memories in that car but eventually I got a new car. That’s why they are memories. They’re fun to visit, but you can’t live in them, it’s not realistic. I can’t see…
DG: But you still…
JP: Don’t interrupt me. I’ve done a bunch of research and writing on this and there’s a better shot of me starting for the Eagles next week then Long Island funding $400 million dollars for a new stadium and unrealistic complex in a neighborhood that’s a sh*thole. Moving the team to Brooklyn or Queens won’t help the situation either because no one there gives a shit about the Islanders because they’re all Rangers or Devils fans. It’s the same with the whole song and dance about moving the Nets to Brooklyn. Some people might go to check it out, but people already have allegiance with the Knicks and that’s not going to change. Also, what’s your deal with Canada? You know the whiskey your drinking comes from there.
DG: This isn’t from Canada (drinks his shot)
JP: It’s called Canadian Windsor for a reason buddy.
DG: Huh…..I..
JP: Anyway, back to what I was saying. Now while people on Long Island will not publicly fund the dog and pony show that Charles Wang want. In Quebec City they are currently building their own $400 million arena that is publicly funded with the intention of getting an NHL team and possibly an Olympic bid in 2022.
DG: That’s not going to happen.
JP: You’re right, I’m making it up just to watch your face get red. Read a little, maybe you’ll learn something, like that the Whiskey you’re drinking is actually from Canada.
(More awkward silence as DG looks at his glass)
The Islanders rank last in attendance every season and in 2015 when their lease is up with the double-wide in Uniondale, the new arena in Quebec City will be opening.
DG: There’s no way Quebec will be able to sell out an arena. I’ll bet you a million dollars they won’t be able to do it. They’re too small. They have to be the smallest city in Canada.
JP: First off I doubt you have a million dollars to bet (a very 2nd grade comeback, I know, but it had to be done). Secondly, Quebec City was the smallest city in the NHL when the Nordiques were there, you’re right with that. In saying that, the fans were passionate about their team. Hell, you’re Mr. Islander, and you don’t remember last season when busloads of people from Quebec bought 1,000 tickets and came out in their Nordiques gear? These fans are hungry. They Islanders probably doubled attendance that night.
DG: It’s still too small.
JP: Are you f*cking listening to yourself? You aren’t making a point just repeating yourself. Edmonton is a small market and the Oilers sell out every game. Before even knowing who would be on the roster this season in Winnipeg, the Jets sold 13,000 season tickets in the blink of an eye. It’s so tough to get a Jets ticket they team is having online lotteries for the chance to buy single game tickets. The Islanders are lucky if they have 10,000 fans on a given night. Besides how is the Islanders market not small?
DG: I think you’re the crazy one. The Islanders are in New York, the biggest market in the world.
JP: Louie, can I have another one, just a beer please.
DG: Don’t interrupt me!
JP: I wasn’t talking to you
DG: As I was saying. A small town in Canada in no way an ever compete with the mecca New York is.
JP: You make a valid point if we were discussing the Rangers, but we’re talking about the Islanders. The Islanders are located in New York but you can’t tell me people in Manhattan and The Bronx really give two sh*ts about the Islanders, unless they are playing the Rangers. Using your logic, the Sabres are in the mecca of New York. Buffalo is in NY, yes, but it’s more Canadian than Mecca.
DG: You’re an a**hole.(one of the three typical responses you could expect from an Islanders fan. The other would be “Four Cups in a row” or “Mike Bossy would have been better than Gretzky”)
JP: It could be worse; I could be a French asshole.
DG: I just can’t see it happening. You make no sense.
JP: I never said it was going to happen. I said it was my idea and it would help a franchise that has been run into the ground and the dates on stadium leases happen to match up and maybe the Quebec Islanders will have fans that actually give a sh*t about them. Who knows if it will ever happen. Hell, Gary Bettman has made it clear he hates French a**holes too, which is why Quebec is taking it upon themselves to build an arena. This is something the people of Long Island have no interest in doing. I applaud Quebec for doing this and they’ll eventually get a team, be it the Islanders, Coyotes, or Panthers.
DG: I’m gonna grab a steak at Pat’s. Do you want anything?
JP: No I’m good.
Okay, it might have been a little wordy Rioters!, but I engage in this nonsense for you (well not always). Everything I said to Drunky I stand by. The best thing for the NHL can do would be to relocate the Islanders to Quebec and give a franchise that has fallen into pieces some respect. With young players like John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Nino Niederreiter, and Travis Hamonic, there is a young core that with the right leadership can have a bright future. Why not give them a city that actually appreciates them.
A funny read, but I don't think you are being completely fair. First, I will admit that many hockey fans, like Drunk Guy, have a median IQ of about 28 give or take 4 points plus or minus, when all variables are accounted for, so they're typically not the brightest bulbs.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, let me preface my comment by saying that I believe what you are suggesting will happen, will in fact happen; however, it has little to do with fans anywhere.
Asking someone, whom has identified themselves, for any length of time, as an Islander fan, to root for this franchise, at this point, is just like gathering a crowd of vessels around the Titanic after it has hit the iceberg and asking everyone present watching from outside to root for the ship to stay afloat - or asking people to gather around the Hindenberg during the explosion to root for the firemen to put out the fire.
Bottom line is that no one in his or her right mind could nor should support the mess that is the Islanders after corrupt, self-serving owners have all used the franchise as their own personal roll of double-ply toilet paper over the past 25 years.
If the Islanders had not hit Armageddon status, there ARE MANY people who could fill out the Coliseum and root for them. What is the incentive to do so?
You want to blame anyone, don't blame the fans or the citizens of Nassau - blame Charles Wang and Gary Bettman.
Blame Charles Wang for using the Islanders as a cover to attempt to garner valuable real estate, all the while taking the team hostage - and Gary Bettman for letting him get away with it, and by all appearances, justifying it.
I could pontificate much more on that point, but suffice to say the former in a nutshell is why the Islanders will move and why they've stayed largely irrelevant, as far as professional sports franchises go.