Feudal Tales

I just finished reading Blood Feud: The Inside Story of Pro Sports' Nastiest and Best Rivalry of Its Era by Adrian Dater, a reporter for the Denver Post. My stepsons gave it to me as a Christmas gift and I waited to read it because I had a feeling it was going to be good. I wasn't disappointed. It's great!

Though Dater covers the Avalanche for the Post, he makes every effort not to be a homer and the book is very balanced. He details how both sides contributed to the rivalry and why both teams felt so strongly about it. Scotty Bowman wrote the introduction.

There are extensive interviews with Darren McCarty, Claude Lemieux, Kris Draper, Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon. The insight into the players' motivations was fascinating. For those of us who don't play pro sports or cover it for the media, this is the closest thing we'll get to being out there. Mike Vernon tells you exactly what was going through his head when he skated out to fight Roy; Darren McCarty tells you what it felt like to pummel Lemieux in front of screaming Joe fans. Highly recommended. My only complaint is that the book could have used more photos.

Now I'm on to finishing The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL by Ross Bernstein. This book's style is choppier -- it seems like Bernstein put a series of magazine articles together to make a book, so there's lots of repetition, which gets tedious. I'll give you a full report after I finish.

Mac Might Be Back

Ken Holland says he's close to offering Darren McCarty a contract before next week's trade deadline. I have one word for that: awesome.

The naysayers will complain that I'm living in the past. Mac's time was years ago, he's not the player he was, he's out of condition, yada yada yada. Well then why is everyone in the hockey world making such a big fuss about Peter Forsberg's possible return? Talk about living in the past. I'd sign Darren McCarty to a contract tomorrow over Peter Forsberg.

Very few players wore the winged wheel sweater with more passion and heart and pride than McCarty. Yes, he had problems. Yes, he made some bad decisions. But the guy is now giving it his all, trying to turn his life around and put things in order.

Two events always come to mind when I think of McCarty: his pummeling of Claude Lemieux in retribution for Lemieux's cheap hit on Kris Draper and his scoring the Cup-winning goal in '97, beating Flyers' superstar Janne Niinimaa in a great dispy-doodle move and then deking out Hextall to win it all.

While I don't for a second doubt the current Wings' commitment to winning the Cup this year, they need a little more grit, just a touch more volatile passion. Danny Cleary and Aaron Downey have it, but Cleary's out with a broken jaw and Downey's minutes aren't that high. McCarty can ignite a home crowd the minute he steps on the ice. With all the injuries and the still-fresh losing streak, Detroit needs that right now.

Why I Love Toronto

Let me count the ways... (and yes, most of them involve hockey)

1. My brother lives close by, on a lake, so I always have a free place to stay. :)

2. Seeing a game at the ACC is soooo much better than going to the Wachovia Center in Philly. Even if you're wearing the opposing team's sweater (as my brother and I were on Saturday), you can still have a friendly and intelligent conversation with the Leafs fans sitting behind you. We talked about why Hudler was a healthy scratch, how much none of us liked Kabina, the amazingness of Datsyuk and Zetterberg and why we all want Darcy Tucker to start scoring. No one was out of hand and everyone had an excellent time. Though those of us who wanted the Wings to win were slightly disappointed. Plus the program is beautiful. High quality printing, nice paper, all four-color photos and in-depth pieces on both Leafs and Wings. Much better than the flimsy program the Flyers sell that just tells you how great all the Flyers are, no matter what the real story is.

3. Everyone is nice. From the folks on the street to the vendors in the Air Canada Center, everyone was quite friendly and helpful and smiling. That's a far cry from Philly where people shove you out of the way to get in the beer line and flip you off in the parking lot if you walk in front of them. It was a nice surprise, considering the Canadian dollar is much stronger than U.S. currency right now, so they don't even need our stinkin' American dollars.

4. You can talk hockey with anyone. You also won't be considered a freak because you know the names of the referees and linesmen.

5. And speaking of money, I love the Loonie.

6. The CBC covered Hockey Day in Canada *all day*. It was great to see Ron McLean and Don Cherry in Winkler. This coming weekend is Hockey Day in the U.S. I'm sure it won't be on TV anywhere.

7. Singing "Oh Canada" rocks, while singing the U.S. national anthem is torturous.

8. The new Canadian McDonald's ads featuring goalie J.C. Petite. "Nice try, Nogoalov" cracks me up every time. J.C. may replace the Hockey Falls guys in my heart.

9. Snow!! We still have no snow in Philly. In February. Winter is all about snow in my book. The more the better.

10. Canadian average beer is better than U.S. average beer. Give me a Blue or a Canadian over a Coors Light anyday.

Hockey Day in Canada

This Saturday, Feb. 9 is Hockey Day in Canada. And it's hockey day in Canada for me, too! I'm driving up to Toronto to see the Wings play the Leafs thanks to my wonderful brother, who lives just outside of TO, scoring tickets. I have to stop and get him cigarettes at the duty-free shop as payment. I hate that he smokes, but he's a long-time adult and I guess he gets to do what he wants, even if he is my little brother.

I'm hoping it's a good game and not a rout for either side. Though since the Leafs lost 8-0 to the Panthers on Tuesday, the advantage has to go to the Wings.

Oh, and congrats to Ron Hextall for going into the Flyers Hall of Fame. It's about time!

Hockey Falls

Back before the lockout, Bud Light ran ads featuring "the hockey guys" from Hockey Falls. Barry Melrose, Bill Clement, Brian Engblom and the Espsito brothers made regular appearances. The guys were hilarous: mullets, always sporting their favorite teams' jerseys and always watching Hockey Night in Canada. I was so sad when the guys didn't reappear after the NHL resumed playing. I even wrote to Budweiser asking them to reconsider. No dice. But some kind soul has put them all up on YouTube. "Look At Her" is my favorite! Clement's mullet, Melrose's foils...I can't stop laughing. Thanks a heap to dirtsoft for posting these. You made my day!

My Brother Rocks

My brother Brian, who lives in Toronto, just called to tell me that he has an extra ticket for the Red Wings-Leafs game on Feb. 9! 25 rows up! Now I just have figure out how to get to TO that weekend. Whee!

Random All-Star Thoughts

Whoever booked the music for the All-Star game did a great job! The Hives played "Tick, Tick, Tick Boom" before the game started and then played music while the players were introduced. Then Kathleen Edwards sang "Oh Canada." The NHL finally hired someone with cool taste in music.

Rick Nash got robbed of a truck. Either Nash or Nabokov should have been MVP of the game. Staal was good, but not better than them.

Overall, I thought the game and the skills competition were great fun. Ovechkin was awesome in the breakaway shootout.

I *loved* hearing what DiPietro and Legace had to say while they were in net. Added so much more to the game.

All the players looked like they were having fun. Kovalchuk falling down after Nabokov stopped him was the best.

Not an All-Star note, but I was overjoyed to see the Spartans beat UM on Friday and then settle for a tie on Saturday. The own goal was unfortunate, but they played two good games.