When the Isles tossed out Chris Botta, I was unsurpised. I had warned him, and others, in my piece at the time when the Isles began to pick and choose who they wanted in the blog and press box instead of a “free press”. Those who pushed the PR were constantly rewarded, and those who did not march in line were cooly disregarded. It was a turn around within as there was another PR regime change, where Botta’s replacement was gone now.

Botta, as his style changed from when he was supported by the Isles to a more “advocacy styled” blog, he began to rub several in the Isles management the wrong way. I addressed this in another blog. This includes Garth Snow. Everyone read Botta’s blog, but soon they were reading it to now get outraged or angered further as Botta “left the reservation”.

When a new regime of Lightouse staff came in this past summer to the Isles ever-changing landscape of (mis)management, never bothering to announce that the Lighthouse Project was in fact, dead…there were relatively pro-Botta to start. Botta and the LHP staff had a good rapport as many stories on Islespointblank seemed to have a strong flow from them despite the LHP went dark a year and a half ago.

However, it was not long that a perception within spread from others of the same anger at his work, site, and fan response. The constant fall guy to blame seems to be Garth Snow from Chris Botta himself, and the myriad of article writers who then repeat it, but it is my understanding that it goes far beyond him….including Charles Wang, other Board of Govenors, and the Isles Media Department who had a far different tact with blogs, including reading and collecting them for their own devices (and judgements).

In the last year before the credentials being pulled, a building of steam vented from Garth who likes to keep a closed door and secret process and Botta who had connections to new regimes and old within the Isles. That steam began to fog many others who were new to their jobs and eager to please. Soon, especially after a series of skirmishes between Botta and Garth where the blogger was deliberately frozen out, it became clear that this was going to reach a boiling point.

As the season started, the landscape between the Isles and Botta was far more volatile than he realized. Between the Ryan Jankowski opinions and focus on Pointblank, the Team Operations staff were pissed off. Between the ticket prices blogs, the Business and Sales staff were equally irked. As Botta blogged no different than he did in the season before…except for perhaps a desire to prick the Isles internal sensitivity, each word and paragraph was outraging the internal “powers that be” beyond the pale. Special attention was also to the comment section, where fans were reacting to the “advocacy style” with strong statements, emotions and reactions. Many of which sailed into direct insults to the Isles, including Charles Wang, which were not removed with the same “impetus” that Botta usually did on comments where he was an active “cleaner” of those sections to remove incendiary or even perhaps negative responses to blogs, his own work, etc.

Through October this stewed and brewed, and then spilled over in Novemeber. A decision was made within, likely rationalized due to the fact that Chris Botta was “only a blogger”, that they could do like they did to myself and others back in September. Pull credentials. Meanwhile, a question remains if the Isles “brainstrust” for that decision took in account that he was known to be a member of the PHWA at that point. We know the Isles actively read Botta’s site where it was mentioned many times. So, clearly, they must have known and chose to ignore it to eagerly please those above.

There lies the minefield that they now find themselves in now as the PHWA NY, NJ and Long Island writers voted to boycott the NHL awards (This just in thanks to Puckdaddy: BlueJackets writers also boycotting). The count per a source is now 27 PHWA writers boycotting.

The Isles never bothered to give any reasoning to Botta’s credential pull, and he stil remains without one given. Whether deserved or not, the way the Isles went about it was bushleague. Equally bushleague is the Islanders response to the boycott, where they had been far better off just keeping their mouth shut over the matter…

“This unprecedented action taken by the New York chapter members of the PHWA, is not hurting the Islanders organization or changing our stance on the past matter. Instead it is directly affecting the various players that rely on these votes to earn nominations. Players such as Michael Grabner, who is considered as one of the frontrunners for the Rookie of the Year award, or Frans Nielsen who is considered a possible nominee for the Selke Trophy, will not receive votes from New York media members who watch these players every game.

Grabner will never have a 30-plus-goal rookie season again. In the case of Nielsen, his seven shorthanded goals this year are the most since Philadelphia Flyers forward Mike Richards, who also scored seven tallies in 2008-09, when he was nominated for the Selke Trophy.

It is unfair to punish the players that had no direct impact on the decision made by the Islanders organization. The Islanders request that the New York members of the PHWA change their position and vote for those NHL players who deserve consideration for an NHL award. By doing so, the New York members of the PHWA will recognize the players that rightfully deserve the chance to have their name considered among the league’s elite.”

The statement by the Isles is fraught with all sorts of nonesense, starting with that Grabner is a frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. Like somehow the vote depends on homers in order to win. Perhaps to the goofballs in the Isles office, they actually think so.

But it is the second bolded statement that is the most entertaining. Unfair to punish the players? How about unfair to punish the bloggers? Whether you like Botta’s work or not, the Isles NEVER tried to negotiate, solve, much less even give a REASON. Their statement was: “Well, he know what he did!” as if scolding a child. The lack of true and STATED justification is very much in question then and even now.

The issue is not IF Botta deserved to be booted, but also in how it was done. How it was done was marred by bad communication, professionalism, and decision-making. There is even shades of character assassination perhaps employed here as well. It puts in question a team’s thought process, problem addressing and mindset.

There has been an attempt by those who push the usual PR to act like this is about mainstream media vs the Islanders. Far from it. After all, it is the Isles themselves who declared Botta just a blogger…and cited that word several times. The PHWA has included bloggers ove the last few years, opening from what was only a MSM stance. Perhaps what they really mean is mainstream bloggers….something a bit different to the attempt here.

What the PR and those who spout the incorrect nonesense miss is that bloggers have very little rights unless part of some sort of union. While I have no recourse for the Isles media department antics, Botta belongs to a group where there is a cause and effect. The Isles knew this and chose to do what they did.

Another attempt to almost make this about the Isles vs Rangers, at heart is pinning the entire thing on Larry Brooks. Larry, a friend of Botta, is a strong advocate of this move…but some are making as if he is somehow standing on the table in a pub in Munich causing this schism and boycott all by himself vs the poor helpless Isles club.

“”As our chapter chairman, Larry Brooks of the New York Post, has said on several occasions this season, what is the point of paying dues if the national organization is not willing to protect its own”
- Paul Kukla of KuklasKorner.com

I asked Larry directly on that. His response: “Speaking for myself and myself only, the issue is the working relationship between the PHWA and the NHL.”

Of course. Now with that…the chickens have come home to roost.

The response is justified. The Isles reap what they have sown here. Larry is not the lone voice as writers from Columbus and other places have now followed suit. So not just big bad New York City (thus by extension the Rangers) vs the Isles as is being spun. Not even close.

All this stems, at heart, back right before Chris Botta left the Isles. Where the NHL had an opportunity to draw up some sort of criteria to bloggers and press or team access. They instead decided to dodge it leaving it to “teams discretion”. So here are the kooky Islanders with their ever-changing staff with some sort of mess that has now spilled over to the NHL as the PHWA has to do some due dilligence when one of their own is banned and in how it is done. The entire point of the PHWA is to make sure that writers/bloggers are treated justly. They are merely doing their basic entreaty. Larry Brooks response to me is exactly that point, as is his declaration to the PHWA on protecting their own. That is why there is a PHWA.

There has been mention that this type of boycott can hurt the PHWA, where the NHL could decide to move voting on the NHL Awards to others. If so, then they would be the only MAJOR sport to do so, making them once again an odd one out to the bigger sports of the MLB, NFL, and NBA. If the NHL is willing to do that and deal with the negative perceptions of such a move, so be it. Then at heart, then the PHWA has no power at all, and there needs to be a more encompassing unity between writers and bloggers than the selective PHWA who seems far more about “who you know” and ‘mainstream”. The function of such a group is to protect it’s membership…and if they cannot…well, that is something that needs to be uncovered and rectified.

To be honest, this is a huge headache for the NHL who wants this whole thing resolved or just swept/kept under a rug. For it screams out about how there are serious gaps in how things are done on a team level, yet can reverberate and affect the league itself.

Meanwhile, the Isles sit like an Island unto itself. No desire to rectify or address. No attempt to solve. Instead, they promote and progress their own exclusive club that is an extension of their public relations and mindset.

The PHWA may not have all boycotted the Awards, but you can bet that the affects of their discontent will be felt upon the Islanders. Per a source: “…so far 20 of our members have decided to protest and not vote”. Watch the voting carefully ladies and gents. No Isles will win a thing this year.

All in all, it is a fine example of why the NHL needs to reassess a few things and perhaps even do far more than just “leaving to the the teams” as some teams are just not run as well as others in order to handle the responsibility of handling new media, besides old.

The biggest crime? Besides sexist, poorly done and unfunny.

A funny thing happened on the way to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Along the way, the blogosphere, who some old guard still sit harrumphing over, juxtaposed with the mainstream media, as once again it is the desperate mainstream that is doing the questionable pieces lately.

As the blogosphere remains creative, exciting and fertile soil thanks to such blogs by Down Goes Brown, Puck Daddy, SBNation, NHL Fanhouse, NBC’s ProHockey Talk, Intent to Blow, Blades of Funny  and hopefully this site…the mainstream has been slipping away into some strange limbo that is neither tasteful, in touch, and the biggest crime of all, not very funny.

Witness the latest MSM hodgepodge as the once lauded Chicago Tribune goes with a poster with Chris Pronger in a skirt.

Philadelphia fans are up in arms. To be honest, they shouldn’t be. Funny thing about some fans of the great Broad Street bullies is that they tend to get all in a huff over every perceived slight, bash, joke or criticism. You are supposed to be the tough ones, kiddies. Buck up.

Meanwhile, Pronger himself could care less. He knows from years of experience not to read the press. The opinion of those in the peanut gallery, though lofty by perception of those in that gallery, really doesn’t mean a whole lot during the heat of battle…wrong or right.

So as those who read the blogosphere to cite to those to who support the new guard: “see, these guys are out of control!” will now shift very uncomfortably as it is once again the mainstream that is tactless, uncouth, misdirected, unfunny, and a shining example of how things have changed. As bloggers have been on a learning curve to stick to some set of ethics, responsibility and ethos are growing up; there is an almost universal MSM disintegration of what was once lofty journalistic integrity.

Sadly, those who sit in judgment will likely shrug this one off as well, sticking to their archaic inclinations. Be that as it may, the Chicago Tribune poster is a cattle-call to what is wrong. It isn’t well-done. Either you go for the jugular or not at all.

How they failed to place the Philly players on the Sex and the City cast is simply beyond me.

And even then, the basic concept they are working with is still cloddishly sexist, catty, editorially negligent (or indulgent) and ultimately not worth the price of the ink nor the  paper it is printer on. There is no sly wink here. No towing the line.

This is now the 2nd piece in as many days that have been pretty weak by the Chicago press, and once again the Chicago Tribune. Our own John Saquella wrote this piece about Dan McNeil.

John wrote: “One wonders why an eminent newspaper like the Tribune would give a loudmouthed bully like Dan McNeil a pulpit to attack the fans of another city.”

Well, sadly we have our answer. Clearly the editors have an agenda now that piece #2 has descended even further down the abyss.

Other MSM Mindbenders…

It isn’t all Chicago. There have been a few articles lately that have made my scratch my head. I am still perplexed by the great Damien Cox’s piece on how the Black Hawks logo is offensive. The Fighting Irish is still laughing, but even more so when Cox who stood on a soapbox seems to gloss over the name and logo, instead focused on the imagery. The team is named after their original owner Frederic McLaughlin’s WWI machine gun battalion, the Black Hawks. This Division was aptly nicknamed the “Blackhawk Division”. Their own name an homage to a Sauk Indian war chief. He fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812, standing against ceding Native American land to the American settlers and government.

I’m all for the questioning of some accepted things, and support some liberal soul searching. This one however is just way past left field and in the stands. One now waits with bated breath if Damien will also protest the movie Black Hawk Down?

“Clearly, no right-thinking person would name a team after an aboriginal figure these days any more than they would use Muslims or Africans or Chinese or any ethnic group to depict a specific sporting notion” – Damien Cox

Oh really?

Moral of the Story

Sadly, some of this team-jaded or cheerleading junk (Cox’s piece not included…at least that carries a fair point and notion, even I think it’s offbase, if not slightly conceited), takes away from what has been an exciting and highly rated series between two excellent teams. This has been a surprising run by the Flyers, and one hell of a series to watch. Too bad some MSM types have lost this point as they get stuck on peripheral issues or players. Good thing there are some blogs to carry up the flag.

The emotional strain for those involved in the steamy allegation has to be heavy. The way this story was brought to light could have some effect on those who regularly blog on the Internet.

Like it or not there is a stigma attached to the term blogger.

The line between actual news and rumors, or reporting and speculation is often blurred. That isn’t going to change overnight but rather is a function of the increasing accessibility of the Internet and the lack of accountability of some bloggers.

Those which report and write for newspapers or other traditional publications can have a built in contempt for those who have the freedom of blogging on the Internet.

With the ability to write on the Internet almost whatever one wishes a degree of accountability is still needed.  Although how much responsibility the blogger should bear is up for debate.

Many things which are written in a blog format would not be allowed in a newspaper or magazine. Not to say everything which is printed in old guard print medium is true. But many readers still attach more credibility to newspaper and magazine articles.

The primary way news will be disseminated in the future will be over the Internet, although today being a blogger doesn’t carry a great deal of journalistic integrity.

There are reasons, mostly because the Internet media world is still evolving. It certainly doesn’t help when those who write on the net play fast and lose with little regard for the consequences of what they have posted.

A few years ago after their Stanley Cup appearance when the Ottawa Senators were starting to decline, a similar sexually charged rumor was brought to my attention. As the story went, an Ottawa player was sleeping with a teammates’ wife.  I never wrote a blog about it because there was no proof it was true, to be honest it didn’t matter very much to me.

In my own blogging rulebook, allegations about the personal lives of players are almost always off limits. I have only mentioned the Senator rumor to a couple of people who would never write about the possible immoral act. It was sort of uncomfortable to even repeat the sordid tale.

Seldom are similar stories ever written about by team beat writers. They would have to have proof; the contentions would have to be from verified credible sources. To even acknowledge the existence of such a rumor by questioning a player is unlikely.

Sometimes what is whispered can be true but writing about rumors and calling it “reporting” can be sketchy.

Repeating an allegation without completely verifying the story is not my idea of reporting. There is a big difference between writing opinions and reporting stories from “credible” sources.

The Internet is a fantastic way to gather information.

Although in today’s environment it will be difficult for the blogging community to be truly appreciated and for credible Internet writers to gain the respectability they deserve. It will take time.

The Temple University student who is getting most of the credit, or disdain for the Carter-Hartnell story seemingly didn’t understand why the supposed revelation was such a big deal.

The quotes below from the Temple University blogger appeared on the Phillyfour.com website.

“Someone I know works for the Flyers, and I wrote it as a rumor,” he said earlier this week. “I didn’t write it as a fact in case the guy was wrong. I didn’t want to be unfair because I didn’t witness it.”

According to Phillyfour.com…. He said it was a “credible source” who “works close to the players.”  Also… “I didn’t make it up.”

I take the student blogger’s remarks to mean he felt his liability was limited by writing the story as a rumor. That would be the first problem, his assessment of his responsibility.

Another quandary is seemingly he is the lone judge for the credibility of his source.

The Temple University senior further defended his actions.

“I didn’t know anyone read my Web site. I didn’t do it to make a name for myself. I did it to practice writing and reporting.”

He continues down a slippery slope by calling what he did reporting.

As problematic as writing this type of rumor can be, it only scratches the surface of what could be posted on the Internet about a player.

What if a “credible source” comes forward with unproven allegations that a player is using drugs?

An unproven story could surface on the internet that player X is a wife beater.

Maybe a credible source could come forward with an allegation concerning a player being a pedophile.

Possibly a reliable source close to a team could blabber to a blogger about a player with an alcohol or gambling addiction.

All of the above “rumors” could easily be written without any actual proof.

The fallout from rumor writing isn’t limited to the sexual allegations in the Carter-Hartnell saga.

Nope, this will be a rocky ride for all those who write credible opinions on the Internet.

Sometimes I prefer being called an Internet writer rather than a blogger. But that isn’t enough to separate myself and others from those who use the shield of rumor blogging as if it was a constitutional right to say anything about anyone.

We seem to swing these days from too little regulation to being strangled with legal restrictions. Maybe in the end the new wave of Internet writing will cause more laws to be put in place. Or possibly the laws already on the books will have to be expanded to focus on today’s Internet blogging.

That also may not be good, but unfortunately everyone has a different standard for credibility.

blackhawkswin@comcast.net

I was given a snide email last night by a certain mainstream media writer who took umbrage at my commentary of the local paper constantly being a week behind. To be honest, calling them a week behind to be honest, in my opinion, was kind.

The email and response is below. BUT I’d like you all to weigh into a poll that it has spurred me to do, also. Please spread the word on the poll to sites and boards. This is not about this blog and writer, but the blogosphere vs the mainstream press….in the case of the Lighthouse Project and beyond…

Email: (names removed to protect the guilty)

you might want to check your facts before you post idiotic, incorrect
half-truths on your site.
Newsday isn’t a week late on anything to do with the Lighthouse story.
today’s story was about a letter sent yesterday morning in response to a
letter sent last thursday.

MY RESPONSE: (part of it)

So, let’s do that poll:

The question is simple, for the Lighthouse Project, who is your main source of info? Newsday? Or the blogosphere?

And I don’t mean just me. If you aren’t reading my fellow HI Isles bloggers, or Chris Botta IslandersPointblank, Nick Giglia LetThereBeLight(house), and Dominic of Lighthouse Hockey, you are seriously short-changing yourself.

So here it is: Poll#1

Maybe we should expand this to all things hockeycentric… Poll#2