Sad to See AFL Go

AFL spokesman: Demise appears 'inevitable'

I got my start in the sports industry with the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League. I saw it as a way to work my way up to a position with the Islanders and for me it worked. Along my journey with the AFL, I made many friends and memories along with way.

The AFL had something good going, but in my estimation their failure was their own fault.

The NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA took decades to grow into the national and continent-wide powerhouses they are now. The AFL wanted to do that in 20 years. They wanted to rush their growth and the league thought of themselves as equals to the big-four North American leagues.

It seemed that when Kurt Warner jumped from the AFL to NFL Super Bowl MVP that the Arena League gained respect. At that moment, the League and its football operations department started to think of themselves as equals to the giant of the National Football League. And from that moment they began to throw away their milk before it spoiled.

Instead of continuing to embrace their small-market success, they jumped ahead of the curve to try to find big-market success. Along the way they gained some notoriety, but in the end bite off more then they could chew. They forgot about what they had in exchange for trying to find something more popular.

The moral of the AFL’s story is that growth takes times. The NFL did not become the NFL overnight and the fall downward comes a lot faster then the climb.

The NHL can learn from the AFL’s failure. There is still plenty of growth ahead for the NHL and they mustn’t rush it. Let success happen and if it takes time, so be it. Rushing to success often leads to failure in the end.

And while we think of the AFL’s demise, ask the Arena League how ESPN helped them? Even ESPN doesn’t bring automatic success.

Early Predicitions Are In via ESPN

ESPN.com's (and also of the Denver Post) Terry Frei put together some early Eastern Conference predictions for the 2009-10 NHL season.

He ranked the Islanders at 14 (of 15) in the East. As I'm sure you remember, most publications had the Islanders in dead last last season. The ones that did not, didn't have them higher then 13. I can't find Terry's predictions for last season in his ESPN archieves.

I personally think it's still way early in the summer to offer predicitions. Terry's Western Conference picks were posted a week ago on July 7. Team's are still biulding thier roster via trades and free agent signings, so I'm interested to see if there will be a revised list later in the off-season -- say, maybe September.

E5: Mets Targeting Ryan Smyth?

One of my frequent stops in the blogosphere is Metsblog.com. It’s a great blog for Mets fans like myself and I would recommend it for anyone.

This morning, Metsblog creator Matthew Cerrone blogged that Jon Heyman of SI.com and Buster Olney of ESPN.com wrote that the injury-riddled Mets can add payroll to their roster to help improve their chances of winning this season. Example: Trade for a high-end talent that will probably cost prospects.

Cerrone then went on to comment on the trade target possibilities that could be on the Mets radar. To sum it quickly, the Mets would have to give high-end prospects for a player who could only be on their roster for just a few months and/or could create a backlog on the roster for the young, up-and-coming players when the veteran, injured players come back.

The reason I bring up this topic and the Mets on a hockey blog is to comment on the notion if giving up prospects is for a short-term solution is worth it.

I guess it all depends on what the status of the franchise in question is. Is a team currently in the middle of a rebuild or towards the end of it -- probably still a season away from the end of the tunnel -- but wants a jump start? Is the team heavily comprised of veterans and have a win-now mentality? Is this a must-win season for the team because of aging stars, stars with contracts running out or a GM and/or coach on the hot-seat?

A lot goes into the decision on whether to mortgage the future with prospects for a veteran. It doesn’t always work either. Some time it does.

The 2009 Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburgh Penguins had to give up one of their top prospects in Eric Tangradi to acquire Chris Kunitz from Anaheim. For the production on and off the ice they got from Bill Guerin, they made it up with a steal in that trade (a rare win-win for both teams).

On the other side, Calgary had to give up a defenseman with some promise in Ryan Wilson plus a valuable second round pick for Jordan Leopold who is slated for free agency this summer. That trade did not work out well for the Flames.

Trading away prospects is a risky business.

And while I was looking over what I wrote above, Cerrone blogged again quoting another Heyman report that a Mets official said they will not mortgage their future for a short-term solution. Not that I doubt Heyman, but it’s always easier for a team to say that now when the trade deadline is still more then a month away.

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P.s. I'm working on setting up a comments section.
Edit (3:22 PM) If you have any suggestions, please e-mail me at CWittBlog@gmail.com. Thanks!

OK Shannon… I don’t think you get it…

Back on December 16th when the Islanders hosted the Washington Capitals at the Coliseum, the team agreed to participate in an ESPN the Magazine feature called "Fan Army Goes to Work"where a casual fan works a game night position for a team. There as someone who was an “Assistant Coach” at an NCAA men’s basketball game, a game operations assistant for an NBA game, etc. A young, 27-year old lady named Shannon Patinkin, whose boyfriend is apparently an Islander fan, was an Ice Girl for a night for the magazine’s feature.

You can read the story here. It’s also on page 72 of the February 9th edition.

I personally don’t understand what Shannon was expecting of the experience. She clearly didn’t get it.



She said: “Speaking of players, we were not allowed contact with the Islanders. We even entered the rink from the visitors' tunnel and always had to keep a distance from the home team.”

Response: Was she expecting to set up dinner plans for after the game? And half the squad enters through the visitors side, the other half does in fact enter through the Islanders' entrance.

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She said: “We weren't allowed to do tricks, because the NHL says using our picks creates big holes in the ice. Bummer.”

Response: Who cares about the health of the players if they get a skate caught in a divot or rut.

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She said: “Before the game, we ran over to a season ticket-holder event and took photos. The fans clearly didn't think we had any brains at all. And there was a little too much hugging.”

Response: So she wanted to get to know the players, but not interact with the fans.

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She said: “They didn't even let me keep the ugly outfit.”

Response: Her personal taste aside, the costumes aren’t cheap. People just love free things. See this.

There's an accompanying video to her experience. The funny thing is, if you just watched the video, you'd think she had a great time. After reading the story, not so much.

Mores pics from Bristol

Here are some more pictures of Bill Guerin at the ESPN studios.

Another ESPNews Hit Added

Billy G will stay at the ESPN campus for a little bit longer and will do another ESPNews hit at 11:00 PM. That should wrap up his big day at ESPN.

So, that makes segments at 7:50, 9:30 and 11:00.

The picture on the side is of Billy with his ESPN ID badge on him... Photo courtesy of Josh Bernstein and his BlackBerry.

More on ESPNews

Bill will appear twice more on ESPNews today. Once at 7:50 PM and again at 9:20 PM (UPDATE: It's actually 9:30 now...).

The digital media was for ESPN.com’s video player and Verizon Wireless broadband.

A+ for the Captain

I thought Billy Guerin did a great job on ESPNews with Barry Melrose. He really opened up and became more comfortable as the segment went. People say he might have a career in coaching after he hangs up the skates, but I wouldn’t rule out TV.

And going on the assumption that Billy wasn’t prompted on which teams Barry Melrose played for prior to going on air, he might be the only person in the world to know the correct answer!

Guerin will do more hits on ESPNews later on, so keep an eye on it.

ESPN Ditigal

Prior to going on ESPNews with Barry Melrose, Billy G. sat down with Barry to do some digital media interviews for ESPN.com. Josh Bernstein sent this picture via his Black Berry. I know it's riveting, but it's something. Technology...

REMINDER: Guerin on ESPNews

We're told the segment will run a few minutes late, but he'll be on with Barry Melrose. Enjoy.

We'll provide more updates once we get them from our people up in Bristol with Billy.

ESPN.com Chat with Billy

So the radio interview got cut (really) short due to poor cell phone reception while Bill was headed up to Bristol. But hockey did get a good segment on national radio… Look at the positives…

Bill is still set to conduct the ESPN.com chat. Click here to log on.

Guerin’s Schedule

Bill is now on his way up to Bristol for his ESPN tour and here’s a tentative schedule of what’s going on.

2:00 PM – LIVE Interview with Mike Tirico on ESPN Radio
3:35 PM - ESPN.com Chat
4:00 PM - Digital Media on ESPN.com (updated at 12:45 PM)
4:50 PM - Hotlist on ESPNews
7:50 PM – More ESPNews hits

More to come and possibly to be added…

Guerin’s ESPN Media Blitz

Due to some crafty work by Islanders TV head man Josh Bernstein, Islanders captain Bill Guerin will be doing an ESPN media blitz today.

Billy G. is scheduled to be on The Hot List, ESPNews PreGame, ESPNews Gametime, ESPNews Postgame, The Mike Tirico Show (ESPN Radio), and in an ESPN.com chat.

There’s also a chance he will appear on SportsCenter pending schedule formatting.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.

NYI: Neil Everett is an Islanders Fan

ESPN and SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett came to the Islanders/Rangers game last week at the Coliseum to take in an awesome game and participate in Islanders Mean Business Night. Neil must have been swept off his feet by the Orange and Blue… Well, check out this video to see what I’m talking about.



He’s Neil Everett and he’s an Islander.