About this item
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.
About the Author
A former New York City journalist, Dr. Nicholas Hirshon is an assistant professor of communication at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor's in journalism from St. John's University (2006) , a Master's in journalism from Columbia University (2008) , and a doctorate in mass communication from Ohio University (2016) .Hirshon was previously a reporter at the New York Daily News (2005-2011) , where he amassed more than 1,000 bylines covering a mixture of breaking and community news. He also wrote three series that sparked efforts to save historic sites such as the former home of baseball player Jackie Robinson and the longest continuously operated movie theater in the United States. In 2010, Hirshon received an award from a prominent historic preservation group, the Historic Districts Council, for his coverage of forgotten sites in the borough of Queens. He has also freelanced for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hockey News.Hirshon has written two books, Images of America: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (2010) , on the Long Island arena known for hosting the NHL's New York Islanders, and Images of America: Forest Hills (2013) , about the New York City neighborhood that hosted the U.S. Open tennis tournament for six decades. He has been interviewed about his books by the CBS television affiliate in New York City and the radio station that airs Islanders games.Hirshon has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Journalism History, the International Journal of Sport Communication, and Case Studies in Sport Management. His research has also been recognized with awards and honors at several academic conferences. In 2015, his paper on New York City Mayor John Lindsay's groundbreaking association with the 1969 New York Mets received the Outstanding Student Paper Award from the American Journalism Historians Association.Before joining the faculty at William Paterson, Hirshon taught journalism at Ohio University (2013-2016) , St. John's University (2010-2013) , and LaGuardia Community College in the City University of New York (2009-2013) . Hirshon has received several major awards for his teaching, including an AEJMC Promising Professors Award in 2014. In 2015, his Ohio University students nominated him for a Graduate Associate Outstanding Teaching Award, and he became the first journalism instructor to win the award in eight years. He is currently the faculty adviser for the William Paterson student newspaper, the Pioneer Times.
