Self-promotional thread

[Marns]

Hey guys,

I realise a few of us (two at least) do a bit of hockey writing in our spare time, so I figured I'd start this thread as a place where we can do some shameless self-promotion. It's always interesting to see what, and how, other people write about something we have a mutual appreciation for, so hopefully this can do some good.

I have my own site (http://southernhemispherehockey.com/) and like to put up a couple of stories each week...depending on my workload for what I actually get paid for. If you want to follow along on twitter, it's @SH_Hockey.

I'm in the process of doing some Olympic previews, so stay tuned over the next day or so.

 

[Marns]

C'mon you lot, I know some of you write elsewhere! Don't be shy, now, ya hear?

Here's a post I did about the class action lawsuit against the NHL that came about last week. Also, my weekly wrap up of the last week in hockey.

 

[Running Dog]

No quite self-promotion, but it seems to be the most appropriate thread for an anecdote.

So I'm in an op shop, looking at books, and I pick up a copy of Dinosaur in a Haystack, by Stephen Jay Gound, great natural history writer. That would have been a good enough score, but as I turned away from the bookshelf my eye caught the number 99. For whatever reason my mind immediately went to Wayne Gretzky. Then I noticed from the spine of the book that it was written by Wayne Gretzky. (Stories Of The Game, Canada's book of the year in 2016). So of course I'm gonna snap up a pristine hard copy of a book by Wayne Gretzky, for the princely sum of $4.00.

I get on the bus, and check out my new purchases. I leaf through to the title page of Gretzky's book, and... No way! You gotta be kidding! The freakin' thing has been autographed - by the Great One! Blue felt pen that came through the page, unlike the black printer's ink. I googled the Great One's signature, and within the parameters of variation of a signature it's definitely Gretzky's handwriting.

I admit that maybe someone faked the autograph, to sell the book at a higher price. No doubt such things occur. But I'm gonna go with the fact that Canada's 2016 book of the year sold well, Gretzky did sign plenty of copies, and I lucked on one of them. Maybe someone had to dump stuff in the op shop in a hurry- moving house or whatever.

Thing is, I grew up in Edmonton. That was before the Oilers were in the NHL, and before Gretzky's time, but I remained a huge hockey fan and became an Oilers fan from afar. So I think it was a fortuitous find, and I reckon the book ended up in the right hands. Even if the autograph is fake I still get a great book for $4.00. Thanks for listening to my tale of Whoa! Gretzky's the GOAT, but I had to gloat.