CH-CH-CH-CHANGES 

There is a lot of news that the faithful Howlers should know.

I started out this journey first as the Editor-in-Chief of the New York Rangers Fan Club newsletter. I put a lot of time and energy into re-establishing that once proud publication that was started by “The Maven” Stan Fischler and brought in real writers, including Stan, who contributed out of the goodness of their hearts and helped us to get some sort of respectability.

After several months, I was fortunate enough to have caught the attention of Dubi Silverstein. He had relatively recently purchased a magazine that I was totally unfamiliar with called Blueshirt Bulletin. I immediately took a great liking to Dubi. To this day, I have more respect for what he did there than I can remember having towards any other person. Dubi was a Rangers fan who had made a few bucks and decided to follow his dream and put out a first-rate magazine.  Mission Accomplished. 

Over time I was fortunate enough to have played an increasingly larger role in terms of helping the publication grow. WHile I wrote for the magazine, my input was primarily on the the website. You may recall how I came up with the idea and brought the readers the famous “Four-On-Fours” web chats. We had great guests and exciting conversations. Did you know that the “Four-On-Four” was Brandon Dubinsky’s first real exposure to the New York fans?  This was no easy task, but I had fun working on it with Dubi. I secured guests and coordinated their appearances and then was your on-line host.  At the time, there wasn’t the software that is so readily available to web sites. We had to do it the hard way. Dubi took on the Herculean task to read the hundreds of notes that would come pouring in, then acknowledge them and get them out there. He did it extremely fast and didn’t miss a beat. It was extremely hard work.

At first out primary concern with Blueshirt Bulletin was “YOUR New York Rangers…” But as time moved on, it was totally clear to everyone involved that in terms of the magazine, there was more than adequate coverage of the Rangers and from far better and more talented writers than yours truly. What also hastened the change was a real and growing deep interest on our part in the Hartford Wolf Pack.  

Dubi and I agreed to turn my attention solely to the American League prospects. Not only do I not regret it, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.  That was when Howlings was born.

When I learned from Dubi that he had decided to sell the publication, I was saddened to hear it. I knew how much the magazine had meant to Dubi and had personally seen how hard he worked to make that publication work to get out of the red and bring a viable and first class publication to the marketplace. I could not have been more proud of my association with the magazine, but more so with Dubi.

Well, all of that has changed.

A young man named Dan Akeson has purchased the magazine now from Dubi. Akeson has a lot of ideas on how he’s going to do this and that with the magazine and do what Dubi and other owners of the magazine from the past had done and turn a profit. He’s trying to bring new media into the picture to get it out there and that’s fine. Young guys always have big ideas on how they are going to change the world. When I was in radio back at the same age I thought…and accomplished that very thing.

But there was always one thing back then that I always had and that was a respect for the people who put the radio station I was working for where it was. Well, unfortunately in terms of Akeson, that’s NOT the case.

Two people had a gigantic impact on me and this path I’ve chosen to follow. Dubi, who has the patience of a Saint when it came to dealing with me and Bruce Berlet. Bruce worked for better than 30 years for the Hartford Courant. His influence is immeasurable.  Bruce taught me the very meaning of professionalism. When he had no reason to do it other than the goodness of his heart and even though I was covering some of the areas that he was making money with, he took me under his wing and gave me so much I cannot even begin to explain it to you.  Words also cannot possibly do justice to the influence he’s had not only on me professionally, but also on how much he’s helped me personally as well. Bruce is like a big brother to me and I love him for it.

Well, In the last few days Akeson decided to bypass Bruce (and me for that matter) and decided to add someone else to the Wolf Pack beat. That’s of course well within his right. But what gets my goat is how Bruce and I found out about it.

When Akeson decided to expand the coverage of the Pack, did he call Bruce and ask if he was interested in this “paid position?” NO! Were either of us approached and asked how we felt about it? NO! Akeson went out, hired a kid right out of college and gave him the job. This hire, again well within his right to do, is a big problem for me. This hire, and the way that it was handled undermined all of the hard work, time, sacrifices and money that I’ve put into building up Howlings. By getting him fully credentialed and, and in the manner he conducted himself, he showed us who he is as a person. It’s a character that we do not want to have anything to do with…which is our right. 

Now, certainly it can be interprettted that this is sour grapes or that I’m acting awfully petty and childish , and to some degree you would  be right. However, loyalty is the very heart of our existence…not just in terms of the employment world, but in life in general. I am thoroughly disgusted that Bruce was stepped over. He could have done not only a better job, but it would have meant a lot to Bruce personally. I’m infuriated and completely disgusted. But what was worst of all was the way that we found out about this move.

Bruce and I were on the phone discussing this and that about a variety of topics when his lovely wife Nancy came in the room. She asked Bruce if he knew that he and I had been replaced. She said that she had just read it on the new Blueshirt Bulletin Facebook fan page.  At first we both thought this was some kind of a joke. That was until we bothwent to the page and saw it there for ourselves.

I can’t explain it in exactly, but it felt like a knife had just been driven straight through my back and into my heart. 

Unlike Bruce, who has far too much class to carry on, I immediately wrote Akeson to get to the bottom of this. What I received back from him was nothing but an email filled with  justifications and alibis along with the least sincere apology you’d ever read. I was incensed! There was NO apology for stabbing us in the back. The only thing there was was an apology for a mistake in making it public before they were ready to release it.

“This won’t affect what you’re doing…” That’s what he told me. Sure it won’t.

Well, after exchanging several angry emails I made the decision that with Dubi gone from the magazine and a young man like Akeson, who clearly had no respect for all that we brought to the publication or here on Howlings, we decided that enough is enough and that for us it’s time to move on. 

We will still be bringing you all that we have here on Howlings. We will be looking at adding new features and more information and also to have a few laughs along the way.  But one thing is for certain; we’ll be doing it without Blueshirt Bulletin.

You’ll also notice that Howlings is in the midst of a change in its look. The reason for that is Dubi owned the location where Howlings was originally and he is still loyal to the publication and we respect that. We wouldn’t be ANYWHERE near as “professional” in what we bring her if not for Dubi and we have no intention whatsoever of putting him in the middle of this.

We also don’t want to put you Howlers in the middle of this either. We really thought that an explanation for our leaving Blueshirt Bulletin was  necessary.

If you feel we are wrong in feeling the way we do, or that we’re overreacting or whatever word you chose to use to describe how you feel about this, we respect that.

If your choice is to leave Howlings as a reader we’re sorry to see you go. Conversely if you are going to continue to read this site and be a part of it moving forward we are grateful as well.

If you have suggestions as to things you’d like to see us do here in terms of coverage or features. We do want to hear them. Leave a comment and we will respond in the best way that we can.

What’s done is done and it’s time to move on…

As Howard Jones sang back in the 80’s, “Things can only get better…”

Now for crying out loud, isn’t there a hockey game to talk about?