A Silver Lining

I haven't posted in a while. These are the things that happen when your team has earned four points out of a possible 24 in the month of December. It's hard to get behind your team when it's a lost cause.

Or is it?

Let's look at the other teams around here. Traditionally, the breakdown has always been Islanders, Jets, and Mets, with everyone else siding with the Rangers, Giants, and Yankees. It's not always the way it goes, but it's the stereotype. You could view it as new vs. old, second-rate vs. first-rate, any way you want to. But I do root for the Islanders, the Jets, and the Mets. I'm not sure which order I'd rank the teams, except that I'd rank the Islanders ahead of any of them.

If you're a Jets fan, you saw the end of yet another disappointing season today. And if you're a Jets fan, you aren't remotely surprised that they ended up blowing this opportunity to make the playoffs. If you're a Mets fan, you're excited about the moves they made this off-season, but you're still extremely skeptical of your team. You still feel like they haven't proven a thing until they get into the playoffs and make a run at the World Series.

Let's look at these two teams a little deeper. If you're a Jets and Mets fan, the last two years have brought you one utter collapse (2007 Mets), one slightly less appalling collapse (2008 Mets), one unfathomable collapse (2008 Jets), and one horrendous 4-12 season (2007 Jets). These teams promise you the moon each year, only to let you down each and every time. Can you really blame people for saying the only reason the Jets got Brett Favre was to help sell personal seat licenses? Can you really blame people (I'm one of them) who refuse to spend a dime on Mets merchandise until they prove they're not going to choke again? It's a contentious team-fan relationship, one that's growing to extreme degrees as both teams jack up their prices without, aside from their new buildings, any justification for doing so.

So what does this have to do with the Islanders? Everything. The Islanders haven't teased us with catchphrases like "Your Season Has Come", nor have they jumped out to an 8-3 start just to go 1-4 down the stretch. And they sure as hell haven't been up by seven games with 17 left to play. And for you Yankees fans out there, they don't have a $200 million team that can't even make the playoffs. In short, the Islanders have promised us nothing aside from a potentially brighter future. If anything, they've gone above and beyond to deepen its relationship with fans, as opposed to just about every other local team which takes their fans for granted.

Look at what the Islanders have done since the lockout. They've introduced the Blog Box, a truly innovative development that gets the team tons of free publicity in exchange for a little access. They've created a variety of affordable ticket plans and promotions. They've made their players very available in the community, and they've even tried to swing for the fences with the Ryan Smyth trade. And even then, they made no guarantees. Hedging their bets? Maybe. But at least the Islanders were being honest, something the Mets were undeniably not when they claimed that only full season ticket holders would be able to get into CitiField.

Sure, the Islanders rank 30th out of 30 teams in the NHL. I'm sure we could all live with the team being a little better. But at least we can watch this team grow and develop and not feel like we're being let down. And if you watched the Jets choke away yet another golden opportunity today, or if you've still got a bitter taste in your mouth from the past few years of Mets baseball, you owe it to yourself to give the Islanders a fair shake. They're not a Cup contender or a playoff team; they don't pretend to be. But they're competitive most nights and will occasionally make us fans proud. That's all we can really ask. I, for one, am glad I can watch the Islanders and not be stressed out about them blowing their season anytime soon. It's a refreshing departure from the teams that never fail to let me down.