Review: Life in Two Worlds (2023)

By Ted Nolan with Meg Masters

One of the problems with big-time sports these days is that it is difficult to obtain explanations for behind-the-scenes activities even well after they happen. The money has gotten bigger, and the stakes have gotten higher. That's led to non-disclosure agreements in many cases, the equivalent of a gag order that would be costly if ever broken.

But sometimes, we do hear a version of what went on - even if takes a while. In this case, Ted Nolan gives his life story in the book, "Life in Two Worlds." And it's positively fascinating, particularly those who are old enough to remember a particular era of hockey.

The centerpiece of the book is the story of Nolan's time with the Buffalo Sabres. He was hired by the team after only one year as an assistant coach in the NHL in 1995. Nolan lasted two seasons in Buffalo, and it sometimes seemed like every day was a soap opera ... with the tension building as the end of his tenure approached. 

There's only a couple of chapters on this part of his life, but it's really the centerpiece of his hockey career. Nolan won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL's coach of the year in 1996-97, only to lose his job that summer when he turned down something of a token contract offer from new general manager Darcy Regier. 

But there's one central fact to Nolan's first time around in Buffalo. John Muckler was kicked upstairs to be a general manager only after the 1995 season; he had been the coach as well before that. Basically, he wanted someone he could control as the head coach. Based on the book, I'm not sure Nolan realized that. But clashes were almost inevitable in that situation, and they eventually happened. 

Nolan writes about those unpleasant moments that in hindsight don't make a whole lot of sense. For example, Nolan became an instant fan of his best player, Pat LaFontaine, upon his arrival. Pat was the captain, and Ted was immediately impressed about how his star worked the room. That's what made, and makes, it so puzzling that Muckler asked Nolan to strip LaFontaine of his captaincy. It's hard to know what happened between the GM and star. I do know that once when Muckler was asked about LaFontaine's leadership abilities, Muckler supposedly replied (more or less) than LaFontaine couldn't lead a prostitute to bed. 

Eventually, Nolan developed a reputation as a "player's coach." That usually meant he tried to be someone who took the time how to figure out what was best for the player and his development. Muckler was more old school, and thought a good screaming session was necessary every so often. Muckler asked Nolan to be tougher, and Nolan refused. It was a basic difference in philosophy that probably should have come up in the interview process.

Then early in the 1996-97 season, LaFontaine suffered a serious concussion on the ice. Nolan could see something was seriously wrong, even after some recovery time. Muckler tried to order Nolan to play LaFontaine, pointing out that Pat was cleared for play and was earning $5 million per year. Nolan wouldn't do it, saying LaFontaine wasn't healed. A few months later, a story circulated that Muckler wanted to fire Nolan and replace him with assistant coach Don Lever, but that the Sabres' front office told Muckler he'd have to coach too if wanted to make that change. So the idea died, and the frayed relationship between general manager and head coach continued. 

The team still played well under Nolan, winning a divisional championship. But the rift grew. In the book, Nolan said that an opposing general manager had said Nolan was drunk on the bench at times. An exhausting season ended with the only Game Seven victory in Sabres' history (still true), and a second-round loss to Philadelphia. Then star goalie and league MVP Dominik Hasek added to the story by saying he didn't want to play for a coach in Nolan that he had no respect for. Nolan writes that has no idea where that came from - but he did hear all the rumors that he was having an affair with Hasek's wife. Bizarre stuff. 

Muckler exited right after the end of the playoffs, and Regier took over. He greeted Nolan in their first meeting without taking his feet off his desk. For someone who battled his entire life for respect, Nolan thought it got the relationship off to a horrible start. Nolan soon first heard from Buffalo News reporter Jim Kelley that he was going to be offered a one-year contract with no bonuses. Nolan eventually turned that down, and the Sabres eventually hired Lindy Ruff as coach. 

Nolan's luck wasn't much better when it came to his other coaching jobs. The Islanders hired him as a head coach in 2006 after a long gap from his first departure from the Sabres. But New York hired a new general manager in Garth Snow shortly after that, and GMs always like to have their own man in such an important job. Later on, Nolan returned to the Sabres as coach in 2013. But later Tim Murray was hired as GM. Murray was in the process of guiding a tank in an ill-fated attempt to land Connor McDavid in the draft, and that tank ruined just about everything it touched within the organization in those years. When Nolan wouldn't hire Murray's uncle, veteran hockey coach Bryan, for his coaching staff, Tim fired Ted - at least in Nolan's version here - in 2015. The in-between periods might have been even tougher for Nolan. From what I've heard, Ted was in a rather dark place at times, and did a couple of things in trying to find a coaching job that didn't go over well with the rest of the NHL coaching fraternity.  

This is all quite interesting to hockey fans, particularly for those who follow the Sabres. However, the rest of the book is quite well done as well. That might be the biggest surprise of the entire publication. 

Nolan overcame a lot to do as well as he could. The systemic problems of Native communities are quite well known, including such issues as poverty, racism and alcoholism. It's difficult for anyone to come from that environment into the world beyond the reservation and not be changed by it. Nolan was no exception. He came from a large family in Western Ontario, and has gone through more than his share of tragedy over the years. Nolan also has been a victim of stereotyping along the way, which was a large problem for Native players in hockey. But he overcame them, paid his dues, and reached the top of his profession. 

It's really difficult to read some of this material. Then again, it's really difficult to understand what people are thinking when they hand out abuse to someone because he or she is a member of a particular group. Nolan comes across as an innocent during his youth, sometimes fighting back and sometimes giving in to temptations like alcohol use and quitting. He even had to deal with insults and abuse from his own teammates - such as "What are you doing here, ya stinkin' Indian?" Fans might have been worse. To his credit, Ted battled his way up the hockey ladder as a player and as a coach. Nolan rightfully thanks several mentors here who helped him along the way.

Nolan is 65 now - seems impossible at first - and lately he's been working on a 3Nolans program that's designed to help the youth of First Nations make their way in society. Ted is helped by his two sons, Brandon and Jordan, who also were pro hockey players. It sounds like he's somewhat at peace by end of "Life in Two Worlds," although he'll always wonder what might have been in a different world. 

As will we.     

(Footnote: There is one story from the book that needs to be told here because I've never heard it anywhere else. Nolan was welcomed by a group of Native Elders to Buffalo. He writes,"Apparently,in the 1930s or 1940s, one of the best First Nations athletes in the area tried out for a Buffalo team, but because he was Indigenous the team wouldn't sign him. Upon hearing of this injustice, some of the Elders put a curse on all sports teams in the area. ... Now that I had arrived, however, these Elders told me they were going to remove the curse." Did someone put the curse back on?) 

Five stars

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Review: If These Walls Could Talk: Buffalo Bills (2023)

By John Murphy with Scott Pitoniak

This must have seemed like a simple enough task at the time.

John Murphy has been announcing the games of the Buffalo Bills on radio for many years. He started on the broadcasts as the color man for the legendary play-by-play announcer, Van Miller. When Van finally retired, John moved over a spot to take over those duties. A few different former Bills have worked with Murph on commentary over the years.

That's obviously a good starting point for a book. Murphy has been around the team for a few decades, and he knows several of the personalities involved in the game well. Certainly, Murphy and coauthor Scott Pitoniak had visions of sitting around with a beverage, cranking out some good stories, and publishing an entertaining book. The deal for "If These Walls Could Talk: Buffalo Bills" quickly came together.

But fate got in the way. The Bills were preparing to play the Bengals in Cincinnati late in the 2022 season when Murphy started to have some physical problems.  He never did make it to that game, which is also remembered as the one in which the heart of Bills' defensive back Damar Hamlin briefly stopped after a hit to the chest. Hamlin returned to action in 2023; Murphy wasn't so lucky. He was diagnosed as suffering a stroke, and he's been recovering from it since then. 

From the writing sense, it must have been interesting to try to figure out how Murphy should handle the issue - especially since it figured to be a long-term issue that wouldn't be completely solved by the time the book was out. Murphy and Pitoniak chose to deal with it quite simply as part of the life story; it's not particularly highlighted but several pages are devoted to it. This was a wise move, since Murphy is something of a public figure in his role as the Bills' radio announcer and many people have been rooting for him to fully recover. 

Otherwise, this is exactly what you'd expect in a book like this. The authors start with a chapter on Josh Allen, which is rather interesting. It probably shows just how popular the quarterback is in the Bills' community. Then Murphy spends a little time on his background. He reveals a few things that I didn't know, even though we've been friends for quite a while. We went to Syracuse University at the same time for three years, but our paths did not cross then.  That had to wait when we bumped into each other at sports events in the Buffalo area some years later. 

With that established, Murphy is off with his recap of the Bills over the years as he's seen it. The players, coaches and front office executives all get the once-over. There have been a lot of them, which isn't surprising since the Bills have been bad more often than they've been good during this tenure. As you'd expect he grew fond of the chief architects of the Bills' best run of success, Bill Polian and Marv Levy. 

There are a couple of points told along the way that surprised me. The first is that Murphy is absolutely, positively convinced that "Home Run Throwback" - the play that gave the Titans a playoff win over the Bills in 2000 - was a forward lateral. Having looked at that play a few dozen times (it's tough to avoid when researching team history), I've concluded that at best it's too close too call, meaning the play stands. But if I had to pick a direction, I'd say it was a legal play as a lateral.

Murphy also writes a bit about the problems that developed between Polian and owner Ralph Wilson. John is clearly on Polian's side on most items. I'm not going to say that Wilson was faultless in that relationship, but everything I've heard indicates that Polian could have handled the situation better ... something Bill admits now. 

Here's the key point, though, about Murphy. He's that rare individual who can take strong opinions, and still be universally liked. That's less common than you'd think. 

Reading "If These Walls Could Talk: Buffalo Bills" is like sitting down and having a nice long chat with John. I've done that on several occasions, and it's always been a pleasure. The book is the same way. 

Four stars

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Review: Banana Ball (2023)

By Jesse Cole and Don Yaeger

There's something going on in the world of baseball, and it's really difficult to describe from a distance. 

After some modest origins, a new form of the sport has taken the business by form. The rules were blown up, with the emphasis on fun. Pitchers on stilts? Foul balls that are caught by fans in the stands becoming outs? Time limits? Bats literally on fire? Let's try them all and see how they work. 

Now within a couple of years, the Savannah Bananas - and who doesn't love that name - has become something of a talk of the sports business world. It went on a national tour this summer, and packed in the crowds wherever it went. 

A good promoter knows how to spread the word, and Jesse Cole certainly is that. He has a book out on how it all happened from his standpoint. "Banana Ball" is that story. 

Cole was something of a prospect while growing up, good enough to reach the college ranks. Any chance that he had of turning professional essentially ended with an injury, so he had to find another way to scratch his baseball itch. Jesse found work in the world of organized ball, doing a little bit of everything. Eventually, he moved on to run a college-age summer league team in 2016. While Cole probably didn't realize it at the time, it was the perfect laboratory for his creative brain. After all, no one is paying close attention. 

Slowly but surely, the concept grew a bit bigger, week by week. Concepts were tried and discarded like jokes in a late night television monologue. But do that enough, and you'll find out what works. And the fans responded nicely. 

Cole and Company decided to take the act out on the road in 2022, turning the Bananas briefly into a barnstorming team. It seemed to work, and the concept was expanded in 2023. Yes, those bright yellow uniforms turned up even in Cooperstown this past summer, and trips to major league parks seems rather likely. It's easy to think of this as something along the lines of baseball's answers to the Harlem Globetrotters. The biggest difference is that both teams really are trying to win while putting on a show on the side. 

And so Banana Ball seems destined to find a niche in the sports entertainment business in a good-sized way. But how is "Banana Ball," the book?  It's easy to be less enthusiastic about that. 

This is written as a straight autobiography. While the story has some charm - struggling young couple beats the odds - there is some repetition and some self-congratulating along the way. That makes it relatively easy to speed through the book. It's easy to wonder if an "outside in" approach would have been the better way to write this, as the other participants could have added some perspective on the experience. 

There are video programs on the Bananas - ESPN did one - and the team itself has embraced social media to complete effectiveness. That's probably the best way to learn about the team. As for the book, it's quick and easy and spreads the word well enough. It's another tool in the promotional toolbox, and after finishing it you'll probably be curious enough to go to a game when the opportunity becomes available. 

Three stars

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Review: Long Run to Glory (2023)

By Stephen Lane

If your memories of the 1984 Olympic women's marathon are anything like mine, you probably remember a single person running almost by herself. 

Joan Benoit pulled away from the pack fairly early in the race, and no one went with her. So Benoit was lacking in company as she maintained a good-sized lead through much of the 26 miles, 385 yards that comprise the event. That can happen in a marathon, in which more than two hours of running can be decided by a single moment at almost any point. Benoit always will be remembered for winning that race, particularly since she had arthroscopic knee surgery shortly before the Olympic Trials.

With that in mind, it might seem ought to consider reading about a book that describes that race. After all, there wasn't much drama. But there were some dramatics just to get to a starting line, and author Stephen Lane wisely concentrates on that "run up" in his solidly written book, "Long Run to Glory."

The miracle of that Olympic marathon was not the race itself, but that it happened in the first place. It took a long, difficult battle over several years to allow runners of both sexes to go through the biggest test running has to offer on a large scale. 

The problem was that women were considered too fragile and feminine to even consider running such a long distance. It took quite a while just to allow females to run farther than 800 meters at a time, as ridiculous as it sounds now. Those attitudes were still in place in the late 1960s, but cracks were starting to develop. You probably can credit the women's movement of that time with helping to change some minds. But more importantly, a few women simply liked to run long distances and were determined to do it. The walls eventually came down during the course of the 1970s, and a women's marathon was greenlighted for the Los Angeles Games of 1984. 

After setting up the backstory, Lane moves toward the main event. We were lucky to have some great runners then who were really ahead of their time. They may not have had the depth of competition that today's runners do, but their achievements can hold up in any time period. Benoit joined with Grete Waitz, Ingrid Kristiansen and Rosa Mota to dominate the sport for several years. They combined to win all of the Olympic and World Championships in the 1980s. 

They for the most part were generally unprepared for the rush of fame and publicity that hit them as the sport became more popular with fans. Running is often a solitary exercise, and glory probably was that last thing that all of them expected when they hit their final finish line as world-class athletes. But they did it anyway. 

And they did it without often competing again the other top runners. It's fascinating to think that this group of runners all lined up on the same starting line once in their lives - and it came in Los Angeles in 1984. 

Lane has the time and space to include some of the lesser players in the story. Other runners turn up as well, and some of the administrators - like the New York Marathon's Fred Lebow - are memorable in their own way. He talked to some of the principals as well as several others for the book, and he obviously did as much homework as he could under the circumstances. The one oddity I noticed is that for all of that research, there aren't many quotes in the story. But that won't affect your enjoyment.

It took a little more than 17 years to go from Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to be registered for the Boston Marathon in 1967, to Benoit's win in Los Angeles. Those years probably seemed endless to those involved then, but common sense eventually won out. "Long Run to Glory" is a good place to fine out how that happened.

Four stars

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Review: Freezing Cold Takes (2022)

By Fred Segal

For those who are considering entering the sports media business in the near future, there's something you should know. At some point, you will be asked to make predictions. It comes with the territory.

Oh right - at some point, you will be wrong. Horribly wrong, at times. 

This is no sin, naturally. If sportswriters and broadcasters could predict the future, they wouldn't waste their time on the outcome of the next NFL game in their city. They'd concentrate on the Powerball lottery, collect the winnings, and head to the Caribbean island they just bought with the proceeds. 

Usually, such predictions wind up in the trash and are quickly forgotten. But these days, it's a bit easier to bring them back to life. The Internet is forever ... at least in some cases.

What's more, Fred Segal has made something of a pastime out of resurrecting old quotes. It started as some posts on social media as a way to gently make fun of those trying to look into a crystal ball. The ex-lawyer followed that work, which became popular rather quickly, with a book in 2022 called "Freezing Cold Takes." And yes, many of them deserve to be in the ice box.

After a quick introduction, Segal jumps into some of the comments that were made at the time of some big moments in recent pro football history. (No, he didn't find a comment from a sports writer in 1940 saying that the Bears were no match for the Redskins in the NFL championship game ... although no doubt there is one out there somewhere.) The titles of the chapters tell the story. "The Patriots Will Regret Hiring Bill Belichick." "Trade Dan Marino, Keep Scott Mitchell." "Brian Brohm Has More Upside Than Aaron Rodgers." "Tony Manderick Is in a Class by Himself." "Why would we give up a first-round pick for (Brett Favre)?" It ends with a chapter on the Patriots of the early 2000s, with several reporters wondering why the team would ever turn to Tom Brady at quarterback when it had Drew Bledsoe at the position?

If a football fan saw one of the quotes by itself, he or she instantly would know what something had gone horribly wrong with the forecast. That makes it a very good fit for social media. This is an attempt to put the areas of conversation into some sort of context, as entire seasons get the once over. In addition, some of the authors of those quotes gone wrong are given the chance to explain their thinking at the time. I personally know a couple of the people quoted in this book, and I'd bet they'd have appreciated the chance to explain where and why they went wrong. That makes the publication less mean spirited than it could have been, which is a good idea.

If there's a lesson here, it's that the book's added perspective makes some of the predictions seem more rational than they are in hindsight. For example, Favre had done very little as a rookie with the Atlanta Falcons, and Packers' executive Ron Wolf seemed to be the only person in the NFL who thought the quarterback would turn out well. A trade was made, Favre got his act together, and he became a Hall of Famer. Bill Belichick hadn't done much to show that he'd be in the conversation as the greatest coach of all time ... until Brady walked through the locker room door and claimed the starting job. 

That leads to the key question about "Freezing Cold Takes": social media post or book? I think the idea works better with the former, since the short posts contain just enough snark to fit the target audience. The book is reasonably entertaining, and the quotes are still fun to read years later. Still, most of the back stories are familiar to many football fans, so it's difficult to see those other than the format's biggest fans to do anything but read this quickly (and it is a quick read, if you skip the many necessary pages of notes) and move on. 

And Segal has opened a door that could lead to other areas. Who wouldn't want to go through "Freezing Cold Takes" about current events, films or music? This could be the start of an industry.

Three stars

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