Just One Year of Love...

Is better than a lifetime of annoying the hell out of my wife. (The title of today's blog is from a Queen song off of the CD "A Kind of Magic". ) I started this blog so as to not annoy her with my incessant chatter about my sports teams. I had found an outlet for the Mets over on Metsgeek, but needed more.

My loves (besides the wife and kids of course) are the Mets and the Islanders and the Jets. My Jets made me happy this past season, exceeding expectations. The Mets last season made it to the NLCS. I still refuse to discuss how that ended. So far this season, they are within about 2 games of last years pace (48-34 last year, 46-35 this season), though the lead is 4 this year as opposed to 10.5 last year. Considering the injuries and the awful start to the month of June, the fact that they are still in 1st speaks well of the team, and ill of the other teams in the division, who also had awful June performances (well, the Phillies did OK at least till this past weekend.)
All in all, I have faith that the Mets will continue to lead the division, and will exceed last year's performance at the end of the year.

My first day last year, I blogged about the Islanders and the changes they had gone through. In fact, it was in my first posting over at the old address. At that time, they had just hired Ted Nolan as coach, and had named Neil Smith GM. I liked the former, not so much the latter. SMith of course lasted 40 days, and was replaced by Garth Snow. Smith made a couple of signings before he left, and Snow added a few people as well, including Ryan Smyth in a deadline beating deal for two prospects and this year's first round draft choice. Last season's #1 pick, Kyle Okposo, was a fantastic pick by all measures, but he will spend another year in college.

So a year later the team is in a bigger mess than it was. Gone are Smyth, Blake, Kozlov, Poti. Gone too is Yashin, though that was addition by subtraction. In excess of 100 goals has walked out the door. Offense is going to be in short supply. Defense is going to be poor. Rick DiPietro may regret signing a 15 year contract by the time December rolls around.

Despite making competitive offers, Garth Snow has been unable to attract any big name players to join the team so far this FA period. Why do players not want to come to LI? We know money isn't the issue, as Charles Wang is not exactly shy when it comes to writing fat checks (see Yashin, Alexei and DiPietro, Rick). Nolan is a good coach. DiPietro is a damn good goalie. Yashin is gone (this fact cannot be repeated enough). Mike Milbury is gone (another fact that cannot be repeated enough). A good player can get paid and can be part of a revival. So why not?

This morning in Newsday Garth Snow blamed the arena. I can't say I totally agree with him on this. Now, I do agree that the time has come for Nassau County to get their thumbs out of their asses and let Wang do the renovations he has been trying to get done for years. The county has been dragging their feet on the application process for years now. Enough is enough. The arena has been there, so the process should be a lot smoother. The county is messed up, and this is hurting the team. By dragging their feet on this, they are hampering Wang's ability to make money. A renovation will allow him to improve the atmosphere in the arena, and make it more fan friendly. It will increase the # of seats, will will allow more revenue. Wang has lost millions since he purchased the team. If he can get the renovations done, he may be able to turn a profit. Fans may be more willing to come to the arena. Other events could be held (perhaps more NCAA sub-regionals?) The county spent millions on a pool for some athletic event that has turned into a white elephant. Here they have an opportunity to improve the Coliseum, in the heart of the County. Make it a destination place again.

Of course, it all hinges on the ability to put a good team on the ice. You do that, and players will want to come. Fans will want to attend games. If Snow can groom the youngsters in the minors and make good picks in the draft, if Okposo can continue to blossom, if he can attract some players, the team can win. Once they win, the fans will come back. They always do. Look at the early 90's when they had a couple of good seasons. Look at the early 2000's when they made the playoffs. The fans came and the place rocked. But they need a reason to come. They want to see a good team. I fear that this season we will not have one. I forsee the #1 overall pick being up for grabs at the end of the season. Perhaps they can get an impact player like a Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. There is some talent on the team now. Hunter is good. Satan hopefully will be consistent. Sillinger is a gamer. We all know how good DiPietro can be. Let's hope Nolan can get them to overachieve this year.

And lets hope the Nassau County Government gets off their asses and give Wang the approvals he needs to fix the Coliseum.

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I've enjoyed blogging this past year. I want to thank those who come and visit, whether they leave comments or not. I'm not a stats guy, I am simply a fan. I love the Mets, I love the Jets and Islanders. I just try to blog from my heart, to give my thoughts, a simple fan perspective, on how things are going. I hope you enjoy it. And I hope to do it for years to come.