In the book Never Boring author Ed Willes proves one thing and that is he knows how Vancouver Canucks fans feel. You can tell that by the table of contents. Ten of the twelve chapters start with the words “What If...” He’s been there. He’s seen that. And he’s got all the best stories.
Even the Boring Bits Are Never Boring for Fans of the Canucks
Here at Last Word, we don’t just like the game on the ice or field or court, etc. There are uncountable passionate writers who live for the White Collar side here. Go ahead, ask us about salary caps, player development, staff management…Even advertising or public relations can stir our weird little hearts. Those sides of the game, whichever game you follow, aren’t for everyone, sure. But some of the most interesting stories will never make it to Sportsnet. For some fans, fans in single-sport towns, fans in places where a sport becomes culture? We want it ALL.
Willes has been a part of the Vancouver sports scene for decades. His column in the Province was a frequent highlight for Canucks fans looking for the story. He often wrote with a bemused attitude, though it’s hard to tell if he was leading the feeling or mirroring that of his readers.
And, as the title hints, there was much to be bemused at. Virtually everyone following the Canucks for more than a few months has A Moment to talk to you about. At least one time when they look sideways and raise an eyebrow at a complete stranger who can only shrug. That, in a nutshell, is Canucks fandom. Willes knows it. And, like the rest of us, loves it.
From Curses to Chaos to Coming to Terms
Never Boring opens with a discussion about another famously cursed team, the Boston Red Sox. He talks to Dan Shaughnessy, author of frequently-updated The Curse of the Bambino. They talk about breaking that spell and how the diehard fans changed with the win.
Shaughnessy didn’t particularly like the change in the fans, who until then carried the burden of losing with pride. “Sure, you can support a champion. But REAL fans back a perpetual loser!” Shades of an old Chicago White Sox button that read “If It Takes Forever”.
Canucks fans can relate. Even if we’d really like to find out just how much we wouldn’t change if, ya know… The Good Thing ever does happen. Just to be sure that we’d be the same people afterward.
The stories are all here, of course. The ones you know, the ones you sort-of know, and a few you’ve never heard. The description of the infamous carnival wheel in their three-loss night is marvellous. It makes going 0-for-3 against the Buffalo Sabres absurd rather than depressing.
And yes, that would be a suitable beginning, if it were. But even before then, it seems the Canucks destiny is sealed. The ownership bids that failed, the vindictive league powerbrokers, and management unable to get out of its own way are all there from Day One.
Echoes ring, and they have over fifty years for Canucks fans. The repeating coda in every transaction, every desperate move, is “Why isn’t this easier?!” What if, indeed.
Moments Make Memories
Taking a story that fans read in the headlines and backing them up just a bit is Willes’ secret weapon. For anything as complicated as a professional sports team, cause and effect are rarely linear. While Never Boring is essentially chronological, he knows full well that no decisions are made in a vacuum.
Pat Quinn, the man who virtually single-handedly brought pride to the Canucks, also blew it with their biggest star. But would he have handled Pavel Bure‘s negotiations differently if the team never tried for Vladimir Krutov and Igor Larionov? Maybe.
Would General Motors Place, now Rogers Arena, ever have been built if Stan McCammon knew it would be nicknamed “The Garage”? Probably, but it is fun to know that the nickname annoyed John McCaw’s second-in-command to no end.
The fumbled signing of Wayne Gretzky is here. So is the terrible public treatment of Bruce Boudreau just before he was fired. And the wildly inappropriate signing of Quinn himself. That’s a fable with the classic Benjamin Franklin moral: “Three can keep a secret if two are dead.”
Then and Now
One of the best aspects when reading the history of any living, breathing entity is seeing the ripples. Those of us old enough to remember the chase for that 2011 high can see the effects now. Thrashed draft selections. Prospects traded away. Desperate swings at free agents.
But in a written history, you can see how other managers dealt with the same rush of glory. By doing, well, pretty much the exact same thing. It didn’t work, sure. But how hard do you push your boundaries and change your own rules when your team suddenly gets this-close-to-the-Cup?
Maybe even more fun, now that there’s distance, is seeing how they dealt with being a bottom-dweller. The Canucks were a bad team for a lot of years, so there were plenty of opportunities to change. Seeing the turnover in coaches, players, and even owners is fascinating. It’s worth remembering that it isn’t just numbers that go into a sports team. There needs to be personalities, there needs to be chemistry, and there needs to be luck, and all at the right time. Winning the Stanley Cup is hard, folks, but it’s never boring.
Never Boring Never Goes Full Wonk on the Canucks
As in every good history, ones that aren’t hagiographies, the warts are visible. Ed Willes doesn’t try to hide them. But there is only so much room to discuss what went wrong and what went right in a 300-page book. Don’t let that number scare you, the reading’s a breeze.
He keeps the stories relatively light on the more famous moves for a reason. The chapter on Pavel Bure could stretch into its own novel, as could all that went into landing Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Fans mostly know the stories, and they aren’t hard to find.
The real stuff, for us, comes in when he digs into the machinations of ownership and management. There are details that confirm fans’ worst fears and they are bound to be complete surprises, too.
It’s fun to be reminded of things you knew and forgot, too. Like the insane way the league was run when it came to free agents, and why the Cam Neely trade wasn’t actually a trade. Or how property dealings in Vancouver have always been a mess, not just when the Canucks try to build a practice rink.
This is a fun, memory-lane (with a few bumps) book for Canucks fans. There’s plenty to read through, with older fans hitting memory lane (for better or worse) and newer ones finally finding out what the heck happened “that time when”.
And hockey buffs who aren’t Canucks-specific can finally see why Mark Messier is so disrespected by fans here. Trust us, we have our reasons.
Main Photo: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
