There’s no “I” in #ders

The Islanders brand-management-concious marketing department may never speak to me again, but…

A friend of mine, who’s a big sports fan but is relatively new to hockey, began following the Islanders when I started working here. He quickly became a fan and now sends me text-messages a few times per game about how the team is looking.

He essentially became an Islanders fan in a vacuum, separate from the Isles community and uninfluenced by 40 years of Islanders history.

Though he’s aware of the club’s preferred nickname of “isles” (as endorsed by the club’s official twitter feed), in recent texts, this Islanders outsider started endearingly referring to his team as the “‘ders.”

As in, “Ders look sharp tonight,” or “Nice win for the Ders.”

I think his new nickname is totally fetch (do Mean Girls references still register with the general public?), plus it could put an end to some annoying “Isles”-specific problems…

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Top 5 reasons to go ‘ders over isles

5. Horrible tweets about “Isles and Glaciers” or “Rizzoli and Isles” will stop filling up our twitter feeds.

4. You pronounce every “S” in “ders.” (Silent letters may alienate illiterate Islanders fans.)

3. “You’re an isles fan? Like, the Greek Isles? Canned food aisles?”

2. Crowd chants: “Go Ders Go” or “Let’s Go Ders.” (Has “isles” ever been used in a chant?)

1. There’s no “I” in “ders.”

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(Go #ders)