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We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders
The NHL’s New York Islanders were struggling. After winning four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980s, the Islanders had suffered an embarrassing sweep by their geographic rivals, the New York Rangers, in the first round of the 1994 playoffs. Hoping for a new start, the Islanders swapped out their distinctive logo, which featured the letters NY and a map of Long Island, for a cartoon fisherman wearing a rain slicker and gripping a hockey stick. The new logo immediately drew comparisons to the mascot for Gorton’s frozen seafood, and opposing fans taunted the team with chants of “We want fish sticks!”
During a rebranding process that lasted three torturous seasons, the Islanders unveiled a new mascot, new uniforms, new players, a new coach, and a new owner that were supposed to signal a return to championship glory. Instead, the team and its fans endured a twenty-eight-month span more humiliating than what most franchises witness over twenty-eight years. The Islanders thought they had traded for a star player to inaugurate the fisherman era, but he initially refused to report and sulked until the general manager banished him. Fans beat up the new mascot in the stands. The new coach shoved and spit at players. The Islanders were sold to a supposed billionaire who promised to buy elite players; he turned out to be a con artist and was sent to prison. We Want Fish Sticks examines this era through period sources and interviews with the people who lived it.
During a rebranding process that lasted three torturous seasons, the Islanders unveiled a new mascot, new uniforms, new players, a new coach, and a new owner that were supposed to signal a return to championship glory. Instead, the team and its fans endured a twenty-eight-month span more humiliating than what most franchises witness over twenty-eight years. The Islanders thought they had traded for a star player to inaugurate the fisherman era, but he initially refused to report and sulked until the general manager banished him. Fans beat up the new mascot in the stands. The new coach shoved and spit at players. The Islanders were sold to a supposed billionaire who promised to buy elite players; he turned out to be a con artist and was sent to prison. We Want Fish Sticks examines this era through period sources and interviews with the people who lived it.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 31, 2018
The 1990s marked a period of change for the NHL, driven partially by a growing push for merchandising. This new revenue stream proved lucrative, and teams tripped over themselves attempting to push their wares. What’s more, they discovered something peculiar: people would actually buy merchandise outside their local market— it just had to be cool. The San Jose Sharks. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Los Angeles Kings. Each of these teams tapped into the culture of the ‘90s, producing stylish and sleek designs by either completely rebranding or capitalizing on a Disney tie-in. For each, it proved a massive success.
Then the New York Islanders got into the game by slapping a fisherman mascot onto their jerseys.
Rarely are disasters so entertaining.
Author Nicholas Hirshon has painted a stunning portrait of perhaps the biggest misfire in sports branding. He delves into the minds of the owners, players, fans, and so many others in an attempt to piece together the backlash over a simple logo—beyond simply that it looked like the Gorton’s frozen fish sticks mascot. The personalities are huge, from the constantly attacked costumed mascot Nyisles to the many fans who balked at the switch from the classic design. Through countless interviews and deep research, Hirshon weaves their thoughts into a compelling narrative of the tumultuous couple of seasons in the mid-90s where everything seemed to go haywire for the Islanders.
But not everything can be blamed on a logo, and Hirshon taps further into the team’s problems. A losing season. A player who won’t play. A temperamental coach. A new owner who committed fraud to buy the team. These stories are detailed, providing a snippet of hockey’s inner-workings, while the design flaw lingers in the background—a fisherman standing over the chaos.
Remarkably, while this is a book about a very specific piece of hockey history, it remains completely accessible. Hirshon is specific enough to keep die-hard fans happy, but broad enough that most can follow. But then, anyone can appreciate a failure.
Then the New York Islanders got into the game by slapping a fisherman mascot onto their jerseys.
Rarely are disasters so entertaining.
Author Nicholas Hirshon has painted a stunning portrait of perhaps the biggest misfire in sports branding. He delves into the minds of the owners, players, fans, and so many others in an attempt to piece together the backlash over a simple logo—beyond simply that it looked like the Gorton’s frozen fish sticks mascot. The personalities are huge, from the constantly attacked costumed mascot Nyisles to the many fans who balked at the switch from the classic design. Through countless interviews and deep research, Hirshon weaves their thoughts into a compelling narrative of the tumultuous couple of seasons in the mid-90s where everything seemed to go haywire for the Islanders.
But not everything can be blamed on a logo, and Hirshon taps further into the team’s problems. A losing season. A player who won’t play. A temperamental coach. A new owner who committed fraud to buy the team. These stories are detailed, providing a snippet of hockey’s inner-workings, while the design flaw lingers in the background—a fisherman standing over the chaos.
Remarkably, while this is a book about a very specific piece of hockey history, it remains completely accessible. Hirshon is specific enough to keep die-hard fans happy, but broad enough that most can follow. But then, anyone can appreciate a failure.
October 28, 2018
During the 1990’s, twenty-five professional sports teams went through a rebranding process in which they changed their team logo, uniform, colors, or any combination of these. One team that undertook this rebranding, the New York Islanders, saw disastrous results from this endeavor. The team’s failures are well chronicled in this book by Nicholas Hirshon. Through numerous interviews with people in many positions with the Islanders at that time, Hirshon tells the sad tale of this failed adventure with intricate detail and writing that is a pleasure to read.
At the time of the rebranding, which began in the 1995-96 season, the Islanders were experiencing trouble both on and off the ice. Despite making the playoffs in the 1993-94 season (where they were eliminated by their arch rivals, the New York Rangers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year), the team was long past its glory days of the early 1980’s when they won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Their arena, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, was in disrepair and was one of the poorer rinks in the NHL for amenities, and the team ownership was led by an absentee owner in Florida and run by his associates nicknamed the “Gang of Four.”
Having seen the remarkable rise in fortunes for the Los Angeles Kings when they rebranded their franchise after acquiring Wayne Gretzky, the Islanders decided to undergo a similar transformation. They hired a consulting group, SME, who had a proven track record of success with such projects, to design a new logo for the team. While the agency did some research into Long Island history and looked at some marketing strategies, the lack of other research would prove to be the wrong move. Their review of the fishing industry of Long Island, coupled with the popularity of the Billy Joel song “Downeaster Alexa” (Joel was a Long Island native), resulted in the creation of a new logo for the Islanders.
This logo was a drawing of a fisherman with an angry look dressed in a raincoat holding a hockey stick. Forgoing the traditional “NY” logo with a hockey stick forming the “Y” on top of a map of Long Island, the Islanders were looking to market such a logo and mascot to younger fans. They even hired a young man to appear in a costume resembling the fisherman as a mascot during the team’s home games.
What they didn’t count on was the backlash the team would receive from the fans and the media about the new logo. Islander fans were upset about the removal of the old logo and the connection they felt it had with the team’s glory days. The media was unrelenting with its criticism and sarcastic barbs about the new logo, comparing it to the mascot of the Gorton’s frozen food company. Gorton’s is most noted for its frozen seafood, including fish sticks. That lead to the derisive chant by opposing fans “We Want Fish Sticks!” Naturally, that chant was started by Rangers fans the first time the Islanders played in Madison Square Garden wearing the new uniform.
This was just the beginning of a long two years in which the team posted the third-worst combined record in the league. There was plenty of controversy in the front office when general manager Don Maloney was fired in December 1995 and Mike Milbury was named the general manager. While Maloney was believed to have been too inexperienced to have made good player personnel decisions, Milbury’s moves were also questioned despite having had experience with the Boston Bruins. To further muddy the situation, Milbury also named himself head coach in 1995 and had tumultuous relations with many of the players.
Speaking of players, the book has plenty of information on their role for the Islanders’ woes during these seasons. The author talks about the players who were supposed to be key contributors to the success of the team and why they fell short. Anything from injury (Brent Lindros) to lack of promotion of good players (Ziggy Palffy) to the player just not wanting to play for the team (Kirk Muller). Readers who want to read more about the action on the ice instead of just about the front office or marketing will also enjoy this book.
It should also be noted that during the end of the “fisherman era” (as the author calls this time frame repeatedly through the book), the club had one more embarrassment in the front office. Desparate to be rid of the Gang of Four, the fans and media were excited when a potential buyer of the team was announced in 1996. John Spano, a Dallas resident who had connections to Long Island, was going to not only purchase the team but was going to invest in the required upgrades to the arena and acquire players to bring a championship back to Long Island. However, investigation revealed that Spano’s fortune was non-existent as he had defaulted on several loans and eventually was convicted on charges of fraud. The euphoria that had briefly enveloped the team and its fans was quickly deflated as the era quietly came to an end when the Islanders went back to wearing the traditional logo on its jerseys to start the 1997-98 season.
One more note about the book is that it took an unusual action by providing the entire transcript of an interview with one of the key people in designing the uniform. Pat McDarby was the graphic designer whose sketches inspired the logo. Because McDarby died one year after the interview and his high profile in the sports branding business, it was decided to print the entire interview. This was one of the best add-ons to a book I have read as McDarby’s insight into what went into the logo and some of the possible reasons for its failure made for great reading, especially after reading the entire story in the body of the book.
For readers who are interested in sports branding as well as hockey history, this is a must read. I hesitate to recommend this to any Islander fans, unless they liked the fisherman logo, as it may bring back some painful memories of a short but painful era.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
At the time of the rebranding, which began in the 1995-96 season, the Islanders were experiencing trouble both on and off the ice. Despite making the playoffs in the 1993-94 season (where they were eliminated by their arch rivals, the New York Rangers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year), the team was long past its glory days of the early 1980’s when they won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Their arena, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, was in disrepair and was one of the poorer rinks in the NHL for amenities, and the team ownership was led by an absentee owner in Florida and run by his associates nicknamed the “Gang of Four.”
Having seen the remarkable rise in fortunes for the Los Angeles Kings when they rebranded their franchise after acquiring Wayne Gretzky, the Islanders decided to undergo a similar transformation. They hired a consulting group, SME, who had a proven track record of success with such projects, to design a new logo for the team. While the agency did some research into Long Island history and looked at some marketing strategies, the lack of other research would prove to be the wrong move. Their review of the fishing industry of Long Island, coupled with the popularity of the Billy Joel song “Downeaster Alexa” (Joel was a Long Island native), resulted in the creation of a new logo for the Islanders.
This logo was a drawing of a fisherman with an angry look dressed in a raincoat holding a hockey stick. Forgoing the traditional “NY” logo with a hockey stick forming the “Y” on top of a map of Long Island, the Islanders were looking to market such a logo and mascot to younger fans. They even hired a young man to appear in a costume resembling the fisherman as a mascot during the team’s home games.
What they didn’t count on was the backlash the team would receive from the fans and the media about the new logo. Islander fans were upset about the removal of the old logo and the connection they felt it had with the team’s glory days. The media was unrelenting with its criticism and sarcastic barbs about the new logo, comparing it to the mascot of the Gorton’s frozen food company. Gorton’s is most noted for its frozen seafood, including fish sticks. That lead to the derisive chant by opposing fans “We Want Fish Sticks!” Naturally, that chant was started by Rangers fans the first time the Islanders played in Madison Square Garden wearing the new uniform.
This was just the beginning of a long two years in which the team posted the third-worst combined record in the league. There was plenty of controversy in the front office when general manager Don Maloney was fired in December 1995 and Mike Milbury was named the general manager. While Maloney was believed to have been too inexperienced to have made good player personnel decisions, Milbury’s moves were also questioned despite having had experience with the Boston Bruins. To further muddy the situation, Milbury also named himself head coach in 1995 and had tumultuous relations with many of the players.
Speaking of players, the book has plenty of information on their role for the Islanders’ woes during these seasons. The author talks about the players who were supposed to be key contributors to the success of the team and why they fell short. Anything from injury (Brent Lindros) to lack of promotion of good players (Ziggy Palffy) to the player just not wanting to play for the team (Kirk Muller). Readers who want to read more about the action on the ice instead of just about the front office or marketing will also enjoy this book.
It should also be noted that during the end of the “fisherman era” (as the author calls this time frame repeatedly through the book), the club had one more embarrassment in the front office. Desparate to be rid of the Gang of Four, the fans and media were excited when a potential buyer of the team was announced in 1996. John Spano, a Dallas resident who had connections to Long Island, was going to not only purchase the team but was going to invest in the required upgrades to the arena and acquire players to bring a championship back to Long Island. However, investigation revealed that Spano’s fortune was non-existent as he had defaulted on several loans and eventually was convicted on charges of fraud. The euphoria that had briefly enveloped the team and its fans was quickly deflated as the era quietly came to an end when the Islanders went back to wearing the traditional logo on its jerseys to start the 1997-98 season.
One more note about the book is that it took an unusual action by providing the entire transcript of an interview with one of the key people in designing the uniform. Pat McDarby was the graphic designer whose sketches inspired the logo. Because McDarby died one year after the interview and his high profile in the sports branding business, it was decided to print the entire interview. This was one of the best add-ons to a book I have read as McDarby’s insight into what went into the logo and some of the possible reasons for its failure made for great reading, especially after reading the entire story in the body of the book.
For readers who are interested in sports branding as well as hockey history, this is a must read. I hesitate to recommend this to any Islander fans, unless they liked the fisherman logo, as it may bring back some painful memories of a short but painful era.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
December 6, 2018
I really do empathize with the design firm, the fans, the players and all affected by this rebrand!
I have a had some campaigns go south on me but never anything this big.
I read this book as a fan of marketing, I don't believe I've ever watched a complete hockey game in my life.
The storytelling in this book had me jumping to youtube to watch countless video's that sounded too crazy in print to be real.
From the onset, the manager's heart was in the wrong place. They saw other professional sports teams launch new character-based logos enjoy skyrocketing merch sales.
Then the design firm didn't research the fans expectations.
Followed by a very poor performing team.
This was the tale of how everything that could have gone wrong, went horribly wrong.
Marketing should not be used as a band-aid for a bad service/product/offer/anything.
One of the oldest marketing truths: Marketing will help a bad product fail faster.
At the same time, LA Kings rebranded successfully with a team that just welcomed #99 (who was timed perfectly to arrive with the new logo/colours). As was stated a few times in the book, they could have worn pink jerseys and the fans would have cheered; because the team/product was so good.
The NY Islanders had a different story. What could have been a successful brand was squashed by two of the teams worst years; both on the ice and in the office.
Add to the fact that they had been very successful in the past, ditching the logo of the successful years removed the connection fans had to any hope.
To wrap up--you do not need to be a fan of sports, hockey, or NY Islanders to really enjoy this book. It's a comical tale of the social struggles of communicating with passionate fans with several lessons to pull out the writing.
"People are treating the 'fisherman' logo like it's a swastika."
"Every professional sports team is a brand that tries to trigger loyalty among its fans in order to draw media coverage, attract lucrative sponsorships, and increase attendance, ratings, and merchandise sales. Through monikers, slogans, signs, symbols, and designs, sports brands identify teams and engender an emotional connection with the public."
I wish to thank the University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have a had some campaigns go south on me but never anything this big.
I read this book as a fan of marketing, I don't believe I've ever watched a complete hockey game in my life.
The storytelling in this book had me jumping to youtube to watch countless video's that sounded too crazy in print to be real.
From the onset, the manager's heart was in the wrong place. They saw other professional sports teams launch new character-based logos enjoy skyrocketing merch sales.
Then the design firm didn't research the fans expectations.
Followed by a very poor performing team.
This was the tale of how everything that could have gone wrong, went horribly wrong.
Marketing should not be used as a band-aid for a bad service/product/offer/anything.
One of the oldest marketing truths: Marketing will help a bad product fail faster.
At the same time, LA Kings rebranded successfully with a team that just welcomed #99 (who was timed perfectly to arrive with the new logo/colours). As was stated a few times in the book, they could have worn pink jerseys and the fans would have cheered; because the team/product was so good.
The NY Islanders had a different story. What could have been a successful brand was squashed by two of the teams worst years; both on the ice and in the office.
Add to the fact that they had been very successful in the past, ditching the logo of the successful years removed the connection fans had to any hope.
To wrap up--you do not need to be a fan of sports, hockey, or NY Islanders to really enjoy this book. It's a comical tale of the social struggles of communicating with passionate fans with several lessons to pull out the writing.
"People are treating the 'fisherman' logo like it's a swastika."
"Every professional sports team is a brand that tries to trigger loyalty among its fans in order to draw media coverage, attract lucrative sponsorships, and increase attendance, ratings, and merchandise sales. Through monikers, slogans, signs, symbols, and designs, sports brands identify teams and engender an emotional connection with the public."
I wish to thank the University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 6, 2022
This book was decent, but I'm shocked it's so highly rated overall.
As an Islanders fan, this turned out to be a mostly depressing read instead of being fun, like I hoped it would be. The title indicates it will be about the rebranding of the Islanders, and it is, but honestly the total rebranding content could have been covered in a long form magazine article. The book gets filled out with game by game results at points which gets ridiculous, constant player reactions that, spoiler alert, vary from "I liked them" to "I didn't like them", then gets into the Milbury and Spano controversies. The Spano stuff was actually the most interesting part, but this had little to do with the "rebranding." Same with Milbury's era. That really got depressing. I guess the title should have just been more straightforward...We Want Fish Sticks: Spano, Milbury, and the rebranding, blah blah.
Hard to recommend. There's just so much filler. Meh.
As an Islanders fan, this turned out to be a mostly depressing read instead of being fun, like I hoped it would be. The title indicates it will be about the rebranding of the Islanders, and it is, but honestly the total rebranding content could have been covered in a long form magazine article. The book gets filled out with game by game results at points which gets ridiculous, constant player reactions that, spoiler alert, vary from "I liked them" to "I didn't like them", then gets into the Milbury and Spano controversies. The Spano stuff was actually the most interesting part, but this had little to do with the "rebranding." Same with Milbury's era. That really got depressing. I guess the title should have just been more straightforward...We Want Fish Sticks: Spano, Milbury, and the rebranding, blah blah.
Hard to recommend. There's just so much filler. Meh.
August 31, 2019
A good book about failure.
The two year misadventure of wearing a logo that was a dead ringer for the Gorton's fisherman may seem like thin gruel for a book but this one is very enjoyable. The book started as a thesis for a sports marketing degree. When I read that in the intro, I was worried that I would be clobbered with MBA language and dry reports of focus groups and sales charts. But Hirshon has done a remarkable job transforming his thesis into a very reader-friendly narrative about the marriage between a bad marketing idea and even worse hockey team.
This two year time span of a smallish market hockey team coincided with one of the most remarkable hoaxes in the history of sports, John Spano's attempt to buy the team for $165 million dollars while barely being able to afford to host the team for a party at his McMansion in the Dallas suburbs. That story is the subject of the most fascinating ESPN 30 for 30 ever made. Hirshon rightly criticizes that documentary for being too kind to Spano. I wish Hirshon had taken the time to go into that incredible story in more depth because it is bonkers and definitely the most memorable thing about the Islanders of the fisherman logo years.
That book is yet to be written. But this one is pretty good on its own merits. I think we need more case studies on failures. There is a lot to be learned from them.
*The Game by Ken Dryden.
The two year misadventure of wearing a logo that was a dead ringer for the Gorton's fisherman may seem like thin gruel for a book but this one is very enjoyable. The book started as a thesis for a sports marketing degree. When I read that in the intro, I was worried that I would be clobbered with MBA language and dry reports of focus groups and sales charts. But Hirshon has done a remarkable job transforming his thesis into a very reader-friendly narrative about the marriage between a bad marketing idea and even worse hockey team.
This two year time span of a smallish market hockey team coincided with one of the most remarkable hoaxes in the history of sports, John Spano's attempt to buy the team for $165 million dollars while barely being able to afford to host the team for a party at his McMansion in the Dallas suburbs. That story is the subject of the most fascinating ESPN 30 for 30 ever made. Hirshon rightly criticizes that documentary for being too kind to Spano. I wish Hirshon had taken the time to go into that incredible story in more depth because it is bonkers and definitely the most memorable thing about the Islanders of the fisherman logo years.
That book is yet to be written. But this one is pretty good on its own merits. I think we need more case studies on failures. There is a lot to be learned from them.
*The Game by Ken Dryden.
December 25, 2018
There are many great, interesting, too strange to be fiction stories in professional sports, but one of my favorites in the New York Islanders in the mid to late 90s. After watching the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about John Spano acquiring part of the franchise due to fraud, I thought that this was an interesting story. "We Want Fish Sticks" is a different angle of the franchise throughout the same time span, and another aspect of a team struggling through a perfect storm of really bad decisions.
Nicholas Hirshon's book focuses on the relabeling of the New York Islanders franchise with new jerseys, new colors, a new mascot, and a new logo. They were following the lead of other successful West Coast teams like the LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks, both of them with a very successful re-branding campaign. The problems with the Islanders uniform switch is that they had been a great team in the 80s, winning four straight Stanley Cup finals, and were now not as strong of a team as they were back then. The formula of losing season, a new volatile coach, and cheap management leads to a great, if not painful story. Reading it as someone who was not involved, is not an Islander fan, and is just interested in a great sports story, "We Want Fish Sticks" is everything a person can ask for. This is one of my favorite weird sports stories, and this book really adds to the almost sad quality of the late 90s New York Islanders.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Nicholas Hirshon's book focuses on the relabeling of the New York Islanders franchise with new jerseys, new colors, a new mascot, and a new logo. They were following the lead of other successful West Coast teams like the LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks, both of them with a very successful re-branding campaign. The problems with the Islanders uniform switch is that they had been a great team in the 80s, winning four straight Stanley Cup finals, and were now not as strong of a team as they were back then. The formula of losing season, a new volatile coach, and cheap management leads to a great, if not painful story. Reading it as someone who was not involved, is not an Islander fan, and is just interested in a great sports story, "We Want Fish Sticks" is everything a person can ask for. This is one of my favorite weird sports stories, and this book really adds to the almost sad quality of the late 90s New York Islanders.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 29, 2019
This is not a conventional hockey book. Despite the cover and title, it is a more academic look at a business aspect of the sport, namely the New York Islanders re-branding attempt in the mid-1990s. Hirshon looks at why it happened, how it was implemented, and why it failed, while only looking at game results to emphasize his points. For those interested in a comprehensive look at the business side of hockey, and sports in general, this is a great book, and as a re-worked PhD dissertation it is thoroughly researched, with Hirshon using contemporary media stories and interviews with most of the key figures to defend his argument. If you are looking for stories about the Islanders of this era, it is not quite that type of book, though he is unabashedly critical of Mike Milbury, so there is some nods to that style.
December 12, 2018
Thanks to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press for sharing this interesting book. I found it fascinating and funny, until I didn’t, and I did not finish the book. For the correct audience, I think it will be great. That audience is probably sports fans, specifically hockey and more specifically Islanders fans, and also those involved in marketing and specifically sports branding and marketing. Very enjoyable read until I got bored with the subject.
October 17, 2018
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I was a child when this specific jersey/logo change that serves as the catalyst for this book occurred, but I do remember the logo and how odd it seemed. I was unaware of the "we want fish sticks" chant, but I was I would have been aware because that is hilarious. I am not an Islanders fan, and likewise, I have no ill will towards the franchise, but I did find this book to be intensely entertaining. I felt real empathy for the fans and players alike enduring one of the most bizarre and aimless rebrands in sports history, and I have gained a great appreciation for the traditional Islanders logo in the process. This book serves as an excellent guide on what not to do when undertaking a rebranding process.
I was a child when this specific jersey/logo change that serves as the catalyst for this book occurred, but I do remember the logo and how odd it seemed. I was unaware of the "we want fish sticks" chant, but I was I would have been aware because that is hilarious. I am not an Islanders fan, and likewise, I have no ill will towards the franchise, but I did find this book to be intensely entertaining. I felt real empathy for the fans and players alike enduring one of the most bizarre and aimless rebrands in sports history, and I have gained a great appreciation for the traditional Islanders logo in the process. This book serves as an excellent guide on what not to do when undertaking a rebranding process.
January 14, 2019
Hirshon is an excellent writer, which made this book far more pleasurable than most books about professional sports. I’ve been an Islanders fanatic since their inaugural 1972-1973 season. Despite their incredible stretch of excellence, which lasted essentially from 1975 through 1988, with flashes of brilliance during the 1992-1993 season, and numerous Hall-of-Fame players who graced their roster, they were always the poor step children of the New York Rangers in the NY media. Part of the problem was the fact that the Rangers had been around since 1926; part of the problem was self-inflicted from a marketing and operations perspective.
Back in the day (let’s say from 1976-1985), non-season ticket holders could only buy tickets for Islanders games with cash in person at the Nassau Coliseum box office. The Isles were the last franchise to accept credit cards for payment and the last to allow off-site ticket vendors such as Ticketmaster and the now-defunct Ticketron to sell their tickets, which, prior to the advent of the Internet, was via telephone call or at a Ticketmaster or Ticketron kiosk at a shopping mall. Isles were the last franchise to install a shot clock. The Coliseum was already outdated when it opened in 1972, with a dangerously narrow and overcrowded atrium and poor ingress to and egress from the building itself. (Full disclosure—-my late father-in-law’s engineering firm was involved with the original construction and my first event there was a pre-Islanders era Jethro Tull concert in May 1972).
Even with the recent upgrades to the facility, the Coliseum is nigh impossible to reach via public transportation (Long Island Rail Road to Hempstead, then a rarely-running MSBA/NICE bus along Hempstead Turnpike, or LIRR to either Merrick or Mineola, then a cab). After the glory years, the Isles franchise was always several years behind the curve of administrative and marketing developments, which is why it failed to substantially penetrate the market of untapped hockey fans in Queens and Brooklyn who may have been disenchanted with the Rangers or who were young and had not yet developed loyalty to any team.
It sort of reminds me of the Nassau County Clerk’s office, which was the last County Clerk in the State of New York to computerize its records, despite the fact that Nassau is one of the most populous counties. (It maintained all of its records on index cards well into the 1990s!). To me, my beloved Isles remained in the index card era while every other franchise was moving ahead. Moreover, as the population base in Nassau and Suffolk aged, and the team had very few good years on the ice, the franchise was doomed to have the worst attendance record in the NHL. Even during the handful of good years since 1992-1993, attendance generally averaged around 11,000 per game despite the alleged “charms” of the so-called “old barn.”
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Isles presently play the majority of their home games, isn’t “charming” and isn’t configured appropriately for hockey, but it’s clean and serviceable for now, and easy to reach from anywhere in the City or from suburban Long Island (excepting the Port Washington line). And, of course, Brooklyn is geographically on Long Island, even if, for cultural and sociological purposes, NY’ers consider “Long Island” to comprise only the suburban eastern LI counties of Nassau and Suffolk. As long as the promised LIRR improvements to the Belmont Park station become a reality, the proposed arena near Belmont Park might ultimately allow the Isles to satisfy both its Nassau-Suffolk fan base and reach new fans in Queens and Brooklyn (and dare I say it, Manhattan, where I’ve resided since 1980, and where I’ve seen more folks with Isles hats and jerseys in the past few years than ever before).
So, yes, the Fish Sticks uniforms were awful. The lighthouse shoulder patches, however, were elegant, popular, and regionally relevant. If the Isles wished to honor the nautical, seafaring heritage of what is, after all, an island, they could have used the lighthouse more prominently, or any of numerous images of shorelines, boats, etc. The misbranding of the Islanders in the 1990s was of a piece with their inability to cash in on years of success on the ice. They missed their opportunities, and their half-hearted attempts to develop a loyal following in parts of NYC may doom them to marginality even if they build a nice new arena next to Belmont Park.
Back in the day (let’s say from 1976-1985), non-season ticket holders could only buy tickets for Islanders games with cash in person at the Nassau Coliseum box office. The Isles were the last franchise to accept credit cards for payment and the last to allow off-site ticket vendors such as Ticketmaster and the now-defunct Ticketron to sell their tickets, which, prior to the advent of the Internet, was via telephone call or at a Ticketmaster or Ticketron kiosk at a shopping mall. Isles were the last franchise to install a shot clock. The Coliseum was already outdated when it opened in 1972, with a dangerously narrow and overcrowded atrium and poor ingress to and egress from the building itself. (Full disclosure—-my late father-in-law’s engineering firm was involved with the original construction and my first event there was a pre-Islanders era Jethro Tull concert in May 1972).
Even with the recent upgrades to the facility, the Coliseum is nigh impossible to reach via public transportation (Long Island Rail Road to Hempstead, then a rarely-running MSBA/NICE bus along Hempstead Turnpike, or LIRR to either Merrick or Mineola, then a cab). After the glory years, the Isles franchise was always several years behind the curve of administrative and marketing developments, which is why it failed to substantially penetrate the market of untapped hockey fans in Queens and Brooklyn who may have been disenchanted with the Rangers or who were young and had not yet developed loyalty to any team.
It sort of reminds me of the Nassau County Clerk’s office, which was the last County Clerk in the State of New York to computerize its records, despite the fact that Nassau is one of the most populous counties. (It maintained all of its records on index cards well into the 1990s!). To me, my beloved Isles remained in the index card era while every other franchise was moving ahead. Moreover, as the population base in Nassau and Suffolk aged, and the team had very few good years on the ice, the franchise was doomed to have the worst attendance record in the NHL. Even during the handful of good years since 1992-1993, attendance generally averaged around 11,000 per game despite the alleged “charms” of the so-called “old barn.”
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Isles presently play the majority of their home games, isn’t “charming” and isn’t configured appropriately for hockey, but it’s clean and serviceable for now, and easy to reach from anywhere in the City or from suburban Long Island (excepting the Port Washington line). And, of course, Brooklyn is geographically on Long Island, even if, for cultural and sociological purposes, NY’ers consider “Long Island” to comprise only the suburban eastern LI counties of Nassau and Suffolk. As long as the promised LIRR improvements to the Belmont Park station become a reality, the proposed arena near Belmont Park might ultimately allow the Isles to satisfy both its Nassau-Suffolk fan base and reach new fans in Queens and Brooklyn (and dare I say it, Manhattan, where I’ve resided since 1980, and where I’ve seen more folks with Isles hats and jerseys in the past few years than ever before).
So, yes, the Fish Sticks uniforms were awful. The lighthouse shoulder patches, however, were elegant, popular, and regionally relevant. If the Isles wished to honor the nautical, seafaring heritage of what is, after all, an island, they could have used the lighthouse more prominently, or any of numerous images of shorelines, boats, etc. The misbranding of the Islanders in the 1990s was of a piece with their inability to cash in on years of success on the ice. They missed their opportunities, and their half-hearted attempts to develop a loyal following in parts of NYC may doom them to marginality even if they build a nice new arena next to Belmont Park.
October 21, 2020
A wonderful look back at one of the least loved teams in hockey history. Hirshon does a fantastic job delving into the slipshod marketing efforts and decisions made by the Islanders of the ‘90s and comes up with some interesting conclusions. It is fascinating how he successfully links such ideas as the hiring of a coach and GM as part of the marketing failures. Great fun.
November 26, 2023
I find it funny how much folks hated this logo, only for years later, for it to work its way back to market. It is also wild all the awful things that happened to the islanders from 94 all the way to 2000-whatever. A very interesting read, also a good lesson in reading your audience before doing a massive over haul in rebranding. Still, though, it's one of my all-time favorite hockey logos.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2021
As someone who grew up during this time period, reading what happened from a now adult’s perspective really did shine a light on what was going on that as a kid I wouldn’t have understood. Great book that illustrates a low point in Islanders history!
September 6, 2020
Some of this hurt to read, but it’s nice to be able to look at the current team and think of how far they have climbed.
October 26, 2022
interesting read! learned a lot more about the islanders than i probably needed to in my entire life and enjoyed it thoroughly
Read
February 11, 2025*DNF 15ish%
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