Thursday, October 23, 2008

Stars vs. Islanders: Feeling Bloggy

As we transition from Islanders Illustrated to Islanders Pre-Game Lite on MSG+, there is a lot to look forward to: Chris Campoli's return to the lineup, Sean Bergenheim's promotion to the first line, and Rick DiPietro's home debut for 2008-09. I will leave the running commentary to the live blogs. So far tonight it looks like we have multitasking Tom of The Tiger Track doing the honors. The View From Section 317 will also be chipping in with some live commentary in periods 1 and 3. B.D. Gallof is now live too. As is Gaspo at Still Drivin'. So many choices!

Meanwhile, as you are about to see, I'm feeling a little bit bloggy...

...The first thing I saw when I left for work this morning was a young kid on his way to school wearing an Islanders sweatshirt—a rare sight around here. Go team! Of course, just behind him was another kid, possibly even his brother, wearing a Rangers varsity style jacket. To be expected! And then this evening I saw a young woman outside of a Barnes & Noble wearing an Oilers shirt. Uh, go hockey! Go strangely, but go hockey!

...SB Nation is gobbling up hockey bloggers. First it was James Mirtle, who left his independent site to become manager of NHL blogs for SB Nation and continue his blogging at From The Rink. Then our old friend Dominik from Islander Frontier joined the Nation and relaunched his blog as Lighthouse Hockey. Good luck to both in their new home.

...A couple of weeks ago I found a relatively new article on the Blog Box by David Meerman Scott at Web Ink Now. The link seems to be down at this very moment (timing!). (Now back up.)

...Speaking of relatively new and the Blog Box, you may have noticed that the Blog Box roster over in the sidebar has doubled in size. Congratulations to all the new bloggers who have been added for Season 2!

...No, I didn't think that Greg Wyshynski was taking a cheap shot at the Blog Box when he referred to it as a gimmick on Puck Daddy. And here's his explanation, as told to Anthony Rieber of Newsday.

...Brendan Morrow has just given the Stars a 2-0 lead over the Isles, and my fantasy team a much needed goal. His teammate, Marty Turco, has been killing both of us as our #2 goalie (and the Stars as their #1). It would figure if tonight were the night they finally got it together. At least I could get some benefit out of it. I hate that. Mostly.

...And if you missed it, Brendan Witt left with a knee injury. One defenseman in, one defenseman out. It just never ends.

...What was that about three days off and rarin' to go vs. three games in four days?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's wild how many were blogging last night -- too bad it wasn't a better game!

Interesting commentary from Puck Daddy. I see his point (particularly when being pedantic about "gimmick"). Agree it wasn't a cheap shot -- just a matter of perspective.

I just think ... well, there's too much about a "war" in this meme. For bloggers who want full credentials and for print journos who fear and scoff -- I suppose those two camps have a war.

But for the rest of the world, I think it's simply a new media, multichannel world, with new rules, norms and tech arriving on the fly. Just like there's 100 varieties of online social networks/forums with different purposes, there's a variety of blog setups, tones, formats and purposes.

Sports teams are going to have to learn how to handle these varieties. And full-credential-aspiring bloggers (and guys like P-Daddy) are going to have to accept that it's their responsibility -- not that of the BlogBox -- to continue forging ahead and show why (if) they deserve different treatment from blog initiatives that somehow "muffle" their gains.

The Isles are in a totally different market setting than the Oilers, so (on this issue) I don't fault them for acting accordingly.

[OK, sorry for leaving the essay in your comment forum. I'm done now!]