Review of "We Want Fish Sticks"

What better way to resume reading by picking up a review copy of a book I have been anxious to read since learning about its upcoming publication last spring.  This book on the fisherman logo used briefly by the New York Islanders was just as good as I hoped - if nothing else, the title says it all on why this marketing project was a huge failure.  Here is my review of "We Want Fish Sticks"

Title/Author:

“We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders” by Nicholas Hirshon

Tags:

Ice Hockey, professional, management, Islanders

Publish date:

December 1, 2018

Length:

312 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

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.

Book Format Read:

E-Book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496206534/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1496206533/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1496206533&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Review of "Davey Johnson"

This book was one in which I thought I knew a lot about the subject matter, but it turned out I knew very little.  Oh, sure, I knew Davey Johnson was the manager of the 1986 Mets, that he had a very good playing career with the Orioles, Braves and Philles and that he managed three other teams - in each case taking them from losing records to division championships.  But a lot of the other information gleaned in this memoir - it was all new to me.  Here is my review of "Davey Johnson"

Title/Author:

”Davey Johnson: My Wild Ride in Baseball and Beyond” by Davey Johnson with Erik Sherman

Tags:

Baseball, professional, memoir, Orioles, Mets, Phillies Reds, Nationals

Publish date:

May 15, 2018

Length:

384 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Having found success as both a player and a manager, it is no surprise that Davey Johnson wanted to share his baseball experiences in a memoir.  What was surprising about this book written with Erik Sherman is that Johnson was using sabermetrics long before computers were used widely, before Bill James published his books and well before the current use of advanced statistics done by every team today.

That is only one of the several surprises in store for the reader of this book. Johnson states in the book that when he was playing second base for the Baltimore Orioles, he created a report of all possible lineups for the Orioles in 1969, writing punch cards and inputting data from the 1968 season.  Johnson did this for a computer class he was taking at Johns Hopkins university. This would certainly aid him later on when he became a manager.

Here’s another surprise in the book, at least for me. While Johnson isn’t unique in his belief that the best managers are those who “handle the bullpen and the bench because that’s the deal”, this statement took me by surprise because every team he managed, from the Mets during their championship season in 1986 to the Reds and Orioles in the mid 1990’s and later the Washington Nationals, his teams usually had stronger starting pitching and were loaded with offensive stars.  Knowing that he felt that managing the bench and bullpen made the difference took me by surprise, even though it makes sense.

One other surprise, again at least to this reader although some others may already know this, was Johnson’s viewpoint that some of the rule changes or proposals such as instant reply challenges, robots calling balls and strikes, or the new rules for sliding into second base, are bad for the game.  He believes that these make the sport “not even the game of baseball anymore. It’s terrible.”  Johnson is far from the only baseball person who believes this, but it was information I learned from this book.

There are many other tidbits of information throughout the book that may be new to readers. Some are serious, some are humorous, but all of them contribute to the overall picture Johnson wants to paint of his time in baseball.  One of them that I have never heard before was that Hall of Fame Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer had the nickname “Cakes” given to him by Orioles teammates because he always ate pancakes on the days he pitched. Of course, Johnson added that “Cakes” also got under the skin of teammates as well, something that wasn’t as obscure as the nickname.

The part of his career that gets the most pages in the book is his time managing the New York Mets and their 1986 championship season. This part was another viewpoint of that team and some of the incidents and highlights of that team and that year. I found his reflections on the seasons AFTER 1986 and the actions of the Mets front office more interesting, especially when a popular topic that is still talked about today is why that team didn’t win more titles.

This isn’t to say that the rest of Johnson’s career, both as a player and as a manger, isn’t discussed thoroughly – in fact, I enjoyed his discussion about his playing days with the Orioles and the Atlanta Braves as it was very interesting to me.  It is often forgotten that he set the record for most home runs by a second baseman when he was playing with the Braves in 1973. He also talks about the night Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record, as he was the hitter in the hole when Aaron hit the historic blast.

While this baseball memoir does read like many others, it was a good read for me as it was full of information about Johnson that I did not know, especially when the topics were when he was managing teams other than the Mets. I would recommend this book for most baseball fans as there is a lot of ground covered and it is sprinkled with humor throughout. 

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079J6Q573/ref=x_gr_w_glide_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_glide_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B079J6Q573&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/davey-johnson-davey-johnson/1127073134;jsessionid=911538211DEE997616C9D88181C834EE.prodny_store01-atgap03?ean=9781629374116&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20Inc#/

Review of "The Legion Team"

It is always a treat to find books about teams or players I never heard of, and this one about an amateur hockey team that played in Waterloo, Iowa in the 1920's was excellent.  While information about the team was difficult to find and piece together, the author (who also narrated the audio version) did a very good job of telling the story of this team that never had to play a road game.  Here is my review of "The Legion Team"

Title/Author:

"The Legion Team: Forgotten Hockey in Waterloo, 1927-1930” written and narrated by Tim Harwood

Tags:

Ice Hockey, amateur, history, audiobook

Publish date:

May 20, 2015 (print version published June 13, 2013)

Length:

143 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

The city of Waterloo, Iowa is the home for the Waterloo Black Hawks, a junior hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League. While they are the only team currently playing in the city, they are not the first team.  There was an amateur team that played in the 1920’s sponsored by an American Legion post that captured the fancy of fans in Waterloo.  This book by Tim Harwood attempts to revive the memories of that team.

Because the players on those squads are no longer with us and details of the games and the teams are difficult to obtain, this book is a work of dedication for the author as he painstakingly brings the details of the team, its games and its home in a manner that is easy to read or listen to. The reader will not only learn about the team sponsored by the Becker-Chapman American Legion Post, but the book starts out by telling the story of the two men who died in World War I and whom the Post was named for.  Neither of them played hockey (both were football stars) but their stories set the stage for the beginning of hockey in Waterloo.

The club, sometimes referred to as the Hawks, was not a professional team nor was it affiliated with any other club or league.  Throughout its existence, it never traveled to another city for a game. Instead, teams from cites as far away as Chicago, St. Paul and Winnipeg came to Waterloo where they faced a club that won more games than it lost and would play in front of several thousand enthusiastic fans. The arena did not have the capability to make artificial ice, so the games were only played when it was cold enough to have natural ice inside. 

The book is a nice summary of the games played throughout the four year history of the Becker-Chapman team, with enough detail provided that a reader or listener will comprehend just how good the team was and the enthusiasm of the fans.  Some games are filled with details like specific goal scorers, statistics and attendance while a few are not covered in as great detail. It was all dependent on the newspaper accounts at that time since statistics were not kept and being an independent team, there were no league archives to research. 

The rules of the games for the team and in that era are also explained and some of them are quite different from today.  The team often carried only eight or nine players, so some of them played the entire sixty minutes.  Imagine a superstar player today like Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid playing an entire game with no shifts.  The ice wasn’t always smooth – not only from the conditions of the arena and weather, but also because the rink was also used for public skating.

The end of the team’s run in Waterloo was due to economics. The Great Depression was in full swing and like so many other businesses, the American Legion had to cut back on expenses and one of them was hockey.  While the first two years produced a small profit, the fourth year resulted in a small financial loss and the Legion did not want to sink further in the hole with the team, so it folded.  When it did so, a chapter of Iowa hockey ended with it and this book does a great job of bringing that team back to life.  While a short book without a lot of depth on the team’s players, it nonetheless will inform the reader about that era of hockey and is recommended to be added to the library of any hockey fan.

Book Format Read:

Audiobook

 

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Legion-Team-Forgotten-Waterloo-1927-1930/dp/B00Y04QCEU/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Review of "Never Ran, Never Will"

It is not often a book on any sport at any level will leave a message to me about social issues and make me want to help in some small way.  This book is one that did - a wonderful account of young men in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville and the youth football program that some see as a path to future success.  Here is my review of "Never Ran, Never Will."

Title/Author:

“Never Ran, Never Will: Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City” by Albert Samaha

Tags:

Football (American), youth, society

Publish date:

September 4, 2018

Length:

368 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Brooklyn is noted for its diverse neighborhoods and the changing landscape of the borough is bringing more wealth and success to many of its residents. However, the neighborhood of Brownsville has felt that some of this success has left it behind.  There is a great success story that originates from Brownsville – the youth football program known as the Mo Better Jaguars.  This excellent book by Albert Samaha captures the spirit of these football squads, as well as its players and coaches.
 
The main focus of the book is not just the sport of football but the issues facing boys and young men in the inner city.  Several players – Gio, Oomz, Isaiah and Hart just to name a few – are portrayed and their issues with family, school, gangs and other matters are told in painstaking detail.  Some of the stories are inspirational, some are heartbreaking.  Their lives are taking shape while playing for the Mo Better program and they may surprise the reader on just how some of their experiences do not fit the stereotype of life in the inner city.

The same goes for the coaches – Esau, Vick and Chris. These are even better reading as they are not only coaching the boys to improve their football skills but also on what they need to do or not do in order to succeed.  Their overwhelming theme is to avoid “the streets” as they can swallow a young man up and he will find himself in gangs, in jail or dead.  These coaches not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. I found Vick’s story quite compelling, especially that at the same time he is telling his players about the importance of school and reading, he is trying to better himself by going to school to become a nursing assistant while trying to find a job. 

The reader will also learn about Brownsville – its history, its struggles and the lack of support it has received from the rest of New York City.  It is important for the reader to absorb this information as well, as it helps to illustrate what the Mo Better players are experiencing and how the Jaguars have become such a vital part of the neighborhood as many of these youth view football as the means to get onto a path to success.  That success may come in the form of an NFL career or a scholarship to college where the education received will lead to a successful career in another field. 

Football writing is not forgotten, however, and while Samaha is not a sportswriter by trade, his narratives of the action on field, both in practice and during the games, will be easily digested by all fans of the game no matter how closely they follow the sport. The detail is just as good here, especially when describing how much the players like to hit. It feels like they are releasing all of their frustrations with their issues at home or in school on the other kid, whether it is a teammate at practice or an opponent who will not be able to continue the play. 

This book will make an impact on the reader in ways that other sports books cannot, especially when one considers the topic and the issues faced by these young men.  It will make the reader think, it will make the reader cheer, and hopefully it will make the reader help to take action to ensure that young men living in places like Brownsville are not left behind.

I wish to thank Perseus Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

 https://www.amazon.com/Never-Ran-Will-Football-Changing-ebook/dp/B078W5ZD88/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/never-ran-never-will-albert-samaha/1127834445?ean=9781541767867#/

Review of "The Shift"

The title of this book is slightly misleading. While I expected it to be about sabermetrics in baseball, I thought it would primarily focus on the defensive shift teams do against certain batters. While that topic is covered, it is far from the only one. Here is my review of "The Shift." 

Title/Author:

“The Shift: The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking” by Russell A. Carleton

Tags:

Baseball, professional, statistics

Publish date:

April 1, 2018

Length:

366 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

When people ask me why baseball is my favorite sport, I tell them that I love it because it is a thinking game. The author of this book, Russell Carleton, agrees with my assessment, but he goes even further, stating that “maybe it’s even an obsessing game.  It is most certainly a shifting game.” The last portion of that statement is what he concentrates on proving in this book by illustrating how the increased use of advanced statistics, also known as sabermetrics, has shifted the focus of many aspects of the game.

There are many topics about the game covered in the book. Starting with asking the right question, Carleton explores just about every aspect of the game – hitting, pitching, defense (including the shift - only makes sense with this title), managing on the field, managing off the field and scouting.  No matter what part of the game the reader enjoys, he or she will find information that will be of interest.

Of course, since sabermetrics are the main theme of the book, there are numbers galore making Carleton’s points. Not only does he use the usual statistics that fans will see online or on television during the games, but he uses many charts that compares situations year by year to show trends.  This can be anything from the percentages of batted balls put in play to the run probability for a team in any situation it may find during its time at bat in the inning. At times, it can be overwhelming, even for the avid baseball fan. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it means the book is chock full of information that may be of use to some reader.

It should be noted that the book is not all numbers – there are a lot of stories about not only the human element of the game, but other stories such as when the author met his wife that will lead into the baseball application of the particular topic. These passages help to make the book more palatable to read than had it been strictly about numbers and charts.

Who should read this book? I will use my favorite quote from the book to answer this question as readers who fit this description should add this book to their libraries.  That would be readers who are “becoming wrapped up in the efforts of 25 players who just happen to wear funny pajamas emblazoned with the name of the major city that (they) were born closest to.”

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Shift-Next-Evolution-Baseball-Thinking/dp/1629375446/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=