Selfishness...

RANGERS POST by ZACH

I am rooting hard for Philadelphia and Boston to win their games so they can move on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Personally, I want the Rangers to play Philadelphia. One reason is because they are a weaker team than their Pennsylvania counterparts.

But let's be honest. I'm not one to lie to people who read this blog. The real reason I want those two foes to meet is so I can go to a game in Philly (maybe two) and eat cheesesteaks. 

Last season, I started going to see the Rangers in other cities (Islander games don't count). I'll probably blog about that at one point. Regardless, I went to a game in Boston last year, and this year I hit 3 other cities, one of them being Philly. The Wachovia Center, in terms of buildings, was the worst of the 3 this year (not to say it wasn't nice, but just the less of the three).

Then, there were the cheesesteaks.

People always tell me, "How good could it be? It's only Philadelphia. It's only meat, cheese, and bread." And onions, pal. But it's like getting a bagel in New York. It's the best you'll ever have. Ever get a sesame seed with cream cheese in St. Louis? It's awful. Ever have pizza in Arizona? It's like toast with tomatoes on it.

I've only been to two of the places (not including the chicken cheesesteak I had at a bar one night) and I have so many more to try.

Plus, I want to go to a Ranger playoff game. I've never been (been to 2 Islander ones, though). The tickets at MSG are way to expensive. Since they all sell out very quickly, you get taken for a ride on eBay, Craigslist, StubHub, etc. It's easier to get them in other cities. And Pittsburgh is about a 6 hour drive. Montreal is a great city, but only once a year, please. 

I wanted to go to both Atlanta playoff games last year, and tickets were available on Ticketmaster.com the day of Games 1 & 2. However, I owned a business at the time and couldn't get away. 

So this year, if the Blueshirts play the Orange (not Syracuse), I do plan on going. As long as I'm there, I might as well go to both games, which would be 3 & 4. Hey, it's only 150 minutes away.

Who Are These Guys?...

ISLANDERS and RANGERS Blog by ZACH

Tell me if these names sound familiar...

Joel Bouchard, Jozef Balej, Josh Green, Mike Green, Chad Wiseman, Cory Larose, Chris McAllister, Mike Siklenka, Richard Scott, Jamie Pushor, Ken Gernander, Ben Dusablon, Layne Ulmer.

If you are an Islanders fan, of course not. If you are a Rangers fan, they probably bring back horrific memories that you thought you forgot. I apologize.

Now, how about these names...

Steve Regier, Rob Davison, Matthew Spiller, Joey MacDonald, Tim Jackman.

The first group of names is who the Rangers finished off the 2003-04 season with, after the Lindros Concussion against Washington and the Great Purge saw names like Leetch, Nedved, Kovalev, Rucinsky, de Vries, Barnaby, Malakhov, and yes, Simon, traded away. A group of no-names (as well as Jaromir Jagr and then-rookies Fedor Tyutin, Jed Ortmeyer, and Dominic Moore) just took up places on a roster so that the Rangers could put a group on ice so they could sell $5.50 hot dogs and $8.25 Labatt Blues.

This year, the Islanders are doing basically the same thing, mostly due to injuries. Reading the morning papers and seeing unfamiliar names reminds me of the darkest days of the Rangers, from March 3, 2004 until October 5, 2005, when Jamie Lundmark, Marcel Hossa, and Jason Strudwick scored on opening night.

Did the Rangers get through it? Yes, but only after Mark Messier's final game was played with Sandy McCarthy and Dale Purinton on the ice congratulating him.

Will the Islanders? Eventually, yes. Kyle Okposo has a bright future. But next year should be a rebuilding year as well. Just like Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Josef Vasicek should have been shipped at the deadline for some picks in a deep draft, next year's deadline should see Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Mike Sillinger, and Brendan Witt traded.

A few more years of them looking like competitor's until Christmas until they fade away will do nothing for the fan base. Who would support building a new arena or going to it if they haven't cared about the team in years? Who would support the inevitable price increase in delicious pretzel twists or crappy cheesesteaks if there is no one there to buy them?

The Rangers got through it, and the Isles can as well. They just need time to rebuild. Next season they should have already decided on doing that, and maybe the season after they could be last year's Penguins - young, hungry, and surprisingly good.