Meet me at the ... place ... somewhere on Long Island ... maybe

I've been trying to generate some feelings -- vitriol, despair, disgust, frustration -- over the latest developments concerning the Lighthouse, but I just can't do it. It's like trying to light a fire with a wet match and a cinder block. I'm done.

We heard from Chris Botta at Fanhouse that the Wilpons, owners of the Mets, had hired a high-powered project management firm to "work on a feasability study" for a new arena at Willets Point, adjacent to Citi Field. Newsday then followed up with the predictable denials from sources. Our friend B.D. Gallof compared the whole thing to a scene from the movie "M.A.S.H." which served to plant the theme song from the TV version in my head for a few hours. Thanks, buddy.

For me -- and, I suspect, most Islanders fans -- the drama has become tiresome. I'm done with the Town of Hempstead, and the politics, and the hand-wringing over whether the Isles are going to move to Queens, or Hartford, or Winnipeg, or Kansas City, or Brooklyn, or Yaphank, or Paris, Texas.

I'd be done with Charles Wang, too, except he hasn't said a word in months. At least he's not been annoying.

The Lighthouse Project has been all but disbanded and Hempstead has yet to provide new zoning for the property, or any guidance as to how Wang's proposal needs to be pared down. The general feeling is that it would have to be cut down considerably. Maybe Wang would be OK with that, maybe not.

Wang still has incentive to stay at the Coliseum. The revised lease agreement gives the Islanders more revenue from games and other events, and you'd think it would be easier for them to stay at that location in a renovated or new arena regardless of how much of the other development is eliminated.

While Wang may or may not be investigating other options, like looking to the Wilpons and Queens, at some point the town will present its new parameters for the site, eliminating the oh-so-scary "mini city" that the local politicians love to call the Lighthouse plan. Hopefully that will come soon, maybe this year? This decade? Before the next World Cup?

At that point, Wang will either be in or out, but that day seems to be so far off it is not even on the horizon. So wake me when it comes, OK?

The lease on the Coliseum runs out in 2015. There's still time to develop a site for a new arena somewhere (good luck with the Iron Triangle, though), but not much.

Part of me would love to see the Islanders find a new site on Long Island and leave Hempstead stuck with either a casino or just a couple of new big box stores to replace a tenant-less arena. Let the politicians take credit for that.

The other part of me wants to stop hearing, talking or writing about this for ever more.

Queens? Hey, It's better than Kansas City

Charles Wang has said all along that he was going to keep his options open. So to hear that Wang has been in discussions with Jeff Wilpon of the Mets about moving the team to a new arena in the vicinity of Citi Field should surprise exactly no one.

The Iron Triangle, as the glut of auto body, muffler and chop shops adjacent to Citi Field is known, is high on mayor Mike Bloomberg's list of areas he'd like to see revitalized, and Wilpon, in his interview with Newsday, is looking for another sports team to join the Mets in the area to help anchor the proposed new development.

Wilpon said he's spoken to Wang and also with Major League Soccer about getting a team to Queens, and has even discussed possible ownership of the Islanders.

Think Ed Mangano and Kate Murray are listening? They should be.

Wang has been silent, as he has for months. He seems content to let others do the talking and the speculating about what his next move is going to be. It's a smart move. Now Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead can start to envision what it could be like without the Islanders. Instead of the Lighthouse, they could have a casino. Or an arena with no tenant.


Personally, I'd have no trouble driving an extra 20 minutes or taking the train to see the Isles play. If they can't make it happen at the Coliseum, then Queens would be the next-best thing. (Actually, Melville or Brentwood would be even better, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Will any of this happen? The Iron Triangle is an environmental disaster (think Chernobyl without any trees to kill) and the people running the "businesses" there have vowed to fight for every last grease-covered and rat-infested inch. So don't expect anything to happen anytime soon.

Like the casino talks, perhaps the Wilpon gambit helps push things along so a revised Lighthouse plan can finally be put forth and accepted.

Or maybe the Wilpons really do go ahead and buy the team.

Either way, it's better than seeing the Isles end up in Kansas City, or Winnipeg, or Branson, Mo., or some other place.

Again, the fans just want the team to stay here and have all this resolved sooner rather than later. But it's never been about the fans, and has never been more than partially about hockey.

A casino? Really?

Long Islanders love their casinos.

We fly to Vegas (cheap, non-stop flights from Islip!), drive to Atlantic City (or take the bus -- it's practically free!), or head up to Connecticut for Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods (high-speed passenger ferries from Orient Point!). It's all very convenient and loads of fun.

But a casino right in our own backyard? How gauche.

Shinnecock Nation, however, has seen how much more money a tribe can make running a casino than selling discount cigarettes on the side of the road, and it wants a piece of the action. Fair enough. The Shinnecocks got the good news at the end of last year that they met the federal recognition criteria, and once they officially get that, you know that building a casino on Long Island will be at the top of their to-do list.

Building a casino out in Southampton will be all but impossible due to traffic, geographic and likely massive residential opposition. Maybe they could build one in Yaphank, near the expressway. Instead, the Shinnecocks have been talking to Nassau County executive Ed Mangano about a casino project that would include a renovated Nassau Coliseum.

Goodbye Lighthouse, hello all-you-can-eat buffets, slot machines and blackjack tables. Jackpot!

While Newsday wonders whether the casino talks "cast a shadow on the Lighthouse," I'm thinking that this could actually speed things along.

The Town of Hempstead wants the Lighthouse pared down and is in the process of rezoning the parcel to make that happen. Charles Wang and Scott Rechler have so far not budged on their mixed-use proposal, which opponents liken to a small city.

Mangano has said that the county has to keep an open mind and look at all possibilities.

I don't know what's going on behind closed doors, but here's how I imagine (or hope) it all goes down.

Local opponents, given the choice between the Lighthouse in some form and a casino, realize that the former is much more palatable.

Wang -- who shot for the moon with his Lighthouse plan -- agrees to work with the new zoning and get something done, which will include a wonderful new arena with lucrative revenue streams. You know, so they can bring in some more talent and maybe win a championship? That's what this is all about, right?

The Shinnecocks don't mind being used because the talks show other municipalities that they are serious players, and maybe another entity (Suffolk County? Riverhead Town?) will be more open to building a casino that would generate the kind of tourist revenue that Connecticut is enjoying so much.

And Mangano comes out looking like a real player and the savior of Nassau County's future.

Too much to hope for? Maybe. But as hockey fans, we just want this mess resolved. We're tired of the politics, the pettiness and really tired of waiting. We want to replace the dump our team plays in with a better facility that will not only make games more enjoyable to attend, but will bring in more money for our team, which we hope will mean better players, more victories and maybe -- just maybe -- another Stanley Cup in our lifetime.

Will that finally happen? I'm not ready to bet on it. Not yet.

Islanders: A Tale of Two Teams

Last summer I was at a birthday party at a friend's house when I ran into a mutual friend who had formerly worked for the Islanders. We talked about the draft, and John Tavares, and what the future held.

He said the felt the hockey operations were in good hands. Garth Snow, Scott Gordon, Ryan Jankowski, Bryan Trottier and Ken Morrow had the team pointed in the right direction, and with young talent like Kyle Okposo, Tavares, Josh Bailey and Frans Nielsen, the future looked bright.

"But they have other problems," he said.

I thought he was referring specifically to the Coliseum and the awful lease agreement that the team had struggled with for so long, and the mired-in-political-molasses Lighthouse Project, which was seemingly going nowhere. He agreed that those were big issues, but that the real problem was the owner himself, Charles Wang.

Remember, this was a former employee who was happy to have gotten out of there, so there may have been an axe or two to grind. But looking back at the 2009-2010 season, which is just about over, I thought about our meeting last summer, and it's becoming increasingly clear that when it comes to the Islanders, there are really two teams: the one on the ice, and the one concerned with everything but the ice.

The former has had a pretty successful season, as successful as one could be without making the playoffs. Tonight's 4-3 victory over the Canadiens gives the Islanders 79 points, including wins in five of their last six games and an 8-3-2 mark over their last 13 games, good for 18 points. With three games left in the season, the Islanders were still mathematically in the race for the final playoff spot, and if I had told you that the Isles would be in playoff contention until the final week of the season, you would have taken that and ran.

It's even more impressive when you consider where the Islanders were last season: 26-47-9, and a league-low 61 points. Of course, that futility yielded a No. 1 draft pick in Tavares, who has combined with the surprising Matt Moulson and the continued development of players like Okposo, Bailey, Blake Comeau and Andrew MacDonald to give fans real hope for the future.

Consider, too, that this progress took place with almost no help from Rick DiPietro. Remember before the start of the season, when we were told that DiPietro could be back in November (they were off by two months), there was a feeling that if D.P. could somehow return to his pre-injury form, his All-Star form, that perhaps the Islanders could turn things around pretty quickly. After all, how many wins is a top goaltender worth?

As it happened, DiPietro lasted only eight games before being shut down again. Thankfully, Snow inked two netminders in the off-season, Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron, and thanks primarily to Roloson, that helped keep the Isles in the hunt, or at least on the fringes of it.

That said, there were plenty of things that fell short. Defense was a problem all season, as were the special teams, especially the penalty kill. But all in all, considering the talent level and relative inexperience in key areas, the Islanders at least showed progress as the season wore on, even if the late-season surge came too late.

Off the ice, things are an absolute mess, unless you consider the development of Islanders Entertainment a big win. If you're wondering what DiPietro has been up to lately, just visit the Islanders Entertainment web site, where you'll see him on video extolling the virtues of the product, which is basically tickets to shows combined with a hotel room and breakfast.

The Lighthouse? It's in the dark. The project itself has not uttered a word in months, there is no hope of breaking ground anytime soon, and regime change in Nassau County has turned the whole thing into a huge question mark (as if it hasn't been on all along). There are even whispers of a possible breakup of Wang and Scott Rechler, which if it happened, would seemingly doom the project. What would happen next is anyone's guess.

Without the Lighthouse and the revenue it would bring, the Islanders are unlikely to ever commit more money to the team beyond the minimum payroll floor. There will be talk again of Wang selling or moving the team, maybe to Brooklyn, maybe to Queens or somewhere else on Long Island, maybe to Kansas City or points unknown.

And that's the depressing part. We've seen enough from the current young players, Gordon and Snow to believe that perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel, that the team is just a season or two, or a key player or two, away from becoming relevant again.

But then you look at what else is going on, and you look at the owner, and you realize that players come and go, and coaches and GMs can get fired, but no one fires the owner. He is who he is, and you're stuck with him unless he sells.

I understand that Wang has sunk a lot of money into this team, maybe saved it when he bought it. But I hope he understands that while the fans want a better arena, one that will help the team make more money that could be invested back into the product, we really don't care about office space or hotel rooms or canals or housing or entertainment packages with complimentary breakfast.

We want a team to be proud of. We're only halfway there.

Wait... that's Rick DiPietro's music!

Fifteen minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance with Geico, but the most important 15 minutes for Islanders fans came Monday when Rick DiPietro -- remember him? -- practiced with the full squad for a quarter-hour.

D.P. had been getting some practice time in with the club, facing shots, but Monday was his first real run with the full squad, and the first real sign that his long rehab is nearing its end.

How important is a healthy DiPietro to the Islanders? Well, the team's been pretty awful since he left, and the lack of depth behind him was exposed last season when a couple of minor leaguers tried to fill the void. The only positive that came out of it was the No. 1 pick, John Tavares, so I guess we owe D.P. a debt of gratitude.

It will be very interesting to see how much DiPietro's presence changes the Islanders' fortunes. You would think that it would have a ripple effect -- the defense would be more aggressive and confident, which would in turn help generate more offense. That's assuming that DiPietro returns to his All-Star level, which is far from a given. But he is a hell of a lot better than what's been there the past year.

No disrespect to Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron, of course. With D.P. on the horizon, there's already talk of the Isles moving a goalie and the logical one is Biron, who has reportedly drawn interest from the Red Wings.

If the Isles were a contender, you'd like them to keep Biron and let Roloson go for whatever they could get. But Biron would bring back more in return, so figure on Roloson remaining as the backup.

And let's be clear, he is nothing more than a backup. For all of his strengths in terms of positioning and experience, his lateral movement and quickness has all but left him. How he's started three of the first six games is beyond me. He is awful on shootouts and breakaways, and you could argue that the Isles could have had 1 or 2 wins by now had someone other than Roloson been in net.

Which is to say, we're really looking forward to DiPietro's triumphant return.

Meanwhile, the OTM line is breaking up already. Not because the Okposo-Tavares-Moulson line has been unproductive, but because everyone else hasn't. Okposo will play alongside the returning Franz Neilsen, with Doug Weight taking Kyle's old spot. Scott Gordon is hoping that spreading the wealth will get the offense moving.

In other news, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said the Islanders are welcome to come to Suffolk County, and I'm right there with him. As a Suffolk resident, I would love to see the Isles play in Islandia, or Yaphank, or Brentwood, or Melville, or anywhere closer than Uniondale.

It would certainly be better than Brooklyn, Queens or Kansas City.

Charles Wang has already made the Nassau-to-Suffolk move, taking Computer Associates from Garden City to Islandia years ago. So could it happen again? Selfishly, I hope so, but let's first try and get that Lighthouse built. OK?

Lighthouse: Straight into darkness?

UPDATE: No surprise, Wang released an emphatic denial Thursday afternoon that the Lighthouse project had been abandoned.

What's more surprising to me is the reaction from some in the media / blogging community criticizing the team for letting its fans (and, let's face it, the media / bloggers ) twist in the wind for almost a day before denying the bogus story. Such horror that the "fans were being used" or that the Islanders -- gasp -- liked the story sitting out there.

Ya think?

Fans get used all the time. When they spend $8 for a beer. Or $6 for a bottle of water. Or when they're forced to pay PSLs.

In the case of the Lighthouse, fans were pawns from day one, pushed and pulled from both sides. We should be used to it by now. It's called hardball, and we all knew it was going to come to this.

I'd like to say that this will be my last post about the Lighthouse until a definitive announcement is made: either that the project is approved and shovels will be in the ground, or Wang himself saying that it is dead and that he's either selling the team or considering other sites.

I'll cross my fingers.

Original post:

I was going to post something about how the Islanders have somehow managed to provide some positives despite an 0-1-3 start -- one that included a blown three-goal, third-period lead -- but then the news dropped on the Long Island Press website that the Lighthouse project is dead.

"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."

The October 3 deadline for Charles Wang's "certainty" came and went, and the season began. But instead of writing about how John Tavares has been everything we expected and more, or how strong the penalty kill has looked, or how Rick DiPietro is making progress in practice, or how it's somewhat refreshing that one of the things the Islanders need to do is learn how to step on the other team's throat when they have it down, I'm writing about the Lighthouse. Again.

So is just about every other blogger in the Blog Box and elsewhere. And rightly so, considering the importance of the project to the team's future.

But I, for one, will hold off on the hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth, the wailing or the pontificating.

Late Tuesday night, a Newsday blog post noted that no one from the Lighthouse was talking, but that a source close to the project said the project had not been abandoned.

You would think that after all the time and money and energy spent, Wang and the Lighthouse Development Corp. wouldn't just walk away, not this quickly. And do you really think the Oct. 3 deadline was just a way to give Wang an out, so he could say, "Hey, we tried."

I doubt it.

Maybe Wang is indeed shifting personnel to other projects. He said himself he would explore other options. Word gets out, a story is posted on the web (on the site of a free newspaper, sure, but one that's done some good work), there's no immediate comment from the team -- no denials as of 12:40 a.m. Thursday, anyway -- suddenly the stakes are raised even higher. Maybe he's serious! He can't wait on the Lighthouse forever. He's making other plans!

It's just pressure. It's Wang calling Kate Murray's bluff.

I'll show you how serious I am.

We'll see how this all pans out, but my sense is that it's just another move in the game that the Long Island Press says Wang is tired of playing.

For fans, though, it isn't a game. We wish games were all we had to worry about.

Who Cares? Good Question

A few weeks before I started my freshman year at college I received the contact information for my assigned roommate. I decided to be proactive and call him, to let him know that I had a mini-fridge and a TV (black and white!) and it would be great if he had a decent stereo.

My immediate impression was that he was well-spoken but not terribly chatty. Then we got around to sports, around which my life at the time (and for the most part, my life to this day) revolved. Actually, I think I asked, "What sports do you like?"

"I don't like sports."

It was as if he replied in Swahili. I literally could not process the statement. I stumbled for a reply, "You don't like ANY sports?"

"Nope."

A few awkward-silence-filled minutes later, I hung up the phone and relayed the conversation to my mother, who was making dinner. How could they have paired me up with this guy, I wondered. We had as much in common as Ozzy Osbourne and Queen Elizabeth. I filled out a questionnaire, for God's sake!

My kid sister, wise beyond her 11 years, listened to my rant and said, "Maybe the college did that on purpose so you can get to know someone different."

Bastards.

I thought about that phone call after the recent Hempstead Town Board hearing about the Lighthouse Project.

I'm not going to cover the Lighthouse drama wall-to-wall in this blog. There are plenty of sources doing a much more comprehensive job than I ever could, from Let There Be Lighthouse, to Islanders Independent to Islanders Point Blank, to any other of my Blog Box brethren.

I'm in favor of the project. The Isles desperately need a new arena and lease arrangement not only to stay competitive but to survive. I am not a Hempstead resident and in fact don't live within 25 miles of the Coliseum, so I don't look at the project the same way as someone from Garden City or Uniondale.

It has been heartening to see how much support the project has been getting from people holding various stakes, from fans who want a new arena and a winning team, to unions who want jobs, to politicians like Tom Suozzi and Governor Paterson. And judging from the various hearings and meetings that have been held, the opposition is limited to a vocal minority of people and community groups near to the site.

What Islanders fans are learning is not everyone cares about their team. We've lived and died with the Isles, experienced incredible highs and embarrassing lows, and all we want is a winner. But this project goes well, well beyond a hockey team and its arena. And that's where it gets frustrating. Because the Town of Hempstead, while aware of the Islanders' history, has a lot more to worry about than a better hockey venue. There's a lot of development planned, from high-rise buildings to commercial and office space to residential space, and there are legitimate concerns on what kind of an effect it will have on the surrounding communities.

There's some fear here, fear of the unknown. This kind of mixed-use or "smart growth" development is new, and while its proponents say it's just the kind of development needed for a "new suburbia," it's easy to see why people would balk at it. It's different. Different is scary.

The Lighthouse group has done its work, provided reports on traffic and waste, provided a DEIS, has held tons of meetings. The town wants specific answers and guarantees. This week's meeting got testy as a result, but in the end, when Kate Murray asked for people in support of the project to stand up, 75% of those in attendance reportedly did so.

What bothers me most is the politics and the spinning, and it's being done on both sides. Caught in between are fans wondering why they can't just fix the Coliseum and be done with it. The answer is that Nassau County owns the land, and it put the project out to bid and the Wang/Rechler proposal was the one that was selected.

Just fixing or replacing the Coliseum was never a real option, nor was leaving the parcel the way it is, which is an awful eyesore and tremendous waste of space. Something big was going to be done there, and Suozzi has been talking for years about multi-use development that would be part of a larger, countywide initiative towards smart growth. This was going to be one (huge) piece of that puzzle.

That is, if it happens, and despite the hand-wringing and games played in Kansas City and deadlines for "certainty," it should. Yes, the October 3 deadline will come and go, and we'll read about other potential sites of Islanders home games, like K.C. or Hamilton or Brooklyn or maybe even Calverton, who knows? Wang has every right to look into alternatives as the process drags along, and he should. The lease runs out in 2015 and that year, which once seemed so far away, is fast approaching. But he's not going to give up on the Lighthouse. That's where he wants to be and where the most money will be made.

There will be more spinning, more threats, more columns written and blogs posted and commented on, but in the end there will be concessions on the development and ultimately some version of the Lighthouse will be built, and perhaps the Islanders will begin a new era of success, both on and off the ice.

Could the whole thing fall apart? Sure, there's a chance, but the county has too much at stake here, and ultimately will not let small-town politics or developers' greed bring it all crashing down. Only then would Wang sell the team, a truly worst-case scenario.

Could the Isles end up playing elsewhere? If the Lighthouse collapsed, they'd need to. They could end up in Brooklyn with the Nets and their new Russian billionaire co-owner, who I'm sure also enjoys hockey. No way the NHL risks seeing a large-market team with the history the Isles have moving to a smaller market, especially not after the unsavory goings-on in Phoenix.

As a selfish fan, all I want is to see the Islanders return to glory, with a new home that will allow them to do what they need to do to build a winner. As long as that home is somewhere on Long Island, I'm good.

My roommate, by the way, turned out to be OK. We had nothing in common, and he was a very unusual guy -- I mean, no sports? Not even soccer? -- but we got along just fine. Maybe there's a lesson there.

A Lighthouse at the end of the tunnel?

One of the many reasons I stuck with sportswriting in my bygone days of journalism and resisted any attempt to make the shift to hard news was politics. I can't stand them.

The Lighthouse Project is, of course, all about politics. If it was just about a new building for Long Island's only major professional sports franchise, we'd be enjoying a New Coliseum already, with triple the luxury boxes and all the sushi and barbeque and gourmet pizza you could eat.

So what a shock it was that soon after Charles Wang announced his October deadline to say go or no-go on the Lighthouse -- and not long after Garden City attorney Kristen McElroy announced that she would run against Kate Murray for the Town of Hempstead supervisor's seat -- did Murray extract her head from the sand and agree to meet in person with Wang and Nassau County supervisor Tom Suozzi about the Lighthouse.

And lo and behold, what a surprise that the three emerged from that meeting holding hands and agreeing, according to Newsday, "to work as a team to expedite approvals" for the project, and creating a draft timetable for the project.

Nothing like a deadline and political reality to get something moving forward.

Suozzi has wanted a "hub" at the Coliseum site for years, and now it is finally looking like the wheels are in motion. Suozzi trumpeted the need for the project at a county planning commission meeting on June 11, where several other officials spoke out in favor of the Lighthouse.

Greg Logan's blog also noted that, "On July 7, the Town of Hempstead is expected to vote on the draft EIS and then hold public hearings within 30 days. But one of the most important signs of progress, Wang said, came when Gov. Paterson assigned his two top aides, Tim Gilchrist and Larry Schwartz, to monitor the project. Gilchrist is a transportation expert in charge of infrastructure and stimulus funds for the administration."

So can Islanders fans finally breathe easy? Is the Lighthouse more than a 50-50 proposition?

And if all goes well on July 7 -- and particularly if the Islanders draft John Tavares with the No. 1 pick on June 26 -- will Wang finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and be willing to spend a little more money than the bare minimum to add some talent to the roster, knowing that in a few short years he will have everything he wants off the ice?

We can only hope. But after the way things have been the past 9 months, at least we have some reason to believe.

Blackhawks are Exhibit A: There is hope

Are you rooting for the Chicago Blackhawks? I am.

Not just because they have one of the coolest uniforms ever. And not only because they have exciting young talent like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. It's because the Hawks represent what's possible for a team like the Islanders. That you can be face-down in the gutter one day, and on top of the world the next.

Chicago's 7-5 victory over the Canucks sent them into the Western Conference finals, and whether they get eliminated there or go on to win the Stanley Cup -- which would be the Hawks' first championship since 1961 (kinda makes 1983 look like last week, doesn't it?) -- this season has seen a remarkable turnaround for a franchise that was, just a couple of seasons ago, among the worst in all of sports.

Prior to this season, Chicago had missed the playoffs in nine of 10 seasons, including five straight. They had just 59 points in 2003-04, followed by seasons of 65 and 71. Things were so bad that you could get rinkside seats for almost nothing. They started showing some mojo last season, with Kane and Toews providing the spark, and then this season they shot up like a bottle rocket.

So what changed? Well, owner "Dollar" Bill Wirtz died in the fall of 2007. Known as a generous and fiercely loyal man in private, he was hated by Hawks fans for his stinginess. They booed during his moment of silence, for God's sake! This was a man who had home games blacked out on local television. And I get pissed when the Isles are on MSG Plus 2 and not in high-def!

Control of the team fell to one of Bill's sons, Rocky, who got the Hawks back on local TV, hired former Cubs executive John McDonough to be the team president, and retained GM Dale Tallon. They changed the culture. They went with youth. They rebuilt burnt bridges with stars like Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull.

Not only did the Hawks make the playoffs this season, they drew more than a million fans to the United Center. One. Million. Fans. In this economy.

I can hear some Islanders fans already saying, "See? We need to throw out Wang and Snow! That will change things!"

Well, no. Wang -- his regrets aside -- is the only reason the Islanders are still here on Long Island. You try spending $23 million a year on a sports team knowing you're going to keep on losing money. And Snow's rebuild has only just begun. We'll see what he does with the No. 1 pick, but if the performance of guys like Kane and Toews tell you anything it's that if you can get superstars, you grab them. Hello, John Tavares!

Wang is desperately trying to change the Islanders' economic reality with the Lighthouse Project, which -- if it is approved, as it should be -- would put the club in a better financial position, allowing it to be more aggressive in adding to the roster. They have a couple of possible future stars in Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey.

Of course, it would help if local government was more supportive. While county executive Tom Suozzi has been a staunch supporter of the Lighthouse as a lynchpin of the future development of Nassau, Town of Hempstead supervisor Kate Murray has been the fly in the ointment and a superior example of why politicians get such a bad rap. How important is the Lighthouse Project to Ms. Murray? So important that she didn't bother to show up at a project meeting on Monday. You can't make this stuff up.

The point is, change on the ice can happen and it can happen faster then you think. The Bruins are another example of a team that -- under the same ownership, by the way -- has gone from basement to penthouse in a couple of seasons thanks to better management and outstanding young players.

So I'll be rooting for the Blackhawks and the Bruins to meet in the Cup finals. Two Original Six teams showing the league how it's done. Hopefully, the Islanders and their fans are paying attention.

Once proud? Always proud

When the Islanders dropped a 9-0 decision to the Hurricanes a week ago, ESPN featured it on their NHL highlights package and referred to the team that came out on the short end as the "once proud" Islanders.

And when the Isles finished the season Sunday with a loss to the Bruins, the team's fourth straight loss, another media outlet described the Isles as "lowly."

Fine. The Isles finished with the worst record in hockey and had one of the worst records in team history. But as a fan -- at least, as a fan who likes to keep things in perspective -- I wouldn't call this team "lowly." And I'll never not be proud to be an Islanders fan.

We knew going in -- before the season-ending injury to Rick DiPietro and before the other injuries that piled up like so much firewood --- that this could be a rough season. No expectations. We liked a lot of the young players and liked guys like Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek and Doug Weight. But with a new coach, a new system, very little firepower (the team finished with no 20-goal scorers for the first time ever), and with a clear mandate to get the youngsters a lot of playing time, the playoffs weren't likely. But it was a step in a new direction.

Once D.P. and the others went down, the writing was on the wall. The rest of the season would be an experiment. Bill Guerin left for Pittsburgh. We had Joey MacDonald and Jann Danis as our goalies. A lot of players saw time who otherwise wouldn't have made it to the big leagues.

But you know what? The team showed signs of life. Prior to the final four losses, the Isles were 14-14-5 over 33 games. So they basically played .500 hockey in the second half, and STILL secured one of the top 2 draft picks.

That's half-glass full thinking, but I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. I don't have the time or the energy to be negative.

And whether the Isles get the No. 1 or No. 2 pick, they know they'll either get Tavares or Hedman, a win-in if there ever was one. Of course, almost every fan wants Tavares, who could be the marquee offensive threat this team has been dying for. But if they end up with Hedman, they have a backline anchor for the next decade. Coaches love that.

Was the season a failure? Whenever you don't make the playoffs, it's a failure, and 14 other teams failed. But did we really expect that this season? What we did see was plenty of promise from the likes of Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen, Sean Bergenheim and even Jesse Joensuu, and a terrific season from Mark Streit.

Getting Tavares or Hedman will be a huge addition to a young team that is trying to build for the future, and literally build a new home.

For me, there are only two disappointments. The continuing mystery over the health of DiPietro, and the politics of Kate Murray and her gaul at sending a mailer to county residents as part of her misguided effort to get stimulus money to renovate the Coliseum and derail the Lighthouse Project.

Hey, Kate! Nassau County wants it. Tom Suozzi wants it. Based on most public feedback, the majority of residents want it. Islanders fans certainly want it. The NHL wants it. Plenty of unemployed and underemployed Long Island residents want it.

Someone needs to vote her off this Island.

Anyway, as far as still being proud to be an Islanders fan, I have a quick story. My son plays deck hockey and for some reason likes playing goalie. When he does, he wears a blue Islanders jersey instead of his team T-shirt because it fits over the pads.

After one recent game, he walked off the court raising his stick and yelling, "Let's Go, Islanders!" To which the opposing coach, wearing his Rangers hat and satin jacket, said something like, "Oh, too bad."

In my younger, pre-parent days I might have fired back with a sharp retort and a promise to back it up with Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary. Instead, I patted my son on the head and told him to keep it up.

Let's go, Islanders.

A reason for optimism in uncertain times

This is why we watch. Seeing Kyle Okposo hit his stride as he has the last four games, working alongside fellow youngsters Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau to give the Islanders three straight wins and seven points in their last four games, is exactly the reason why we tune in (in HD or not) or find a seat at the Coliseum.

The present may not be much to look at, but the future has potential. And again, that's all we asked for at the start of the season. Give us some hope. Show us that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

On the ice, it seems that way. Off the ice? Well, that's another story.

Newsday -- after stirring the pot by wondering whether the Isles could end up moving to Kansas City -- published an article Saturday underlining how the team's lease with Nassau County and SMG makes it extremely difficult for the team to leave.

What the article didn't include was how onerous that lease is. It is most likely the worst lease in professional sports. SMG reportedly gets all parking and concession revenues plus a third of ticket sales and advertising revenue.

So when you pay your $7 to park and plop down $20 for a beer, a hot dog and a pretzel, the Isles get bubkus. The team does get most, if not all, luxury box revenue, but that hardly balances things out.

Obviously, SMG guards that lease like a pit bull does a steak. SMG has refused to be bought out in the past, although the Milsteins offered a measly $7 million 10 years ago, nonsense considering SMG gets an estimated $2 million or more per year from its deal with Nassau County.

But while some would point to the Newsday story as evidence that the team isn't going anywhere (experts agreed that the language is very specific), that same story included a quote from another expert who stated the (somewhat) obvious:

"The only way out is through mutually acceptable negotiated termination," said attorney Scott Mollen of Manhattan, who writes about leases for the New York Law Journal.

There are six years left on the lease. Let's say the Town of Hempstead (which should share the spotlight with SMG as the villians in this whole fiasco) keeps stalling, or continues to press for a simple renovation of the arena, without the rest of the Lighthouse features. Let's say Charles Wang has enough of the nonsense and puts the team up for sale.

Now, let's say there is a prospective owner who wants to move the team to a new city with a sparkling new arena already in place (one that would give him the bulk of the game revenue instead of just a fraction). That owner could buy out the remainder of the lease with an offer of $20 million or more, knowing full well that he would earn that money back in a couple of years in his new city.

SMG could balk, forcing the team to stay and honor its lease. But when that lease is up for renewal, the Islanders would demand much better terms, so SMG's days of milk and honey would be over. SMG could just take the money and move on, which would pave the way for the new owner to move the team and leave the Coliseum without a primary tenant, and leave Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead with a LOT of 'splainin' to do.

Is that likely? Probably not. The Coliseum has been a money maker for SMG for years and it would be in their best interest to work out an arrangement with team ownership and the county to continue to manage the arena in the future.

But the "doomsday scenario" certainly is possible, and admitting so doesn't make one an alarmist. Just a realist.

Which is why the Lighthouse Project is so critical. It is everything. It is essential to the Islanders finally turning their fortunes around. Support it here.

Because it is clear that without the Lighthouse, the team's future could end up playing out elsewhere.

Kansas City, here we come?

And so it begins.

Newsday's Islanders blog on Thursday posted a link to a story on TSN that reports the Isles and L.A. Kings will play an exhibition game in September in Kansas City, a municipality that is actively seeking a professional hockey team for its major-league-ready arena, the Sprint Center.

TSN's Darren Dreger reports, "... according to league sources this game could be perceived as a veiled threat of potential relocation if plans for a new arena on Long Island aren't soon finalized."

Charles Wang has never explicitly threatened to move the Islanders. In fact, he has time and again expressed his commitment to the area.

Say what you want about the ambitiousness of The Lighthouse Project, but revitalizing the area around the Coliseum and Hofstra University has long been a goal of Nassau County, and the fact is that Charles Wang and Rexcorp are committed not just to a new and improved arena but developing the property that they own.

Financing is not an issue. The need for construction work on Long Island is tremendous.

What the project lacks is approval, and if an exhibition game in Kansas City is necessary to remind the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County and whoever else what is at stake, and that time is certainly of the essence, then so be it.

And if anyone out there doesn't think there is a risk of the Islanders leaving Long Island, look at the Seattle Supersonics. That was a team that had won an NBA title, that had tremendous fan support and played in a recently renovated arena.

All it took was an ownership change to send the team to Oklahoma City, the fans be damned.

It will be very interesting to track the progress of the Lighthouse project in 2009. And you can do so at the Lighthouse site, or at its blog.

Game recap: Hurricanes 3, Islanders 2 (OT)

Another day, another blown two-goal lead, this one coming apart with the Isles ahead by 2 with less than 17 minutes left in regulation.

I took my five-year-old son to the game, and he was getting antsy down the stretch, for reasons much different than mine. He wanted to get his free hockey stick (more on that in a later post) and go home. I just wanted to see the Islanders win.

OK, so there's not much you can do when a shot from the point ricochets a couple of times before finding the twine, which is what happened on Carolina's first goal. But then a shot from the point finds the five-hole (Was DiPietro screened? Tough to tell from Section 325) and suddenly the game is tied.

Just as I was explaining the concept of overtime to my son, Carolina scored. "That's a horrible loss," said my friend Jimmy Mac, seated in front of us with his wife and two young daughters. I'm sure he -- and plenty of other parents of young ones at the game -- wanted to vent a little more loudly and profanely at the turn of events, but we held our collective tongues in order to be good role models.

All this despite the return of Radek Martinek and Brendan Witt to the back line, and for two-plus periods -- particularly the second period -- all looked fine. Hilbert and Satan gave the Isles a two-goal cushion and the game seemed somewhat in hand. Another lesson for the young ones -- never let down.

Meanwhile, there was plenty to complain about regarding the officiating. Few penalties called all game, and then Martinek gets called for boarding (borderline in my eyes, but OK) -- but you're telling me Fedotenko WASN'T hammered by a cross check in front of the Carolina net in the final minutes? Where was that call? And then Sutton is called for a cross check in overtime? Horrible. Of course, the Hurricanes score to win. No home calls here, I guess.

So that's three in-conference points the Islanders have let slip through their fingers the last few days, with game two of the home-and-home at Carolina on Tuesday night.

SUFFOLK ALL-STARS RULE!

Sweet sassy molassy, did you see the final score of the Lighthouse Cup? Suffolk County romped to an 11-0 victory over the Nassau County stars, scoring eight goals in the second period to put the game away early. Read all about it here. Congrats, Suffolk!