The Rebel League

I was born in Edmonton at the tail end of the 1970s, so I always had a general awareness of the World Hockey Association, but I didn't really know much about it beyond a bunch of the teams ended up in the NHL, and that Gordie Howe played on the same team with his kids at one point. This book was clearly an education, then.

The WHA story is an interesting one - it was started by people who seemed to not know much about hockey or business, and kept itself together with little more than duct tape and prayers at times before ultimately collapsing. In doing so, though, it completely changed the business of hockey and the way it's played in North America, so it's an important history to be aware of if you're a fan of the game.

In some ways, it felt like I'd heard this story before: the rise and fall of the WHA mirrors what I've seen in a lot of other places - there are parallels here to ECW wrestling, Valiant comics, Miramax films, and the “grunge movement” in rock and roll. It's interesting to see history repeat itself that way, but kind of sad as well.