I just finished reading ‘Beauties’ by James Duthie. The book was published last year by HarperCollins.
First off, I have to say it was a fun read and liked it a lot. Also, I must admit a bias. James Duthie is TSN broadcaster covering many sports but mainly hockey. Having watched him for years it feels like he’s a buddy.
Duthie comes across on air as personable, professional, witty and is obviously a sports freak - which is my kinda guy - and these attributes come through in the book.
In the hockey world someone who you would say is a ‘real character’ is also referred to as a ‘beauty’.
‘Beauties’ is a collection of stories revolving around the world of hockey. 57 stories in fact. All first hand recollections from players, broadcasters ,coaches, trainers and others. The kind of stories you might hear sitting around with friends having a beer.
There are not only tales from Crosby, Gretzky and Orr, but also from Duthie’s TSN panelists Noodles, Dregs and O-Dog.
The stories range from laugh out loud funny to emotional tear jerkers (I’m not crying, you’re crying).
An added bonus for me is that there are quite a few stories with Ottawa Senator connections. Duthie being originally from Ottawa might have something to do with that.
Some of the stories are moments from NHL games and a cool thing to do is to go YouTube and see for yourself. It could be the McCreary hit on Gretzky (The Case of the Mistaken McCreary) or the St. Louis Blues’ Stanley Cup celebration (Hully). But one I don’t need to watch again is Auston Matthew’s first NHL game where he scored four goals against the Senators (Cuatro Por Papi). The Sens ended up winning that game in O.T. Thanks, Kyle Turris !
Well sport fans….do yourselves a favour and pick up this book. You won’t be able to put it down. I highly recommended ‘Beauties’.
