Celebrating Six Months Of Mediocrity

This week, The Rivalry turns six months old.

Hooray for us.

I can still recall when we started this thing up. We were looking at two home-and-home series between the Islanders and Rangers, one in March and one in April. Remember, the Islanders were still very much alive in the playoff picture at this point. We wanted to be up and running by the start of the first series, and we barely made the cutoff. Not that it really mattered - nobody knew who the hell we were at that point.

It took us a while to really get going, but we had some gems early on. I managed to call Kyle Okposo's promotion to the Islanders. Zach managed to call Wade Dubielewicz's departure at season's end. Zach tried to convert me into a Rangers fan; I refused.

And then the playoffs started, and we essentially became a Rangers blog. At least, it did after Zach shouted out the Capitals and I trashed my favorite team. Convinced it'd be the best thing for hockey if the Rangers made a playoff run, I even pledged my allegiance with the enemy. Zach complained about the officiating in the Devils series, and with good reason. Zach also prayed for a Rangers-Flyers playoff so he could eat cheesesteaks, while I wished for a potential Rangers-Penguins ratings bonanza. Zach was the first to grill Ryan Hollweg for blowing the Rangers' season, something I'm sure took a lot of guts, given Zach's status as the sole Ryan Hollweg jersey owner in the Tri-State Area. Zach then proceeded to write a two-sentence live blog of Game 5, followed by a bitter post that very night.

Once the Rangers finished losing to Bettman's Chosen Ones, we focused on the rest of the league. I noted the fifteen-year anniversary of David Volek's vanquishing of the Pens in '93, while Zach talked about American Idol and Point Break. We discussed retired numbers and Stanley Cup celebrations. Zach broke down the upcoming Rangers' season into three parts; I did the same for the Islanders, only in one extremely long post. Speaking of marathon posts, we live-blogged the NHL Entry Draft despite boisterously proclaming we couldn't care less about the Draft.

July 1 came around, and we were all over it with a record eight posts. Zach proclaimed he wouldn't be buying a ticket package next year, only to rescind his boast later on. I wrote about Sean Bergenheim's upcoming (and eventually, averted) arbitration hearing, which would mark the first time I noticed our stuff being ripped off. Ted Nolan got canned, I called them bringing in a minor-league coach to replace him, and Zach reasonably stated that the Isles could be pulling a tank job next year. And, to top off our highest-traffic month yet, we actually got credited with "breaking" news as it related to the Islanders' new third jersey.

August has been a slow month, but we're trying. Zach went to (and returned from) Vegas, while I discussed the Isles' new aimed-to-please ticket plans. We also devoted some time to hockey DVDs and books that we've given our seal of approval. Lastly, the Islanders made a few organizational moves.

So there you have it. Six months of The Rivalry, all summed up into one self-indulgent post. We hope to have as much to be proud of when we hit our one-year anniversary in February. With the season coming up and (hopefully) a trip to the Blog Box on the horizon, there's a lot to be excited about as we approach October. Here's hoping for quality performances by both teams.