I had never thought of writing a book or even being involved in a book before Tim Leone, who covers the Hershey Bears for the Patriot News, came up to me after my first season with the Capitals and asked if I would be interested in writing one. I told him I did not think anyone would be interested in anything about me, but he convinced me there might be a story there. He thought it was a good Cinderella story and something people would like to hear about. So I told him I would sit down and talk to him, but never thought that it might be published. I had no idea what it would take to get it published or anything because I am really not in the book world.
It took us 60 hours of sitting down and talking to do the book. Then Tim had to find a publisher. It got turned down by a lot of people until Potomac Books picked it up. I thought it was going to be a book that you put on the shelves and it is something that my mom and kids would buy. Initially there was a lot of hype and the last 10 days have been pretty hectic. Overall, I don’t find my life that entertaining, but if people read it and they find it entertaining then I am happy for them.
Tim asked me questions and I answered them as truthfully as I could. I hope my memory has not frayed too much and that I accurately remembered things that happened 30 years ago. Tim did a tremendous amount of research and one question would lead to another question, which would bring back memories and rekindle stuff that happened. A lot went on during my career and when we were talking about it, I began to think that this was actually some pretty interesting stuff.
We had a book signing at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Saturday and sold more than 300 copies. I have no idea if that is good or bad. I am used to watching TV and movies where they are doing a book signing and the lines wrap around the block, so I just thought this was a normal thing. According to Potomac this was the best book signing they have ever had so that was impressive to me.
A funny thing about the book is that I have not read it. I am afraid too. I looked at it a few times last night and looked at the pictures, but I did not read it. I am going to have to read it though because people are asking me questions about it now and want to know what specific references pertain to. So now I am going to have to read the book and see what I said and see how I said it.
Hopefully, the final chapter has not been written yet. I think every person that has been involved in the sport and loves the sport as much as I do wants to carry and hold the Stanley Cup. When that happens, I will sit back in my easy chair and say it has been a pretty good life.