[News] Mark Spector Book, "The Battle of Alberta"

[Armchair Quarterback]

This book just came out and I am wondering if anyone has bought/read it. Wanted to know if it was worth a read. I'm not the biggest fan of Spector but I do enjoy some good hockey history.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/s...still-matters/

So I chose The Battle of Alberta, for two reasons. One, it was a fascinating, seminal time in hockey history, when the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames represented the Clarence Campbell Conference in eight consecutive Stanley Cup finals. It encompassed the greatest players in the history of the game — Wayne Gretzky, Doug Gilmour, Mark Messier — in a time when the game was not nearly as structured or predictable as it is today. And secondly, a lot of, er, stuff happened in The Battle – and a lot of funny stuff.

[Ashasx]

He probably proclaims the Oilers as the ultimate victors.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

He probably proclaims the Oilers as the ultimate victors.

I'm not really a fan of Spector, but from what I understand he has loaded it with stories drawn directly from interviews with players from both teams. That alone should make it worth the read.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

He probably proclaims the Oilers as the ultimate victors.

This is what concerns me. I will probably pick it up anyway, but given it's Spector, it's hard not to expect the book will be slanted.

[calgaryblood]

Well this explains all the rumours he's talked about in the last few months. Wanted to get his name out there...

[KenHouston]

In all truth it will be slanted.....5 cups versus 1 as it should be.

[Ashasx]

one has also picked 1st overall four times in six seasons

[N-E-B]

As much as I love spanking the Oilers, it would be nice to argue over who's the better team and not who sucks the least for once in my life. Born in the early 90's so my earliest memories of the Flames are the Young Guns era and I missed out on the glory days.

That said, I will have no complaints if the Oilers suck forever.

[Steve Bozek]

it'll obviously have an Oilers slant, given where he comes from, but he would have to make it palatable to Flames fans if he wanted to sell any copies here. In an interview on Fan960, he had a lot of good things to say about the Flames players he interviewed, and I particularly liked the point he made about the '86 Flames playoff victory - it was unfair that the series is known for the Steve Smith goal on his own net, because the Flames outplayed the Oilers in that series and deserved to win.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

He probably proclaims the Oilers as the ultimate victors.

Pretty sure the oilers have a slightly better history than the flames.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Pretty sure the oilers have a slightly better history than the flames.

Same record for each team: 1 Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky on the team.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Reaper

Same record for each team: 1 Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky on the team.

That's the way I look at it too. In some alternate universe, the Winnipeg Jets got Wayne Gretzky and won themselves multiple Stanley Cups instead. He was that good. It's no coincidence that the Oilers haven't had a winning season since Gretzky left.

[transplant99]

I'm quite looking forward to this book.

regardless of how one feels about Spector, he is a decent writer. On top of that it is a whole lot of interviews with the participants of that era and associated stories. The intro was done by Theo as an example.

For me there has never ever been an era of hockey that touched it and I doubt there ever will be again.

[McG]

since it is only in the last 6 months that we have even seen one of the biggest oiler homers make an effort at balance, I can imagine the tone of the book.

put another way, if I cut two of the legs on a table by 12 inches each, it would be more balanced than the author.

[HotHotHeat]

That balanced tone took a nose dive last night on Twitter during the game.

It actually makes him even more slimy trying to look impartial just to sells books.

Spector will always be Spector. No good.

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by McG

since it is only in the last 6 months that we have even seen one of the biggest oiler homers make an effort at balance, I can imagine the tone of the book.

put another way, if I cut two of the legs on a table by 12 inches each, it would be more balanced than the author.

No coincidence the balance started around the time he was knee deep in writing a book about the Oilers and Flames and likely getting advice from his publisher to positively engage 1/2 of the potential purchasing target.

[Matty81]

It's too bad it wasn't written by a decent journalist like Duha.

The homer has a front page article on sportsnet trolling flames fans this morning that almost exclusively talks about how lucky the flames were last night because of the bad goal the Oilers let in and last year based on advanced stats.

On the one hand saying the flames were lucky to win last year with bad advanced stats.

On the other saying the oilers were unlucky to lose last night despite getting pummeled in advanced stats.

I'd rather spend a week in an isolation chamber with Donald Trump than buy and read a book by that turd.

[blender]

Originally Posted by Matty81

It's too bad it wasn't written by a decent journalist like Duha.

The homer has a front page article on sportsnet trolling flames fans this morning that almost exclusively talks about how lucky the flames were last night because of the bad goal the Oilers let in and last year based on advanced stats.

On the one hand saying the flames were lucky to win last year with bad advanced stats.

On the other saying the oilers were unlucky to lose last night despite getting pummeled in advanced stats.

I'd rather spend a week in an isolation chamber with Donald Trump than buy and read a book by that turd.

Not sure what article you read. He specifically says that the Oilers didn't deserve to win, and that the Flames got lucky bounces, which is 100% true. That was about as even-handed a write-up on a game featuring too not-too-good hockey teams. Flames were lucky to win; Oilers would have been lucky to win had it gone the other way.

[sa226]

^^^^^

Not to beat this dead horse but it was a classic Spector article. Bait the reader with a bit of a sensational headline (That kind of contradicts his closing remarks). Write the first half like a butthurt 12 year old Oilers fan, and then wrap it up with some pretty good, even keeled sports journalism that actually tells it like it was.

[CliffFletcher]

Journalists don't write their own headlines, editors write them.