New York Islanders center Micheal Haley(notes) is scheduled to appear at Tattoo Lou's, a Long Island-based parlor that's been in business for 50 years. Hockey player gets a tattoo ... nothing too ground-breaking there, right?
Actually, there is: Haley is getting inked at the "official tattoo shop of the New York Islanders Hockey Club", which announced the partnership on Friday by saying it's "the first time a professional sports franchise has ever designated an official tattoo shop."As part of the deal, Tattoo Lou's will set up a tattooing and body-piercing station on the Nassau Coliseum concourse for 10 Islanders home games during the 2011-12 season, selling jewelry and clothing there as well. From Darren Rovell:
This being the Islanders and this being an out-of-the-box idea, it's been met with the expected ridicule and incredulity. The Village Voice wrote: "You can have Shake Shack while watching the Mets and eat Sushi in Yankee Stadium; it's only appropriate that you can pay someone to jab you with needles during an Islanders game." Josh Rimer from XM Home Ice even worried about the digestive ramifications of the tattoo stand:
Well, that depends on the girl. And the hot dog. Please, allow us a moment to share some information and lend some context about why the "official tattoo shop of the New York Islanders Hockey Club" is wholly appropriate and a welcome addition. Guess Who Likes Tattoos? Everyone at an Islanders Game
Step into an NHL locker room in 2011 and you'll see more ink than in comic book store run by a family of squid. Not just on dudes like Ryan Malone; hell, rookies are getting tats 24 hours after they win the Stanley Cup.
Step into an NHL arena, and you're going to see more than a few fans who have, wait for it, tattoos. It's a rough-and-tumble game that attracts rough-and-tumble types. I would argue, quite successfully I imagine, that a tattoo parlor has more relevance to those attending a professional hockey game than a Dippin' Dots stand. And yet there's a Dippin' Dots on, like, every concourse.
Step into Long Island, and you'll meet a bunch of young dudes in muscle T-shirts who wear too much cologne, leave the club at dawn and have a bunch of tattoos of varying degrees of appropriateness. What, you thought the cast from "Jersey Shore" were from Jersey? (Granted, they're from Staten Island, but the point still stands.)
Step into the tattoo parlor at an Islander game and know that it belongs there. Community Outreach
Here's what the Islanders discovered this summer: Not enough people in town like them right now.
That even when an election is held on a Monday in August, there isn't enough community support for the franchise to get it funding for a new arena.
So short of a dramatic reversal of on-ice fortunes — and that's a work in progress — the Islanders have to do what they can to (a) fill the seats and (b) endear themselves to the community. While the deal with the cupcake shop was nice and all, this relationship with a local business seems like a more natural fit. And the more the Islanders build these bonds with the community, the better it'll be for the franchise.