Many Islanders fans who subscribe to DirecTV were irate last
night upon discovering that after 1� years of waiting, most
of the team's season opener against the Sabres was blacked
out in their homes.
"I'm dying over here," said Tracy Mulligan of North
Bellmore, who said she was wearing an Islanders replica
jersey in anticipation of the game. "I feel like we need a
penalty shot. This is not fair."
Said Bill Caffrey of Brentwood: "Isn't it unbelievable? They
don't play games for a year and a half and you can't even
watch now. Unbelievable."
Fans flooded DirecTV customer service lines, called the
Newsday sports office and commiserated with one another from
Queens to Suffolk County.
Bob Marsocci, a DirecTV spokesman, was unsure late last
night what caused the problem, other than perhaps a
technical glitch.
Marsocci said customers were given a free look at games
around the league under the NHL Center Ice package, and
several fans who spoke to Newsday confirmed they were able
to watch every opening night game other than
Islanders-Sabres and Devils-Penguins.
Those games were blacked out on the Center Ice channels but
should have been available on regular local channels, in
this case MSG and FSNY, respectively, according to Marsocci.
Instead, fans said they could not find Islanders-Sabres or
Devils-Penguins games anywhere on DirecTV.
"I waited 18 months and now I can't see my favorite team,"
Al Fazziola of Levittown said