If you’re a fan of the sport of hockey, chances are that you’ve heard of Steve ‘Dangle’ Glynn. He’s the most vocal Toronto Maple Leafs fan out there, and perhaps the most vocal fan of any team in the League. He’s also the most recognizable and talked about Leafs supporter, outside of maybe celebrities like Mike Myers and Will Arnett. I also think of him as my spirit animal, for lack of a better term, because he’s an extrovert who happens to usually vocalize what this introvert is often thinking about our frustrating favourite team.
Steve Glynn is most well known for his YouTube channel, which I believe started during the infamous 2012-2013 season. He’s praised and watched by fans of the Maple Leafs who agree with him, and unfortunately mocked by many others for his extravagant passion and tendency to yell. He’s just a really hardcore fan of an incredibly snake bitten, cursed and frustrating as all hell hockey team. One who knows his stuff, and cares more than is healthy. I know the latter one well.
After years of much watched Leaf Fan Reaction videos, Steve worked for SportsNet and handled things like watch parties and trade tree videos. Now, he has his own podcast network, which he does with friends and former pros. He’s also written two books, the first of which was appropriately titled, “This Team is Ruining My Life” despite mostly being about his life. The second one — Hockey Rants and Raves — is the reason for this post and the subject of this review.
With Hockey Rants and Raves, Steve Dangle was given the opportunity to talk about many facets of the sport he and I both love. This includes insights, personal experiences and lots of opinion, in the format of some rants and some raves. The chapters vary, and don’t follow any structured list, and the subject matter is the same. At the end of the day, it all boils down to some form of hockey, though.
Within the nearly 300 pages of this non-fiction book, you’ll read about the different types of annoying CHEL (EA Sports’ NHL series) players, why the PWHL is so important for women’s hockey, who the best skaters and goalies to ever play the game were, and tips on what to do if you’re just starting out as an adult hockey player. There’s a lot more to this book, though, including a focus on the state of the National Hockey League, in-depth analysis of some of the worst trades in League history (boy, was that tough to read as a Leafs fan) and talk about why attending games is so enjoyable and immersive. Needless to say, Steve covers a lot of ground here, and does so well.
Of course, the format of this book and its title give you the best idea of what to expect. That is, lots of opinion. There’s a substantial amount of content here, and some of it is subjective. It’s the opinions of one person, and their frustrations with things like refs not doing their jobs. If you aren’t interested in that, don’t pick this book up.
The above is both a good thing and a bad thing. It both increases and limits its audience at the same time. If you aren’t a fan of Dangle, it may make you more of one, but it might also do the opposite if you’re one of his online detractors.
As a longtime fan of the game, and a casual fan of the LFR videos Steve posts, I found Hockey Rants and Raves to be an interesting and informative read. Once again, I found that our opinions are quite similar, as is our passion for the most frustrating team in sports, which is great at embarrassing itself. However, I did find that I lost some steam in reading it as I barrelled through to its second half.
If you’re a stats nerd, this won’t bother you. However, I must admit that I struggled through certain chapters, including one about the best goalies in NHL history and a similar one about Wayne Gretzky. We all know he’s the Great One, but — for better or worse, depending on who you are — Steve goes into great detail and compares other greats (Orr, Lemieux, Howe) to him. He does the same with several great goalies, comparing them (Brodeur, Roy, Dryden, Hasek) to each other. These chapters are very number heavy, and there’s an information overload. It made them kind of boring to me, even though the subject matter interests me. Then again, I’ve never liked math, or numbers, or been good with them.
I do, however, really respect and admire the amount of research Steve did for this book. It really shows.
Simply put, some parts of Hockey Rants and Raves by Steve ‘Dangle’ Glynn were easier and more interesting to read than others. I think that will be true for all readers, as we all have our interests within the sport. Some of us are big stats people, whereas others aren’t. Some like to debate who was the best of the best, and some don’t. Others who read this won’t be gamers or know a lot about the World of CHEL. I do, and have been playing these games since NHLPA ‘93. Of course, online gaming and EA Sports Hockey League didn’t exist back then, and I mostly play online versus or Be a Pro.
Overall, this is a well-written book. There’s the odd minor error, which you see in every first edition, but the editor did a good job. It’s mostly easy to follow and understand, and I laughed a couple of times. However, you’ll definitely be inundated with an information overload.
I’m a fan of Steve Dangle’s, and always have been. If you are the same, or you simply love hockey, you’d likely enjoy reading his new book, Hockey Rants and Raves. It’s a very dense and informative one, but it’s also mostly an entertaining and thought provoking one.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided with.