Howdy friends, it's been some time since I last posted here, and I felt that today, of all days, would be an appropriate day to do so.

You see, today is an historic day for the Blue and Orange faithful.  Today is the day the Islanders figuratively came home.  They have to actually build the house still, but the plans are now in place for the New York Islanders Hockey Club to return to Nassau County after several years away on another part of Long Island that is not part of Long Island depending on who you ask.  But let's not get into that.

Today it was announced that the team that Bill Torrey built would in the coming years call Belmont Park home and sit aside the storied Horse Track where Secretariat claimed the Triple Crown. 

There is an irony and a sense of poetic justice here.  It wasn't long ago that the Nassau County and Town of Hempstead politicians were saying they didn't need the New York Islanders.  They could renovate the Nassau Coliseum and make it viable without a professional sports team.  Fast forward a few years after that, and for the last year and a half, the County and the Town have been practically grovelling for the Islanders to return to the Coliseum.  Not specifically to the county, but to that piece of property?  Why?  Because the Islanders were entertaining the idea of going somewhere else, where the county and the town had no say.

Nassau and Hempstead had their chance and they blew it, so the Islanders decided to try their hand with New York State instead when the RFP was opened for the Belmont property asking for a state of the art year round sports, entertainment, and retail facility.  For years, Nassau County and Suffolk tried to get Charles Wang to agree to a non-viable privately funded scaled down version of his vision.  The problem was, in order for that to work for Charles Wang with private funding, he'd need the things they wanted him to get rid of.  Now, in sweet sweet irony, all of the items from that toned down project are going to be built 10 miles west.  Outside of the control of one of the most corrupt towns on Long Island and on property not owned or controlled by one of the most corrupt counties in the state.  All to be completed while most of the "Hub" is still a vacant lot. 

Sure there will be plenty of tax revenue and retail profit for the area, but no parking profit for Nassau County.  No slice off the top for the Town of Hempstead.  And that's a beautiful thing.

Think about this if you will.  In the span of a year, local businesses as well as the retail within the confines of the new Belmont arena will be able to entertain profits from potentially the Belmont Stakes, NHL Playoff hockey, an NHL All Star game, and countless concerts including, who knows, maybe a Billy Joel residency some day. 

All of this while the coliseum sits there and festers.  Cronieism and bureaucracy made this bed and now the people responsible get to lie in it.

Meanwhile after years of suffering the Islanders faithful have something to celebrate.  We're going home, to a place that will be all ours, built just for us, brand spanking new, and with all of the bells and whistles. 

We don't know what it's going to be called yet, but I can guarantee I'll be telling you to meet me at the Horse Track.  ;)