Brian Burke story time.
I'm going to preface this by saying that I don't understand why some people love to crap on him. He's a dinosaur, he's a sourpuss, he's wrong, etc... Yeah, he knows the game of managing a hockey team has passed him by and he knows he's a curmudgeon.
Also, when he's wrong he freely admits it.
I've met and spoken with BB a handful of times over the years in Calgary and he's basically exactly who you think he is. Only much, much nicer. The game of hockey is better with him in it.
Some highlights if anyone is interested:
- Lance Bouma and Paul Byron were his favorite PK'ers.
- He loved smack talking to Bouma about his terrible stick handling ability.
- He said the long line change for visiting teams is his biggest reason to have home ice advantage.
- He did not have any work/life balance advice for me ("I've been fired X times and divorced Y times during my career. No one should be listening to me about this topic.")
- When he was fired from the Leafs and walking through the ACC concourse to leave, they were dismantling his Burkie's hot dog stand. He did not like that and also said those hot dogs were super high quality. He had intimate knowledge of this operation.
- He's up before 6am every day and on the treadmill for an hour before heading into the office/rink. He does not sleep until at least a couple hours after the game. He's basically a machine.
- He smelled like a spring meadow.
- Yes, he wears his tie/hair like that because he enjoys how it bothers people.
We talked about about a slew of things over those conversations, but that's all I can remember. I wish he was still involved with the Flames in some official capacity.