u are an actual 🐐

Hey do have happen to know any 1988 moments from Laz's new book? I know a lot lot much cant be revealed from the book but any particular juicy stuff you know?

Hi Anon,

So full disclosure - I did not buy the book because while I still follow Laz, I’m also still unhappy with him about the whole 2015 business.  But I have a lovely friend who did buy it, so I was able to read some of it.  So shout out to her (who I’m keeping anonymous since I’m not sure she would want to be publicly thanked).

There was some good team and friendship stuff, but I don’t remember anything that stood out as wow this is completely new information and shippy.  Laz’s main purpose in writing it seemed to be about how the Hawks were one of the last fun party teams until just after their 2010 Cup win, but with the advancement of social media that atmosphere in hockey has almost completely disappeared - now rather than drink and party all night, it’s video games and bed by 10 for rookies, etc.  That they would go out 10-15 guys at a time to clubs and bars and party until late, then get up to practice bright and early all hung over.  No one does that anymore in the NHL.  Part of it with that 2010 Cup team is they were mostly young, without families, and they had a team chock full of “characters” because that’s what Tallon liked when picking players.  So they were hard partying, adventurous rich guys who didn’t have any idea that social media was going to come down hard on all those things in the coming years.

Let’s see - Toews was kind of the leader of the Cup celebrations, going from bar to bar with the Cup.  I think that’s interesting given he doesn’t have the rep for being a hard partier.  Apparently Sharp, Kane and Toews were going from place to place with the Cup in 2010 trying to outwit media outlets and texted Jamal Mayers to meet that at some bar at like 10am or something - they had been out all night with it.  And poor Hossa was like - don’t tell my wife, but I haven’t slept in 2 days.  Wow.

The usual (but still funny) stuff about Sharpy and Bur’s prank wars on the 1988 rookies, and how Kane let it slide off his back while Toews would just get crazy mad.  Man, Sharpy and Bur apparently would literally trash 1988′s room to the point they’d have to request a new one - and be financially responsible for all the damage done to their original one.  That seems… cruel actually.  Also, they would order $300-400 worth of room service for breakfast (which 1988 would have to pay for) and have it come really really early, which apparently made Toews crazy and he’d try to call to scream at them, but they just left their phone off the hook.  Hahaha!  Sharpy said Kane just ate the breakfast and went back to sleep - why ate it?  Because he had to pay for it anyway, so might as well.  That’s why it was more fun to prank Tazer, because Kane just rolled with it.  One time when Toews was living with Seabs and Ladd, they and Keith sat outside his room while he was trying to nap making really loud animal sounds - and he chucked a garbage can out at their heads.  Basically as far as I can tell, they are all 12 year old boys stuck in men’s bodies.  I DID love the new anecdote about 1988′s prank back  at Sharp and Bur - stealing their room key and getting an expensive dinner from room service - then setting it all up very romantically - precariously balanced on the 2 beds pushed together in the hotel room.  Mostly though, it sounds like they were completely clueless about how to defend themselves or get back at Sharpy and Bur and just suffered in silence for years, until Bur got traded.

Kane recalled the first time he saw Toews - so so serious, the same style and menacing glare.  Dedicated and serious.  While the other kids fooled around laughing and joking in the locker room, he was there just to play hockey.  Kane and his team were so impressed with Toews (not the rest of his team) that they invited him to come play on the Junior Flyers with them for a tournaments (a tournament that they didn’t win).  They both kept tabs on each other after that as they each worked their way to the NHL - it felt like Kane moreso than Toews actually - but that seems to be Kane’s style, being hyper-aware of good players and what they are doing, etc.  It doesn’t say whether tabs included being in contact with each other.  Laz just kind of elides over that possibility, but I do wonder personally.  That would have been around 2000 or so I think?  Email addresses were definitely a thing that they could have exchanged in theory.

Laz does a few pages on their rookie relationship, saying they came into the team to save the team and be the faces of the franchise, which was a lot of pressure on them and set them apart from the other players - but they had each other.  Bur says that Kane thrived under the pressure and spotlight - he loves people looking at him and seeing him do well.  That Toews would have put the same pressure to succeed on himself no matter where he was.  Colin Fraser said they were like an old married couple off the ice - very love-hate.  They loved each other deeply he said, but too much togetherness meant they got on each other’s nerves too.  And then Laz has quotes from Kane and Toews where they say the exact opposite things, which is weirdly hilarious.  Kane says they were on the same sleep schedule for bedtime and naps.  Toews says Kane was a night owl and it bugged him because he needs his sleep.  So… was Kane a night owl who went to sleep early to accommodate Toews?  Is that how we should interpret the disparity there?  Neither one mentions what we also know was going on then - which was Toews had health issues back then - insomnia and was throwing up a lot plus other digestive issues - that would have made life tough for him and Kane.  I’m kind of surprised Laz didn’t ask about that, but I’m not 100% sure how much he actually interviewed 1988 specifically for this book so…  It sounds like Toews yelled at Kane about any bad plays during games and sometimes they’d get in huge fights or end up not even speaking at all, going to bed mad - sometimes laughing about it the next day, sometimes not.  Kane basically says that’s just the type of guy Toews is - super serious, that that’s where the name Captain Serious kind of came from and once you have that name you kind of keep going with that style.  It didn’t hurt their relationship, all that fighting though, and in the past they’ve said stuff like that made them work harder and be better.  That they leaned on each other as they became popular and the team got more and more attention.  Kane basically saying when you’re 19/20 you’re young and stupid you don’t really know what’s happening around you.  So I guess it was a good thing they had each other to take it all on together.

Sharpy had a very insightful section where he talked about their opposites narrative and how really they meet in the middle more than people realize.  That for Kane, hockey is everything to him, he cares about that more than anything else in his life.  And that Jonny likes to party more than people realize, and is pretty loose and a lot of fun to hang out with off the ice.

There was an Athletic article this week about Toews regaining his confidence in his ability to be a playmaker, and it reminds me of a section in the book about the 2013 playoffs where Kane had a rough start and was feeling really down, rewatching youtube videos of his own goals to remind himself he was a good player.  He went on to win the Conn Smyth for those playoffs - but he went through that crisis on confidence that Toews experienced last season too.  It’s just interesting know that these talented successful skilled guys have some down games and lose their confidence and have to find ways to get it back.

There was bit about Toews basically saying yes please pick Kane when Tallon asked him about the top 3 draft picks, remembering Kane as a really dynamic player, etc.  So that confirms the story that he wanted Kane to be picked, which we had all heard about but could never find find anywhere else.  And again, really makes me want to know if they were in contact at all between playing together on the Junior Flyers and coming into the NHL together.

Kane’s gf was mentioned only once (as visiting him in Switzerland and them having a fun Christmas dinner in a completely empty restaurant) and Toews’ gf not at all - but then for all that Laz positions himself as a woman’s rights supporter, etc from his book it’s clear he writes the women as barely there in the hockey narrative - only existing as props for their men.

I have to run but those are the things I remember - oh also Toews having everyone go to McDonalds after Tallon’s dad’s funeral (while the coaches got to go someplace nice) and it was because McDonald’s was giving out 1988 cards with their happy meals.  That’s a well known anecdote though.  Most of the stuff Laz wrote about are known things, maybe just with a little more detail.  There was nothing startling or surprising about anybody in the book if you’ve followed 1988 for a long time.  It’s chatty and breezy from what I’ve seen of it, so a fun read but not going to give out any really interesting info.