We Want Fish Sticks

The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders

Nicholas Hirshon (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

312 Seiten

2020
University of Nebraska Press (Verlag)
978-1-4962-2230-5 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

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.

Nicholas Hirshon is an assistant professor of communication at William Paterson University. He worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News from 2005 to 2011 and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hockey News. He is the author of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Forest Hills. Éric Fichaud is a retired NHL goaltender who played for the New York Islanders from 1996 to 1998.

List of Illustrations
Foreword, by Éric Fichaud
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Birth of a Brand
2. A Frozen-Dinner Franchise
3. The Baymen and the Bruin
4. New Team, Dashed Dream
5. Dead in the Water
6. Spano for President
7. From Savior to Devil
Epilogue
Appendix: Interview with Graphic Designer Pat McDarby
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	27.08.2020
Vorwort	Eric Fichaud
Zusatzinfo	20 photographs, 1 appendix, index
Verlagsort	Lincoln
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Regional- / Landesgeschichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport ► Ski- / Wintersport
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
ISBN-10	1-4962-2230-X / 149622230X
ISBN-13	978-1-4962-2230-5 / 9781496222305
Zustand	Neuware