One man's search to answer the ultimate question in sports: Why is
hockey so incredibly awesome?
Dave Hill--author, actor, rock musician and stand-up comedian--is a
truly outstanding American. For one thing, he's part Canadian (an
advantage he explored in his previous book Parking the Moose). For
another, and maybe this has something to do with his Canadian heritage,
he's a totally obsessive fan of hockey. That makes him a minority within
a minority: apparently only five percent of the US population admit to
liking hockey more than any other sport.
In his latest opus, Dave--who's from Cleveland, which hasn't had an NHL
team since 1978--tackles this hockey conundrum with full force, drilling
down into what makes hockey so damn important in so many parts of the
world, despite the average American not recognizing the sport's
preeminent greatness. His search for the very soul of hockey has taken
him across the globe, from Poland to LA to Kenya, and brought him into
contact with many of the sport's great and good. Humorous but heartfelt,
Bill Bryson-like but hipper, this is arguably the greatest book ever
written about hockey and definitely the one to be asking for at
Christmas.
