Review of "Hammered"

While the reading volume has slowed down as I get busy with the holiday season and work at my full time job picking up, that doesn't mean that the books I do get to read are any less interesting.  This one is a good example - the memoir of former hockey enforcer Dave Schultz. 

Title/Author:

“Hammered: The Fight of My Life” by Dave Schultz with Dan Robson

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Hockey fans will recognize the name Dave Schultz, even if they were not around to witness his legendary fights on the ice. He was one of the early “enforcers” in hockey, who would often fight or cause other ruckus on the ice. This was usually done to protect star players or to send a message to the other team that our team will not back down. His record of 472 penalty minutes in the 1974-75 season still stands. He tells his story in this memoir written with Dan Robson.

The book starts off very dark, with Schultz sharing a scenario where he is in a fight – but it is not on the ice.  Instead, he talks about provoking a fight with a bartender.  That was an attention grabber, and it worked to grab the attention of this reader. It was a good metaphor about his fight against his alcoholism.  He would fight (argue and resist, not with fists like the metaphor) those who tried to help him such as ex-teammate Bill Clement.  He would fight while in treatment.  Once done, he would fight (and still is fighting) to try to stay clean.

There are other fights he talks about, such as trying to suppress the memory of being sexually assaulted when he was a child.  He never shared that with family, his wife nor others until recently.  He was also fighting off depression over his losses, especially those of his brother and father, as well as his divorce. 

While this sounds like an unhappy book, it really isn’t as bad as this description sounds.  It is clear that he is working his way through them.  He talks about many happy memories with family and especially while in hockey.  His best days in the NHL were with the Philadelphia Flyers and he shares excellent accounts of not only his play, but that of his team when the Flyers won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. What is also notable about this part of the book is how he recalls the Flyers and himself in particular drawing the ire of NHL President Clarence Campbell for the rough style of play that helped the Flyers win. 

Schultz did not end his career with the Flyers, as he also played for the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.  He did not find the same joy with those teams like he did with the Flyers and like his other battles mentioned above, he was fighting off bouts of anger when playing for those teams.  While the book overall is not a happy one nor is it one where Schultz comes off as looking for sympathy or redemption, I found it an interesting read as someone who is realizing what life has thrown at him and his way of addressing it as he enters the latter stages of life.  It made for an interesting read.

I wish to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: Hammered: The Fight of My Life: 9780735247017: Schultz, Dave, Robson, Dan, Parent, Bernie: Books

Review of "Built to Lose"

A hot topic in sports today is "tanking" - purposely losing in order to improve a team's draft position in their respective sport.  While it is talked about in all the major sports, this book concentrates on basketball and the NBA and does a good job of teaching the reader the management and culture of those teams who have engaged in the practice.  Here is my review of "Built to Lose."

Title/Author: “Built to Lose: How the NBA’s Tanking Era Changed the League Forever” by Jake Fisher

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  In basketball, more than any other professional sport, one draft pick can make or break a team’s future success.  Therefore, draft picks, or more correctly, draft capital, are considered a very valuable commodity.  Because the NBA draft lottery does not guarantee that the worst teams will get the first pick, some teams may want to accumulate draft capital in addition to losing more games, known as “tanking”, in order to improve their draft position.  How this was done by some NBA franchises in the five year period between 2013 to 2018 is chronicled in this very good book by Jake Fisher.

Fisher conducted many interviews with players, coaches and team management personnel to collect the information and stories he uses throughout the book and it provides very good insight into the workings of those teams who sought to improve their draft capital.  While several teams are discussed in the book, the primary focus was on the Philadelphia 76ers and their “process”, as it was called, in obtaining draft capital at the expense of wins.  They came very close to breaking their own record for the worst full season but did get some valuable picks. 

Other teams include two that might surprise people – the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.  While both of those storied franchises may not come to mind when the subject is tanking, they did fit the profile that Fisher gives to teams who may lose many games, trade veteran players for draft picks or realize that it may be more beneficial to try to gain draft capital instead of chasing a low playoff spot.  The results are mixed – the Celtics and Lakers did not take long to go back to their winning ways while others, such as the 76ers (on the rise, but not a champion yet) or the Minnesota Timberwolves (still struggling at the time of the book’s publication) have not seen the fruits of this type of management.

While the book is a good look at this type of management of a basketball franchise, the stories jump around and at times it’s hard to keep up with all the different names and stories being discussed.  Because of that, no one team’s experience is described fully.  Not even the 76ers’ story could be considered complete here.  There is another book on their process that is recommended if the reader wants to know more about them specifically – “Tanking to the Top” by Yaron Weitzman.  But if a reader wants to learn more about this type of management in a more general sense, this is good reference.

Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Built-Lose-Tanking-Changed-Forever-ebook/dp/B091FVVKFR/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647543251&sr=1-1

Review of "Grim Reaper"

As a huge hockey fan, I am one who doesn't enjoy fighting in the game. I believe it has its place but I don't get as pumped up for a fight at a game as other fans.  That said, some of the better hockey memoirs/biographies I have read are about those players who make a living in the game with their fists.  This is another good book written by a player who was an enforcer, Stu Grimson.  Here is my review of "Grim Reaper"

Title/Author:

“The Grim Reaper: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Warrior” by Stu Grimson

Tags:

Ice Hockey, memoir, professional, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Ducks, Kings, Flames, Whalers, Predators

Publish date:

October 15, 2019

Length:

324 pages

Rating:

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

The life of a hockey player who is called an “enforcer”, a “fighter” or a “goon” is quite different than the life of other hockey players. They play fewer minutes, are asked to perform a duty in which they face great risk of injury, their careers can be much shorter than those of other players, they can play in relative anonymity and they also switch teams frequently.  Aside from a short career, this is pretty accurate for Stu Grimson who has written a very good memoir about his time as an enforcer.

Having read good books on other enforcers such as Bob Probert and Derek Boogardt, I picked this one up with high expectations and it did not disappoint.  It did not follow the usual format from youth to college or junior hockey to the pros to life after hockey. While all of these life cycle events are covered by Grimson with many great stories, the book does skip around at times, especially when he is discussing his life after hockey. 

Despite that, reading about important events in his life other than hockey was very enjoyable, something that usually isn’t the case with sports memoirs. His time working as an attorney for the NHL Players Association was very intriguing, especially when he was fired from the position by the person whom he helped attain the director position of the union. He also talks about meeting his birth parents (he and his sister were adopted) and the fact that his birth father was also a professional athlete (played football in the Canadian Football League) and became a lawyer after his playing days were over is just an amazing coincidence.

Readers who prefer to read about his hockey career will also be happy as he shares many stories of his fights on the ice, his trouble with rules during junior hockey and through it all, he always wondered if this was the best path to make a career in the sport. He repeatedly states at every stop in his professional career (there were many, as he played for seven different NHL teams, including two stints with the Anaheim Ducks) he states he would do whatever he needed to do in order to contribute to the success of his team.  From the descriptions of some of his actions, there was no reason to believe otherwise.

His description of fights, especially one in which Dave Brown broke the orbital bone of Grimson early in his career when he played on the Blackhawks. It was almost gruesome to read the details of not only the injury but how Brown threw the punches.  However, there was no hard feelings between the two players and Brown did show concern.  That is part of the code present among enforcers in the NHL and Grimson talks often about that and displays much respect for his fellow fighters who obey these unwritten rules.

Whether or not one enjoys fighting as part of the game, hockey fans should pick up this book and get a very good perspective into the life and mind of those players whose main job is not to score goals or keep the puck out of the net, but instead have to use their fists to provide value to their teams.

I wish to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

                                                                       

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)                                                                                                                                

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735237247/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0735237247&linkCode=as2&tag=netg01-20

Review of "Ice Capades"

I will never be mistaken for being a fan of either Sean Avery or the New York Rangers.  However, when I saw that advance review copies were available of his new memoir, I had to read it for curiosity.  After reading it, I am still not a fan - but it was a good book.  Here is my review of "Ice Capades."

Title/Author:

“Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey” by Sean Avery and Michael McKinley

Tags:

Ice hockey, professional, memoir, Rangers, Kings, Red Wings, Stars

Publish date:

October 24, 2017

Length:

356 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Sean Avery was a very polarizing figure when he was playing in the NHL. Fans would love him (especially if he was playing for their favorite team) or hate him.  He had a few controversial moments.  He loved living the high life, whether it was parties, women or fashion.  He covers his hockey career both on and off the ice in this memoir written with Michael McKinley.

This memoir is different than the typical sports memoir for several reasons.  The biggest difference is that nearly the entire book is dedicated to his professional hockey career.  There is very little space devoted to his childhood or teenage years and aside from his wedding to supermodel Hilary Rhoda, there is very little post-hockey life covered as well.  So, if it is hockey the reader wants, the reader will get it as Avery writes about his ups and downs with the Detroit Red Wings, his experiences on and off the ice in Los Angeles playing for the Kings, his absolutely miserable brief stint with the Dallas Stars and finally his favorite part of his career – the time he played for the New York Rangers.

Avery was known for a few controversial incidents and he talks about them with candor. He does defend himself for not only the well-publicized ones, such as the vulgar remark made in Dallas when trying to trash talk to another player, but for others not as well known, such as selling his complementary tickets to a ticket broker who in turn put them out on the market.  He also talks about the “Avery Rule”, laughing about the fact how a non-superstar player like him can rattle a legendary goalie (Martin Brodeur) so much that a rule was made with his name prohibiting facing the goalie in order to screen him. 

If reading about the party life that Avery had that the reader wants, he or she will be in for a treat, as there is plenty of material on that as well.  He especially writes about that during his stint in Los Angeles, where he describes many of his experiences with clarity. It was there where he first mingled with the famous and even his first serious relationship was with a celebrity – actress Rachel Hunter, who was married to Rod Stewart before dating Avery.  Through the book, especially in Los Angeles and New York, he does some serious name dropping of celebrities he has encountered.

Reading about a lot of these parties started to get boring, but once he got to New York, the book is a much better reading experience.  While I have never been a fan of Avery or the Rangers, it is clear how much Rangers fans love Avery and in turn he loves them and the city back.  He got serious about wanting to put roots down in New York and made serious plans for running a business and getting into the fashion industry once he was through with hockey.  This is something many professional athletes neglect and wind up struggling with finances.  Avery instead made sure this would not happen and at the same time, he settled down with a woman who he truly loved and loved him.  It isn’t right to say that he matured as the book progressed, but by the end it was clear Avery was a different man than the hard playing, hard partying person he was in Detroit and Los Angeles.

The aforementioned fans who love Avery will want to pick this book up as will Rangers fans.  For those like me who are not big fans of him, the book is still one that is worth the time as it is entertaining, gives an inside look at life both on and off the ice.

I wish to thank Blue Rider Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Capades-Memoir-Living-Hockey-ebook/dp/B01NCU2W38/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/ice+capades?_requestid=112296

Review of "Gretzky's Tears"

There are dates that are significant in history - significant enough that one will remember what he or she was doing on that date when the historical event happened.  August 9, 1988 is one of those dates for hockey fans (I was on deployment in the US Navy, in the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Spain) as the Wayne Gretzky trade happened.  An excellent book about that trade was written by sportswriter Stephen Brunt, and this is my review of that book, "Gretzky's Tears." 

Title/Author:

“Gretzky’s Tears: Hockey, America and the Day Everything Changed” by Stephen Brunt

Tags:

Ice Hockey, professional, Oilers, Kings

Published:

November 1, 2009

Length:

304 pages

Rating:

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

August 9, 1988 is a date that has become famous in hockey history.  It was the date that Wayne Gretzky, considered by many to be the greatest hockey player to ever lace up skates, was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings.  At the time, the Oilers were a hockey dynasty, having won the Stanley Cup four of the past five seasons, while the Kings were barely a blip in Los Angeles and even in their own building, playing second fiddle to basketball’s Los Angeles Lakers. 

The trade left not only Edmonton, but the entire country of Canada in shock and despair.  Los Angeles suddenly became a hockey hotbed and Kings games were must-see events, complete with celebrity guests.  However, the burning question remained: why was this trade made?  Why was the face of an entire sport traded from a team in the country where hockey is the national sport to a franchise in a warm-weather city?  This question is covered from many different angles in this excellent book by Stephen Brunt.

Having read some of Brunt’s work earlier, I was looking forward to his writing on this event that stunned the entire sports world. The title of the book came from the fact that Gretzky was shedding tears at the press conference announcing the trade, stating that he was leaving Edmonton with a heavy heart and was sad to be going.  Brunt’s research reveals that there was much more to this press conference than simply Gretzky showing his emotions.  There is evidence that some, Brunt included, believe that this wasn’t the case at all, but instead something that Gretzky actually wanted.

The owners of the two teams and architects of the trade, Peter Pocklington of the Oilers and Bruce McNall of the Kings, are subjects that Brunt covered quite well in both his research and writing.  Neither man comes off looking very good in this book, and given the endings for both of them, especially McNall, I believed that this was an accurate portrayal of them.  McNall especially was portrayed as a complex figure, building his fortune in a Ponzi-type scheme and then have it come crashing down.  However, more than just acquiring Gretzky for his team, McNall has grandiose plans for the entire sport and had a more than willing accomplice in Commissioner Gary Bettman.  These were far-reaching plans that, as Brunt points out, are still being felt more than 20 years after the trade.

Not only does Brunt expose the roles of the three main people of the trade, he also dispels some myths about the trade, such as Gretzky was demanding the trade because his wife, Janet Jones, was an aspiring actress. This comparison to Yoko Ono was a popular tabloid topic in Canada, but Brunt dismisses that rumor as well as others and gets down to the real reason – the backroom discussions and dealings that all three men were involved in.

Stephen Brunt has written another winner with this book and is the most comprehensive account of not only the trade itself, but also what became of the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers after the trade.  The research into Pocklington and McNall is also first-rate.  This is a must-read for any hockey fan interested in learning more about how this one transaction transformed the game.

Did I skim?

No

Pace of the book:

Excellent as I read this book very quickly.  It moved along seamlessly from Gretzky to Pocklington to McNall and then to all parties involved in the trade. 

Do I recommend?

All hockey fans should read this in-depth account of the trade that stunned the sports world and changed the culture of a sport, most likely for good

Book Format Read:

EBook (Nook)

Buying Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Gretzkys-Tears-America-Everything-Changed-ebook/dp/B00KK6BAWQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gretzkys-tears-stephen-brunt/1018753952?ean=9781600783043