Please. The Islanders are not polling fans to divine "what to do" with the #1 pick.
In Greg Logan's "On the Islanders Beat" blog, he rather oddly highlights Michael Farber's "thumbs down" to the Islanders on TSN's "The Reporters" for the Isles' fan draft trip contest.
What's sad is the whole thing is moot and could have been avoided if Farber simply acknowledged that what the Islanders are doing is not, in fact, asking fans who they should draft -- rather, they're getting fans excited in the process by offering them a trip for two to the 2009 draft in Montreal. The hook for the contest is to "play GM" and "tell Garth Snow" who you would pick and why. Aside from those who myopically take it too seriously, it's pretty basic fan entertainment marketing, no?
Instead, Farber apparently chose to play in an alternate reality and take a tired cheapshot at Islanders management (and fans). it baffles to think why Farber used his spot up on this:
"My thumb is down to the New York Islanders, who have decided to poll fans about what to do with the number one draft choice. There are great hockey scouts right there, and they know what they're doing. This is an insult - one, to your scouts. ... But if you are listening to your fans, it's an insult because you're pandering people who don't know what they're doing."
One might question what it is, exactly, Farber is doing.
I mean, what can you say? Unless this was all completey tongue-in-cheek -- or unless Charles Wang has secretly chosen to change the GM role to rule by fan committee -- what merit is there in the "larger point" Logan says his peer Farber is making? Does anyone really think Garth Snow is going to make the most important player personnel decision in this franchise's future based on fan input in a contest? Does anyone really think Islanders scouts are going to be overruled? (Garth to his scouts: "Thanks for your hard work this season guys, but Mike Mensa of Uniondale says he really likes Duchene's leadership.")
Does anyone think Garth Snow isn't going to base his decision purely on the best information and personal opinion he has? Does anyone think that an Islanders scout who votes another way is going to think he was overruled by fan input -- and consequently feel insulted? (If so, he probably doesn't deserve to be an NHL scout, much less a gainfully employed human.)
Or, to the point, did Farber bother to read or check into what the fan contest was about?
And reporters wonder why people tar "the media"...