Emotional Reactions

The following is a little rant I posted for friends on a private message board on July 2 of this year:

Dark days ahead for the Islanders. I fear we are headed for a replay of the abyss that was the mid-to-late 90s. Laughingstock of the league. I can't wait for all of those game recap references to the "hapless" Islanders to return. From 1995 through 2000, you would have thought that was the name of the franchise: the New York Hapless Islanders.

I don't know how Snow and Wang expected Ryan Smyth to re-sign with no one to play with. After a five-year revival, the Island is once again a place where no quality NHLer will want to play. It was fun while it lasted. Now we can look forward to a top line of Hunter-Sillinger-Satan. That's a solid 3rd line on a good team.

Congratulations to the Rangers for pulling off the Drury-Gomez double. I don't know if the chemistry will work, or if the money will work long term, but it was a crushing blow to see the Rangers and Flyers bring in the class of the free agent class while the Islanders replaced Smyth, Jason Blake, Tom Poti, Alexi Yashin, Richard Zednik, and Viktor Kozlov with Jon Sim. That's a lot of roster spots to fill, and a lot of goals to make up for, and there's not much left out there from which to choose.

Maybe Garth's Plan B was to go with the kids if he couldn't bring back Smyth. Maybe Nolan will get the best out of Bergenheim, Nokelainen, and Bentivoglio. If he doesn't, Garth's first full off-season as GM will have been a complete disaster. He doesn't even have a viable roster right now, and I'm not sure the team even meets the salary floor. It's sad that the only thing I'm excited about right now are the rumors that Ziggy Palffy might come out of retirement. But he'd probably sign with the Rangers too.

Now that was a serious overreaction. I apologize for my impatience. The free agency period is longer than 24 hours. In the end, Garth did a respectable job filling those roster spots. Jon Sim looks like he could be a big contributor playing in an appropriate role. Bergie is trying to prove he deserves more than 4th-line minutes, Nokie is gone to Boston for Walter, and Bentivoglio will have the opportunity to develop at the Bridge. And if you can take comfort from the observations of Evan Grossman, we have a hard-working, focused, and united club making the trip back to Long Island from Moncton.

As the season begins and progresses, I will try to avoid taking too many reactionary positions. But visit any team oriented message board, and that is what you will find: heat-of-the-moment, reactionary, and emotional declarations. Such is the life of the sports fan, who lives and dies with agony or ecstasy daily. And, if we're being honest, sometimes we only nod approvingly at the ecstasy and scream our heads off at the agony.

I'm just thankful I haven't had to blog about the Mets over the past month.