Islanders Army

Isles Rolling Out The Red Carpet For Bloggers in ‘07-08

June 14th, 2007 by murph

The Islanders lit the blogosphere afire yesterday with their announcement of a “Blog Box” next season at the Coliseum. The Islanders are the first professional sports team to offer all bloggers a chance to attend games and conduct post-game interviews. While many bloggers like Eric at Off Wing Opinion have applied for and been extended official press passes, owner Charles Wang is offering a press pass “lite” to anyone with a computer and a fake valid state ID.

Introducing the NYI BLOG BOX, the first of its kind among pro teams in the New York area.

The Islanders are challenging their fans with a passion for writing to start their own Islanders blog. Fans with existing Islanders blogs are welcome, too.

But here’s the kicker: all chosen bloggers will be given the opportunity to cover select home games and practices with special media accommodations.

We’re setting up a BLOG BOX in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum – sort of like a press box, but away from the scribes and broadcasters because we know you want to cheer, shout, have a pretzel and enjoy the game experience on your own terms.

We will provide you with a media pass for a few games next season and a seat in the NYI BLOG BOX. You will also receive your own set of Game Notes when you enter the Coliseum Press Gate. All you have to do is bring your note pad and/or voice recorder and cheer as loudly as you want. After the game you attend, we will set up an area where you can toss a few questions at a coach or players, based on your requests and their availability.

The NYI BLOG BOX will be your open forum. From start to finish, you’ll be in control. All we ask is for the chosen bloggers to act respectfully in the restricted media areas and keep all critiques in good taste.

Perhaps best of all, your Islanders blog will generate tons of hits because it will be highlighted and linked on newyorkislanders.com, one of the most popular websites in the National Hockey League.

Only a handful of bloggers will be accepted for the opening season of this unprecedented concept. So if you’re interested, please e-mail the answers to our simple application below to Corey.Witt@newyorkislanders.com and include a writing sample of no more than 500 words to go along with it. And please, passionate Islanders FANS only!

As usual, hardly anyone took the Islanders seriously. Off Wing Opinion called it a “press pass with training wheels” and Deadspin.com got an interview Chris Botta, VP of communications for the Islanders. Chris is a very good sport with the questions…

Deadspin: So let’s say, hypothetically, that we applied to be one of your affiliate sites. You put our picture on your page, and you link to our site. We show up in the Blog Box for the first game, and, the next morning, we write, “The New York Islanders are not only the worst hockey team we’ve ever seen, but everyone who works for them is ugly and we think we saw Bryan Trottier molesting a puppy.” (Or, say, link to this.) You gonna kick us out of the blog box for that? Or take out our link? We think it’s reasonable if you would, but we’re just asking: Where is that line, if it exists?

Chris Botta, NYI: I think we’ll know the line when we see it. But if we tank on opening night and everyone wants to flail away, so be it. We’re not going to take down any links.

Should we do it? Our friends at LCS Hockey and Off Wing Opinion think so, and by the end of the Deadspin interview I think Chris Botta of the Islanders is practically begging us to do it. (Tommy and I went to school in Valley Stream).

Deadspin: This thing came up recently with the NCAA and live-blogging games. Will bloggers be allowed to live blog?

Chris Botta, NYI: I’d like to think our friends at Fox Sports NY would not have a cow if some guy from Valley Stream wrote in his blog that the Islanders just scored. But I guess I better talk to them before I give you an unqualified yes. That, and our techies need to start installing power lines and wireless in the Blog Box.

Free tickets, pretzels and wireless on Wang? Sounds like a good deal to me, we’ll be sending in our application soon. We’ve got competition, the Islanders said they had 100+ applications already. This move is all about fan access and not some statement by the Islanders in the bloggers vs. professional press debate. I don’t think I’d want a real press pass anyways – being at the game and not being able to chant “Let’s Go Islanders” wouldn’t be fun for me. I might be able to bite my tongue for a regular season game, but if it was a playoff or Rangers game…no way.

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