The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association by E

Description: The Rebel League by Ed Willes The wildest seven years in the history of hockey"The Rebel League celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly of the fabled WHA. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes, behind the scenes dealing, and simply great hockey. It tells the story of Bobby Hull's astonishing million-dollar signing, which helped launch the league, and how he lost his toupee in an on-ice scrap.It explains how a team of naked Birmingham Bulls ended up in an arena concourse spoiling for a brawl. How the Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie "Seldom" Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag. And how Mark Howe sometimes forgot not to yell "Dad!" when he called for his teammate father, Gordie, to pass. There's the making of "Slap Shot, that classic of modern cinema, and the making of the virtuoso line of Hull, Anders Hedberg, and Ulf Nilsson.It began as the moneymaking scheme of two California lawyers. They didn't know much about hockey, but they sure knew how to shake things up. The upstart WHA introduced to the world 27 new hockey franchises, a trail of bounced cheques, fractious lawsuits, and folded teams. It introduced the crackpots, goons, and crazies that are so well remembered as the league's bizarre legacy.But the hit-and-miss league was much more than a travelling circus of the weird and wonderful. It was the vanguard that drove hockey into the modern age. It ended the NHL's monopoly, freed players from the reserve clause, ushered in the 18-year-old draft, moved the game into the Sun Belt, and put European players on the ice in numbers previously unimagined.The rebel league of the WHA gave shining stars their big-league debut and others their swan song, and providedhigh-octane fuel for some spectacular flameouts. By the end of its seven years, there were just six teams left standing, four of which - the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Hartford Whalers - would wind up in the expanded NHL."From the Hardcover edition. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The wildest seven years in the history of hockey The Rebel League celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly of the fabled WHA. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes, behind the scenes dealing, and simply great hockey. It tells the story of Bobby Hull s astonishing million-dollar signing, which helped launch the league, and how he lost his toupee in an on-ice scrap. It explains how a team of naked Birmingham Bulls ended up in an arena concourse spoiling for a brawl. How the Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie "Seldom" Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag. And how Mark Howe sometimes forgot not to yell "Dad!" when he called for his teammate father, Gordie, to pass. Theres the making of Slap Shot, that classic of modern cinema, and the making of the virtuoso line of Hull, Anders Hedberg, and Ulf Nilsson. It began as the moneymaking scheme of two California lawyers. They didn t know much about hockey, but they sure knew how to shake things up. The upstart WHA introduced to the world 27 new hockey franchises, a trail of bounced cheques, fractious lawsuits, and folded teams. It introduced the crackpots, goons, and crazies that are so well remembered as the leagues bizarre legacy. But the hit-and-miss league was much more than a travelling circus of the weird and wonderful. It was the vanguard that drove hockey into the modern age. It ended the NHLs monopoly, freed players from the reserve clause, ushered in the 18-year-old draft, moved the game into the Sun Belt, and put European players on the ice in numbers previously unimagined. The rebel league of the WHA gave shining stars their big-league debut and others their swan song, and provided high-octane fuel for some spectacular flameouts. By the end of its seven years, there were just six teams left standing, four of which—the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Hartford Whalers—would wind up in the expanded NHL. Flap The wildest seven years in the history of hockey "The Rebel League celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly of the fabled WHA. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes, behind the scenes dealing, and simply great hockey. It tells the story of Bobby Hulls astonishing million-dollar signing, which helped launch the league, and how he lost his toupee in an on-ice scrap.It explains how a team of naked Birmingham Bulls ended up in an arena concourse spoiling for a brawl. How the Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie "Seldom" Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag. And how Mark Howe sometimes forgot not to yell "Dad!" when he called for his teammate father, Gordie, to pass. Theres the making of "Slap Shot, that classic of modern cinema, and the making of the virtuoso line of Hull, Anders Hedberg, and Ulf Nilsson. It began as the moneymaking scheme of two California lawyers. They didnt know much about hockey, but they sure knew how to shake things up. The upstart WHA introduced to the world 27 new hockey franchises, a trail of bounced cheques, fractious lawsuits, and folded teams. It introduced the crackpots, goons, and crazies that are so well remembered as the leagues bizarre legacy. But the hit-and-miss league was much more than a travelling circus of the weird and wonderful. It was the vanguard that drove hockey into the modern age. It ended the NHLs monopoly, freed players from the reserve clause, ushered in the 18-year-old draft, moved the game into the Sun Belt, and put European players on the ice in numbers previously unimagined. The rebel league of the WHA gave shining stars their big-league debut and others their swan song, and providedhigh-octane fuel for some spectacular flameouts. By the end of its seven years, there were just six teams left standing, four of which - the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Hartford Whalers - would wind up in the expanded NHL. "From the Hardcover edition. Author Biography ED WILLES started his journalism career in 1982 at the Medicine Hat News, which is where the idea for this book was born. After four years there he moved on to the Regina Leader-Post, then to the Winnipeg Sun, where he was the hockey writer for eight years. From 1997 to 1998, he worked as a freelancer in Montreal and ended up writing for the New York Times. That summer he was offered the sports columnist job at The Province (Vancouver), where he stayed until his retirement in 2020. He is the author of Gretzky to Lemieux: The Story of the 1987 Canada Cup and The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association. He lives in North Vancouver, B.C., with his wife and two children. Review "A must-read for hockey fans." —Canadian Press "A book fuelled by the fumes of the WHAs audacity, reckless hope, violence, and economic hilarity. . . . A highly entertaining tale." —Globe and Mail Long Description The wildest seven years in the history of hockey "The Rebel League" celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly of the fabled WHA. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes, behind the scenes dealing, and simply great hockey. It tells the story of Bobby Hulls astonishing million-dollar signing, which helped launch the league, and how he lost his toupee in an on-ice scrap.It explains how a team of naked Birmingham Bulls ended up in an arena concourse spoiling for a brawl. How the Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie "Seldom" Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag. And how Mark Howe sometimes forgot not to yell "Dad!" when he called for his teammate father, Gordie, to pass. Theres the making of "Slap Shot," that classic of modern cinema, and the making of the virtuoso line of Hull, Anders Hedberg, and Ulf Nilsson. It began as the moneymaking scheme of two California lawyers. They didnt know much about hockey, but they sure knew how to shake things up. The upstart WHA introduced to the world 27 new hockey franchises, a trail of bounced cheques, fractious lawsuits, and folded teams. It introduced the crackpots, goons, and crazies that are so well remembered as the leagues bizarre legacy. But the hit-and-miss league was much more than a travelling circus of the weird and wonderful. It was the vanguard that drove hockey into the modern age. It ended the NHLs monopoly, freed players from the reserve clause, ushered in the 18-year-old draft, moved the game into the Sun Belt, and put European players on the ice in numbers previously unimagined. The rebel league of the WHA gave shining stars their big-league debut and others their swan song, and providedhigh-octane fuel for some spectacular flameouts. By the end of its seven years, there were just six teams left standing, four of which - the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Hartford Whalers - would wind up in the expanded NHL. "From the Hardcover edition." Review Quote "A must-read for hockey fans." -Canadian Press "A book fuelled by the fumes of the WHAs audacity, reckless hope, violence, and economic hilarity. . . . A highly entertaining tale." -Globe and Mail Excerpt from Book He probably didnt think it would be an issue when he joined the WHA, but in addition to his many other personality quirks Mike Walton was deathly afraid of spiders, cockroaches, and anything else that crawled and had six or more legs. Sadly, this phobia qualified as something of an occupational hazard for Shaky, because the new league, in the early years at least, played in places that did not discourage the presence of insects. The Sam Houston Arena, for instance, built in 1937 and famous for its Friday-night wrestling cards, was fairly typical of the first generation of WHA rinks. Owner Paul Deneau invested enough money to bring it up to code and even installed Plexiglas in place of the chicken wire that was still in use in many of the old rinks. "I thought it was okay," says Dineen. Still, no one was mistaking it for Madison Square Garden. "We used to have cockroach contests in the dressing room," says John Garrett. "Wed be putting our equipment on, and a cockroach always got in your skates or your sweater. If you got a really big one, youd hang it from a skate lace in the middle of the dressing room. Then the other guys would try to get a bigger one. There was no money involved. We just did it for the honour." Which was funny to everyone except Walton. During one road trip, the Saints played in Houston before taking off immediately for Baltimore. The accepted WHA procedure after a game in Houston was to shake your equipment vigorously to dislodge any unwanted guests, who could, if left unattended, multiply and eat your brain. Walton, sadly, forgot this safety precaution, which caused some excitement when he took his skates out of his bag in Baltimore. "I was in the coaches room and I heard this horrible scream coming from the dressing room," says Harry Neale. "I thought, Oh my god, someones cut their hand off. Then I see this cockroach coming out of our dressing room and I figured out what had happened. "I think the cockroach made the rest of the road trip with us and he didnt ask for a per diem so we kept him around." The pioneers of the new league would experience many such indignities in the WHAs seven Details ISBN077108949X Author Ed Willes Short Title REBEL LEAGUE Language English ISBN-10 077108949X ISBN-13 9780771089497 Media Book Format Paperback Illustrations Yes Subtitle The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association DOI 10.1604/9780771089497 AU Release Date 2005-10-04 NZ Release Date 2005-10-04 UK Release Date 2005-10-04 Place of Publication Toronto Country of Publication Canada Pages 304 Publisher McClelland & Stewart Inc. Year 2005 Publication Date 2005-10-04 Imprint McClelland & Stewart Inc. DEWEY 796.96264 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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