Just finished Burke’s Law, Brian Burke’s biography written by Stephen Brunt,
that came out a couple days ago. Thoroughly entertaining all the way through with great story after great story and tidbits about all parts of the hockey business.
Flames related he talks about repping Joel Otto and Brett Hull, the Phaneuf trade, a fair bit on his time in hockey ops with the Flames, Tkachuk draft, Wideman incident, and that Giordano was one of his favourite captains.
I figured it would be way more enjoyable if I could listen to it in audiobook format and managed to get it online through a library. Listening to Burke’s book read by Burke himself was like sitting with him while he spoke nonstop about his life for 9 straight hours.
Highly highly recommend to read or listen. The audiobook is available on Audible too if you have a subscription.
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Burke came out a few times as a guest speaker at our Sports and Entertainment Law course at UBC. He is so genuine - what you see on TV is exactly what he is like in person.
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.
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I'm a huge Burke fan. I've noticed a correlation between people that don't like him, and people that don't know much about hockey. He can be opinionated which people mistake for arrogance, but he's one of the nicest people in hockey
I'm a huge Burke fan. I've noticed a correlation between people that don't like him, and people that don't know much about hockey. He can be opinionated which people mistake for arrogance, but he's one of the nicest people in hockey
Completely agree. The people that don’t like Burke are the type of people who constantly need things sugarcoated for them.
I've seen him speak and met him briefly and would agree, very genuine - he is exactly as you would expect him to be. Only difference is now I think he actually wears his tie properly when speaking
I have always felt the way him and the way the Flames parted ways was interesting. In the the interviews he has given regarding the book he has mentioned that Ken King told him they were going a different direction in February.
He had always talked about wanting to be in Calgary for 10 years, bringing home a cup etc. I think ownership at the time felt that they were not getting much in the way of value with him and decided to part ways.
The Flames missed the playoffs, Gully was a disaster, Brouwer signing was terrible and many many more issues.
I have always wondered how conversations with ownership and management go when deals or moves happen that don't make sense at the time and then turn into disasters later on.
I know a lot of fans like to think the business aspects don't matter as much but generally speaking, the type of mistakes that happen with sports aren't allowed to happen with the same frequency in business.
I have always liked Burke, think he's a good man and a good hockey mind. I do think he had an excellent situation that led to a cup win with the Ducks in 07 and kind of rode that success to other markets like Toronto and Calgary.
His straight talking, in your face bluster and draft day moves earned him a large rep of being a massive winner but a deeper dive of his body of work over his career show his team's weren't all that great.
Didn’t like Burke the GM but he’s a regular guest on Team1260 and he is knowledgeable (of course, with his resume) and seems likeable and genuine. Now I like and enjoy the guy.
I really think my father would enjoy Brian Burkes new book for Christmas but he is getting older and I don't think he would read it and is technologically illiterate to say the least. I live across the country from him so it would be a lot of trouble to help him out with how to use audio books. Is there a way to get this book in a CD format? Would anyone be able to create this and I could pay you? I just want it to be as simple as him being able to sit down, put it in the cd player have a beer and listen.
Got it for Christmas, finished it in a couple of evenings. Like a lot of hockey books, a pretty easy read but entertaining. Brunt does a great job capturing Burke's voice. Lots of good things said about Flames org and Calgary in general. It really does seem like he got screwed in Toronto in the end.
All in all, the book paints Burke as a pretty strong family guy with a lot of principles. I liked the guy when he was with the Flames and it seems like he is happy now in broadcasting.
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"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel
“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake
It’s funny that Burke’s fans in the thread are already claiming anyone that doesn’t like him must not understand hockey or can’t handle the truth.
I am OK with Burke’s style but do sometimes find his analysis a little too black and white and lacking nuance. No doubt he’s a smart guy so I imagine he does that for a broad TV audience. As a GM, his reputation far exceeds his performance. But his personality gives him a voice and guys like him are good for the game IMO.
There aren’t many good hockey books out there so I might give this one a read.
I got the book for Christmas. Going to read it , but skipped to the last chapter as I knew he would have the Calgary stuff
Said Hartley met his shelf life and took the singling out of people too far towards the end (like on the team plane), and Gulutzan let the veterans dictate too much, like thinking Brian Elliott deserved the next start in the playoffs
Good story about cutting Treliving in Vancouver. When he told Tre he was cutting him, Tre said something along the lines that he was making a mistake and he was going to play in that building one day. Burke apparently told Tre the only way he was going to see a game in that building was if he bought a ticket
Personally, although Burke didn’t say this, I get a kick out of the fact they were both wrong. In fact, Burke hired Tre and paid him to watch many, many games without needing to purchase a ticket
Last edited by DeluxeMoustache; 12-30-2020 at 06:33 PM.
I am finishing the book now. Honestly, it was below my expectations for it. As much as I always hated listening to Feaster speaking meaningless platitudes, I always loved listening to Burke speak - always straightforward, always to the point and always without mincing words. The book is definitely in those same lines, but I almost felt he's trying to prove something to somebody in it. Maybe some old unresolved grudges? Yeah, a few good hockey stories were juicy, but too much "my way or high way", too many repetitions, too much of "my three principles and I have a Harvard law degree" stuff, which I found boring about half-way into the book. It was not nearly as entertaining as I was anticipating. Sean Avery's book was way more fun to read. Meh, $29...
__________________
"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel
“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake
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Burke’s Law Book
