WHY THE ISLANDERS MUST STAY By Janice Arbour

[inthebrain]

I have been linked to the New York Islanders since we both came into existence in 1972. Granted, I missed out on that first year since I was living in St Louis, Missouri and apparently crying up a storm whenever my Mom left the room. Everything changed in 1973 when my father took the head coaching job of the New York Islanders and my mother was forced to move 4 children to a place she had never seen and knew nothing about.



Very quickly the Nassau Coliseum became our second home; in fact, they should have just delivered our mail to section 224 row C, seats 1 thru 4. It truly felt like a home not because we were there so often, but because of the people who came into the building.



Whether it was an usher, a boisterous Hofstra student, a landscaper, a powerful lawyer, we all came together to cheer for the one professional team that has the island stitched into their emblem for the world to see (I believe I have been Jedi mind-tricked to forget the fishsticks logo fiasco, so let’s not go there). My family may have not known one thing about Long Island before we got there but we are who we are today because of Long Island.



Yes, winning championships tends to bring out the best in everybody and for a long stretch of time the Islanders won every single year, or so it seemed to a 10-year old girl who never missed a minute of Islanders action. We all have received one of those “You know you grew up in Long Island if…” joke emails, and sure enough roughly 8 of those points involved the Islanders of that era.

http://www.islanderspointblank.com/2009/09/why-the-islanders-must-stayby-janice-arbour-daughter-of-the-coach/

[Captain Hilts]

1. A neat article. Thanks!