Parallels

I realize that this is a completely strange reason to come out of hibernation, but something had to do it sometime.

For all of those who felt that Newsday replacing veteran beat reporter Greg Logan with former intern Katie Strang was a purposeful thumb to the nose aimed at the Islanders and their fans, here's an amazing parallel from another market.

Tarik El-Bashir of The Washinging Post is leaving the Capitals beat after five years of top-notch coverage. Dan Steinberg of the Post's D.C. Sports Bog describes El-Bashir's replacement (thanks to Kukla's Korner):

"Katie Carrera, a former Post intern who has covered high school sports for us the past two years, will become the new Capitals beat writer. Katie is a rarity - a sports journalist who actually knows something about hockey. She has assisted Tarik on and off with the Capitals for the past two seasons and now she has the whole show to herself."

Sometimes things change. People get deserved opportunities as a result of those changes. While the circumstances that brought about the change at the Post may be vastly different than those that moved Logan off the Isles beat at Newsday, the effect is the same. Such a succession can and did happen in another market, and it doesn't have to be a reason for the fanbase to feel disrespected or bullied.

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I've been mulling over a meta-post for this blog to explain what is happening with it and what can be expected in the future. The truth is, I really don't know. All I know is that I can't do it the way I used to do it. There is simply not enough time to watch the games the way I used to watch them, to keep up with all that is being written about the Isles and the NHL, to formulate posts, and to execute them properly.

Other blogs are setting the bar pretty high these days. It's debatable whether what I can offer still has a place among them.

I have come close a number of times to just announcing the end of this blog. But here I am once again. And it feels good to be back.