TBC: We Want Fish Sticks

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you likely know that I'm a fan of the infamous New York Islanders' Fisherman jersey. That's not to say that I'm not fan of the traditional Islanders jersey nor am I trying to compare the two in terms of which one is better, but I always thought the Islanders were ahead of their time when the Fisherman debuted. The fact that the jerseys lasted for just two seasons after Islanders fans demanded the team go back to the original logo didn't get the jersey any sort of time to become part of the identity, and today's book looks at that as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders, written by Nicholas Hirshon and published by University of Nebraska Press. If you were looking for a direct examination into the reasons why the Fisherman jersey failed, this book pulls back the curtain on what happened in Nassau County!

From his biography on his website, Nicholas Hirshon, a former New York City journalist, is an associate professor of communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He holds a Bachelor's in Journalism from St. John's University, a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Ohio University. Hirshon won an AEJMC Promising Professors Award in 2014 and the Society of Professional Journalists' New Jersey Journalism Educator of the Year Award in 2019. 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 has published three books on New York City sports in his career.

We Want Fish Sticks is the kind of writing I appreciate because it feels like Hirshon pulled no punches in his quest to understand and illustrate the reasons why the New York Islanders' logo and jersey redesign in the mid-1990s failed so spectacularly. He doesn't sugar-coat stories nor does he soften the words he chooses to describe some of the evidence he provides. In what feels like a journalistic style, Hirshon simply states things matter-of-factly and lets readers come to their own conclusions through the evidence he presents.

For me, the key to We Want Fish Sticks being a credible and reliable source of information about an era that happened thirty years ago is that Hirshon spoke to "fifty-three hockey insiders" about that 1995-97 period of Islanders hockey. While Hirshon admittedly constructed the narrative of the book, these fifty-three insiders gave Hirshon their honest thoughts about that era in Islanders history. Players spoke of wearing the Fisherman jersey. Designers spoke of the process it took to get the logo and jersey onto NHL players. Others simply gave stories that seemed larger than life. In the end, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look inside the rebranding process of an NHL team.

Hirshon makes it clear in We Want Fish Sticks that there were missteps at almost every key point in the rebranding of the New York Islanders. Whether it be rushing to get it into production from the design aspect, ignoring market research, having a less-than-competitive NHL team, hiring the wrong people, absentee owners, and a con man who was eventually thrown in jail, all of these factors seemed to contribute to the Fisherman's failure. It wasn't one major problem, but We Want Fish Sticks points to the Islanders' rebrand failing due to death by a thousand cuts with the mistakes made.

Not surprisingly, Hirshon illustrates this well when he wrote,

"Within the franchise the logo quickly became a scapegoat for the Islanders' poor play. Only two months into the season the team already had two four-game losing streaks, and the players' dislike for the jerseys had them searching for other motivations to get through a long season. Rich Pilon said that he stayed driven by focusing on the men sitting beside him on the bench. "You put the jersey on for the team, so to look past that when you're wearing that jersey that I didn't care for on my side - lots of players didn't either - then you're playing for teammates, right?"

That kind of recap about how the first two months of wearing the Fisherman went likely doesn't give anyone a good feeling. One could say that the jerseys had nothing to do with how the team played which is true, but it seems like the Fisherman logo was emblematic of the problems behind the logo within the Islanders' franchise.

We Want Fish Sticks isn't all doom and gloom, though. Hirshon spoke of some of the positives that the franchise experienced during this time period as well. The emergence of players like Žigmund Pálffy and Travis Green gave fans hope for better times, and the acquisitions of Bryan Smolinski and Mathieu Schneider bolstered a lineup that needed some star power. Victories over the hated New York Rangers were celebrated by all Islanders fans, and people were jubilant over John Spano's reported puchase of the team until they weren't. We Want Fish Sticks highlights all of this and the fallout.

Overall, We Want Fish Sticks is an incredible look at the four-year period where the idea of an Islanders' rebrand began to its inception to its eventual end. Hirshon's interviews and research gives fans an incredible look into the NHL branding process while following the rather sad fortunes of the Fisherman Islanders jersey. We Want Fish Sticks won't change my view on the Fisherman jersey nor will it prompt me to sell the one I have, but Hirshon's incredible look at the New York Islanders' most forgettable period of time in their history is absolutely deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

We Want Fish Sticks was published in 2018, but it can still be ordered through the University of Nebraska Press website if one wants a copy. Alternatively, you might be able to find a copy at your local bookstore or library. No matter where you find a copy, We Want Fish Sticks is a good read for all hockey fans, especially New York Islanders fans, and is recommended for all without any of the mocking chants!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!